A LIFESAVING addition has been made to the Tarrington Community Park after an automated external defibrillator (AED) was donated to the Tarrington Cricket Club by Western AG Hamilton. 

The AED will soon be mounted on the external wall of the club rooms where it will be easily accessible for all members of the community.

Tarrington Cricket Club committee member, Adam Bester, said the AED would have a positive effect on the whole community as it is in a popular location and will be the first registered AED in town.

“There are a growing number of Tarrington Cricket Club teams and other cricket clubs that are using the Tarrington Community Park for cricket events,” he said. 

“The new defibrillator will be of great benefit to the Tarrington Cricket Club but also other user groups of the reserve. 

“There is currently no readily accessible defib available for the community in Tarrington, so potentially this defib will save lives.”

The donation was part of Western AG’s company-wide 2022 Community Defib Project, which arose from their Supporting Communities Campaign.

The campaign saw Western AG stores receive a defibrillator to donate to their local community, with Western AG Hamilton selecting to donate theirs to the Tarrington Cricket Club as there was not yet a registered AED in town.

The project was initiated near the end of last year, however, unforeseen delays meant the AED arrived on location this year where it will soon be mounted and registered.

Western AG business development manager, Chris Drew, said the company was passionate about giving back to regional areas.

“At Western AG, we were passionate about creating a community minded campaign, an umbrella, where new community focused projects could be introduced to support the regions where we live and operate in,” he said. 

“For example, providing specific funding for a particular cause or pain point which in the case of last year’s project, was establishing an AED installation program for our regional centres.”

According to Ambulance Victoria, every minute a patient is in cardiac arrest and not receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or an AED shock, chances of survival drop by 10 per cent, with irreversible damage occurring after 10 minutes without intervention.

Anyone can save the life of someone in cardiac arrest by following three simple steps - Call, Push, Shock.

To check for registered AEDs within your local area, visit registermyaed.ambulance.vic.gov.au