First Aid Accident & Emergency
First Aid Accident & Emergency are proud to support the parkrun family.
Scott Whimpey, Director of First Aid Accident & Emergency is a keen runner and has supported parkrun with First Aid Training, First Aid Kits and Defibrillators since 2015.
We understand that having access to a Defibrillator at your parkrun, workplace or even for your home is important, so we have created special pricing for the parkrun family.
Defibrillator Bundle 1 parkrunner special:
WALL CABINET HEARTSINE 360P BUNDLE $1649
- HeartSine 360P Defibrillator
- Soft shell carry case
- Metal alarmed wall cabinet with strobe flashing light – 42cm wide x 44cm high x 16cm deep
- AED Patient Preparation Kit including: Razor, CPR mask, gloves, shears, and skin wipes
- Monthly Defibrillator checklist
- A4 AED sign
- Online instructional use video
- 8 Years Warranty
- 8 Years customer support team
Purchase a Defibrillator Bundle from the trusted Defibrillator parkrun Partner – First Aid Accident & Emergency
Defibrillator Bundle 2 parkrunner special :
MOBILE HEARTSINE 360P BUNDLE $1649
- HeartSine 360P Defibrillator
- IP67 Pelican Case
- AED Patient Prep Kit including: Razor, CPR mask, gloves, shears, and skin wipes
- Monthly Defibrillator checklist
- AED Vehicle sticker
- Online instructional use video
- 8 Years Warranty
- 8 Years customer support team
As a Runner, how do you know your having a Heart Attack?
When a runner has a Heart Attack, they will have a bit of an idea because most runners know their own body and will feel off!
A heart attack happens when the heart is starved from blood, this happens in most cases from a blockage in or around the heart muscle. The initial feeling presents as indigestion, a feeling of a heavy weight on your chest and commonly feeling out of breath.
Yeah yeah I hear you say- that’s how I feel in most runs.
But as a runner – you are different, you know how you feel if you run a bit and in this case, you will know something’s wrong!
If this happens to you, you will feel sluggish and more out of breath than usual. It’s also very common to look unusually pale.
“The Grey Syndrome”.
If you ignore this then your chance of survival is already dropping. The heart will deteriorate and eventually it stops working normally. This results in the runner collapsing and becoming unconscious. If you see this, now is no time to go for a PB, so jump in and help.
Survival counts on CPR being started in the first 2/3 minutes on a patient that is not responsive and not breathing. CPR will push the vital oxygenated blood around the body, but more importantly, to the brain and help prevent brain damage.
“Time is Brain”.
We need to also get a Defibrillator on this patient in the first 10 minutes to have a chance of survival. The defib will look for a faulting heart and administer a lifesaving shock. The shock is designed to revert the heart from “fibrillation to a normal sinus rhythm” and restores the normal function to the heart muscle.
So the theme of the story – if you’re feeling unwell, don’t push it and be self-aware of your body. As a runner, I also want you to help your fellow parkrunners and keep an eye out for someone in need.
Our Defibrillator saved Brett Orpwood at a parkrun
As the official supplier of Defibrillators and training for parkrun, we are proud to have saved lives and support such an iconic organisation.
Defibrillators can increase a patients chance of survival by up to 70% if used in the first 10 minutes.
First Aid Accident & Emergency’s Defibrillator saved a Mullum Mullum parkrunner a couple of days before Christmas.
Brett Orpwood, a Dad of two, was running with his son Charlie, 8, when he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. Fellow runners, including two nurses and a doctor, performed CPR and rushed to grab the FAAE Defibrillator, 800m away.
Paramedics turned up and rushed Mr Orpwood to Box Hill Hospital, where he was placed into a coma for recovery.
Mr Orpwood, 45 — who had no prior history of heart problems — said he was “getting better all the time” and incredibly grateful for his second chance at life. “It’s an unbelievable and very fortunate case that I had so much good help around me,” he said. “I get another chance to see my family grow up and live my life with my wife and kids.”
Organiser Scott Hawkins was running just ahead of Mr Orpwood and heard him hit the ground with a thud.
He said Mr Orpwood would have died without the defibrillator and specialist help from the other runners.
“If he was running on his own or on another day, he would have not made it ” Mr Hawkins said. “To have a defibrillator on hand and the right people there was certainly the difference between life and death for Brett.”
First Aid Accident and Emergency have put together Defibrillator packages for parkrun for over 5 years and have special pricing for parkrunners Australia wide.
parkrun CPR & Defibrillator Video
This instructional video shows you how to perform CPR in conjunction with the use of your parkrun Defibrillator. This is an instructional video and it is recommended for more in depth information and training, all parkrun directors complete an accredited CPR or First Aid program.
