THE HUNTER HEART SAFE JOURNEY:

DR. MARK MILLER CONTINUES TO TEACH LIFE SAVING DETAILS AND TECHNIQUES

The main objectives of Hunter Heart Safe are to increase awareness of the importance of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in our community and to promote bystander intervention with hands only CPR and AED use. Mark continues to explain “If bystanders don’t act and simply wait for paramedics to arrive, the cardiac arrest victim almost always dies. My ED workmates and I created Hunter Heart Safe in response to the poor outcomes of cardiac arrest we see in our work, often due to lack of bystander action.”

Hunter Heart Safe are back to offering our free training seminars monthly in partnership with Belmont 16s, and have now allocated all 7 of the AED’s that Belmont 16s purchased and donated to them in the community. So what’s next for Hunter Heart safe you ask? With the planned NSW Ambulance roll out of the GoodSAM app in 2023, they hope to facilitate the recruitment of a local army of first responders, willing to step up and act in the event of a cardiac arrest. Ultimately we would all like to see improvements locally in bystander CPR rates and AED usage which will eventually lead to improvements in the current abysmal 9% survival rate after cardiac arrest.

Dr. Mark Miller, Emergency Medicine Specialist at John Hunter and Lake Macquarie Private Hospital has lived in the Lake Macquarie area for most of his life. Mark is one of the founders of the local charity, Hunter Heart Safe, which started operating in 2018 and now has over 250 volunteer health care workers providing free CPR training to the community.

In 2014, Mark was involved in the resuscitation of Dr David Durrheim in Green Point Reserve. With the help of another bystander, he performed hands only CPR for 17 minutes until paramedics arrived and successfully defibrillated David. After a coronary stent, David made a full recovery and is now working tirelessly in the battle against COVID-19 and other public health emergencies around the world.“David’s cardiac arrest helped me realise the importance of bystander action in cardiac arrest. The delay to defibrillation, even in a suburban area was concerningaccess to more publically accessible AEDs is critical” stated Mark.

MOST CARDIAC ARRESTS OCCUR IN THE HOME, SO CHANCES ARE THE VICTIM WILL BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW AND LOVE. HERE ARE A FEW POINTS TO REMEMBER AS A BYSTANDER:

• Try and remain calm in order to remain effective

• Call 000 which will bring paramedics with a defibrillator

• Listen to the 000 call taker, as they will instruct you in delivering effective chest compressions at 100 per minute

• AED’s have clear instructions, if you know one is located nearby – use it

ENHANCE YOUR LIFE SAVING SKILLS:

Hunter Heart Safe volunteers have delivered free cardiac arrest training to over 2,000 community members- both adults and children. The messages and skills can be delivered in under one hour and we try to talk through and overcome many of the common fears that bystanders may have.

Hunter Heart Safe together with Belmont 16s hope to train 1,000 more members of our community in 2023. Please register to attend a session to learn these valuable skills that could save a life. Anyone who attended the sessions in 2020 is also welcome to return and revise their knowledge and skills.