Community & Business
29 March, 2023
Giving Pittsworth a jolt
The Pittsworth RSL Sub-branch and Crafty Quilters on Monday received a portable Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), giving both organisations the ability, in the case of an emergency, to potentially save lives.
The defibrillator was secured through the Pittsworth Local Ambulance Committee (LAC), which has provided over a
dozen such devices to Pittsworth community groups, schools, churches and sporting organisations over the years.
Pittsworth Local Ambulance Committee secretary Lindsay Proudlock said in order to satisfy
the Queensland Ambulance Service’s (QAS) litigious concerns, community groups such as the RSL spend $200 to purchase the AED.
This comes to be a very good deal, as it costs $2,700 for the LAC to purchase the AED from QAS, including freight.
Mr Proudlock said the LAC has been able to purchase all the AEDs through savings in their bank account that have been accumulating since the change from a Ambulance Transport Brigade into a Local Ambulance Committee.
The LAC has also raised money over the years through raffles.
Mr Proudlock said the LAC can secure more AEDs if there are organisations that seek one.
“It’s ongoing if people choose to ask us for help,” he said.
“If we can, we do.”
Mr Proudlock said it can take some time to complete the entire process.
The Pittsworth RSL Sub-branch committee said it will put the AED to good use by encouraging members to train to use it and by storing it in an easily accessible location.
The Pittsworth LAC is also readily available to provide training on how to use the AED.
With close to four decades of experience as a paramedic, LAC president Geoff Stower is more than capable of providing quality training to those who seek it.
Mr Proudlock said fortunately, he is not aware of a time that one of the AEDs provided by the Pittsworth LAC has had to be used.
He said there was a close call last year at a sporting event when one was about to be used however the paramedics arrived in quick time.
In addition to providing AEDs, the money raised by the Pittsworth LAC goes towards what the QAS needs for the local paramedics.
This year, the committee provided many thousands of dollars to purchase an electronic lifting chair.
The chair allows for patients that have fallen over to be easily lifted up, limiting the physical impact on paramedics.
