The Heart Safe Communities initiative was created to improve survival rates in cardiac arrest across Victoria by providing crucial skills to community members on how to respond in a cardiac emergency.
Euroa was one of 17 communities that graduated in June after two years of completing the program.
Ambulance Victoria ambulance community officer Tony Kubeil said the program had been vital in building community resilience and improving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates in Euroa.
“While bystanders alone will never replace an ambulance service, equipping people with skills to start the chain of survival; starting chest compressions or CPR and using an AED does save lives,” he said.
“Anyone can save a life in three simple steps: call, push, shock: call 000, push hard and fast on the middle of the chest, and shock using an AED.”
Mr Kubeil encouraged residents to register with GoodSAM, an app that connected Victorians in cardiac arrest with responders and defibrillators in the critical minutes before paramedics arrived.
The program was a joint initiative between Ambulance Victoria and the Heart Foundation.
In its establishment in 2019, Tatura was included as one the three pilot sites.
Participants were equipped with skills to perform CPR, identify, register and use a defibrillator, and understand cardiac emergencies and the role of 000 in the case of one.
Euroa’s 10 public AEDs were part of the 169 registered across the state in the past two years.
The six available 24 hours a day were at Nest Cafe, Euroa Pharmacy, Euroa Police Station, VICSES Euroa Unit, the BP Euroa service station and Euroa Croquet Club.
All six were registered on the Ambulance Victoria AED Register, which meant that if someone suffered a cardiac arrest and a bystander called 000, the call-taker could direct the person to the nearest defibrillator.
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