All the principals of managing a patient, conducting CPR, applying a defibrillator and looking after airways are shown and this should be observed and administered until an ambulance arrives at your parkrun.
The Chain of Survival
Put simply, the chain of survival is just a series of steps (forming a virtual “chain”) which give the best chance of survival from a cardiac arrest or heart attack. If all the steps of the chain are followed promptly, then the patient has the best chance of surviving.
For every minute that goes by without using a defibrillator, the chance of survival decreases by 10%.
Legal Issues Basics
Duty of care: If you are looking after people in an event and have basic First Aid training, you have a legal responsibility to offer reasonable care and treatment to those people.
Negligence: Only stick to your level of training, don’t conduct any medical procedures that you have no idea about.
Consent: If the patient is awake, you must gain consent from them before treatment, if they are unconscious you may proceed with care.
Recording: You must record the First Aid incident and any care or treatment administered. This must also be forwarded on to parkrun management.
Are Defibrillators safe to use by a parkrunner?
The Australian Resuscitation Council are the governing medical body for First Aid and resuscitation. They have a set of guidelines and Section 7 of the guidelines states the following in regards to Defibrillators:
Defibrillator AED use should not be restricted to trained personnel. Allowing the use of AED’s by individuals without prior formal training can be beneficial and may be life saving, since even brief training improves performance (e.g. speed of use, correct pad placement).
The use of AED’s by trained, lay and professional responders is recommended to increase survival rates in those who have cardiac arrest.
What are the legalities for me as a parkrunner or parkrun director?
As a parkrun director you have a legal obligation to offer reasonable care and treatment to a runner in your care (Duty of care). This means you are legally protected to do so if you are reasonable with the care and treatment provided.
As a fellow parkrunner, you may offer reasonable care and treatment to a fellow parkrunner but you don’t have to. This is a moral issue on your behalf and if your care and treatment is reasonable, you are also legally protected.
As of right now in Australia, no one has ever been sued for offering First Aid care and treatment to a patient!
First Aid Basics for parkrunners
Ensure safety for yourself, the patient and bystanders, if needed move the patient off a road or out of danger.
Send For Help, call “000” give them the facts, tell them what’s happening, where you are and what you have done. Use this app on a smart phone to get your location. Send someone to get the parkrun Defibrillator from the parkrun director.
App for your smart phone: Emergency +
This App tells you where you are and you can call an ambulance from the app
Check the patient for Response and Breathing, do not check a pulse – you need to check for breathing by Looking, Listening and Feeling. If the person is not breathing, you need to start CPR now.
Check Airway – you need to start by pulling the head back and checking the patients airway. If there is something in there, roll them over, clear it and roll them back.
Start CPR – give good quality compressions on the chest. The idea is to manually pump the heart as this will prevent the brain from dying. Breaths are not needed here in the first 5-8 min as there is enough oxygen in the blood already – just get the blood going around the body to prevent organ failure. If you know the person well enough to put your mouth on theirs, then give 2 breaths and 30 compressions, repeat this continually. Compressions should not be interrupted for more than 10 seconds as blood pressure will drop and take approx. 60 sec to build back up.
Apply the Defibrillator – the only way to ‘kick the heart over’ is to defibrillate it! Don’t stop compressions to set the defibrillator up on the patient, work around the compressions as to not loose blood pressure. The heart will only last 10 mins before dying completely so don’t muck around getting the defibrillator on the patient.
Follow the prompts from the defibrillator and keep compressions going. Watch out for signs of life – breathing or movement on command.
If the patient starts breathing on their own, stop CPR and place the patient on their side until the ambulance arrives.
parkrunners please keep in mind that this information is not designed to replace an accredited CPR course, to learn more about CPR courses and First Aid Courses, look here or book with your local provider.
So what does DRSABCD stand for?
- Danger (remove patient from danger)
- Response (check for response if patient is alert or unconscious)
- Send for help (call 000 if needed)
- Airway (check for obstructions to airway)
- Breathing (check if patient is breathing)
- CPR (commence CPR if necessary)
- Defibrillation (source and apply defibrillation if needed)
This is the basic action plan that is discussed in every First Aid course, primarily because of its ease to remember and recall in an emergency situation.
By following a few simple steps if there is an emergency at your parkrun and sticking to a proven First Aid action plan, it can be the difference between a fellow parkrunner recovering from an accident or not.
If you would like any more information on the First Aid courses we have to offer at First Aid Accident and Emergency including covering the DRSABCD action plan, please contact our Gold Coast head office today on 07 5520568.
Varsity & Coomera Centres
Varsity Lakes
Coomera
