Former Yellow Wiggle Greg Page survived a cardiac arrest while performing at a Wiggles reunion show in January 2020, thanks to bystanders who performed CPR and close access to an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
Now he is on a lifesaving mission to increase access to AEDs in other locations and venues.
“Having an AED within 3 minutes of someone suffering a cardiac arrest can increase survival rates by 200 to 300%,” Mr Page said.
“I have no doubt that it was the quick action of bystanders and the use of an AED that saved my life that day.”
Mr Page says his charity, Heart of the Nation, aims to equip people with better access to an AED and to provide increased knowledge about where these life-saving devices are located.
This month, Mounties Group has stepped up to support Mr Page’s mission by pledging the purchase of 50 AEDs that they aim to position in neighbourhoods across Western Sydney, the Northern Beaches and the Central Coast under the banner of Mounties Care.
“I am absolutely delighted to be partnering with Mounties Care to deliver 50 AEDs within local communities near their club venues,” Mr Page said.
“Our aim is to position these defibrillators at bus stops or in the neighbourhoods of high traffic areas so that more Australians have access to life-saving medical support.”
Mounties Group CEO, Dale Hunt, says Heart of the Nation Communities is a program that helps to get AEDs into residential areas where 80% of cardiac arrests happen.
“Greg is living proof that the use of an AED to deliver an electrical shock to a patient’s heart dramatically increases their chance of survival,” Mr Hunt said.
“The fact that he was assisted in a club really resonated with us and we want to back his mission to get more defibrillators into the community.
“There are many stories of people around the world who have been saved by publicly accessible AEDs and we want to get these 50 machines we have funded into the community as quickly as we can.
“If we can equip communities with the ability to respond to a cardiac arrest with an AED and people know how to perform CPR, we believe there’ll be an upturn in survival rates as well,” he said.
Mounties Care together with Heart of the Nation is working with local councils to develop a plan to roll out these life-saving machines in local target areas.
