More Victorians than ever are stepping up to help those in need, according to the latest Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry (VACAR) Annual Report.
The world's largest registry of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests has revealed that 80 percent of Victorians benefitted from early invention of bystanders performing CPR.
Ambulance Victoria's Chief Executive Officer Associate Professor Tony Walker said he was relieved with the report's findings, especially after all the challenges faced in 2020.
"We were very concerned that COVID-19 would greatly impact patient outcomes and we've worked extremely hard to turn this statistic around," Associate Prof. Walker said
"Only last October we launched Shocktober, the largest campaign in our service's history, to increase the number of Victorians who know how to provide CPR and use an AED in the event of cardiac arrest.
"With every minute that CPR and the use of a defibrillator are delayed, survival drops by 10 percent.
"I welcome this year's report which showed the second highest proportion ever of cardiac arrests defibrillated prior to ambulance arrival with 66 percent of those going home to their loved ones."
Associate Prof. Walker said the Ambulance Victoria also attended 6,761 cardiac arrests - 242 more than the previous year. Interestingly, two in three patients were male and 76 per cent occurred in the home.
"Paramedics provided care within an average of 7.7 minutes of the call to Triple Zero (000) with most patients defibrillated within 10 minutes. This is despite the pressures of putting on Personal Protective Equipment during COVID-19 and an influx of patients over last year's busy bushfire season," he said.
"Victoria boasts one of the best cardiac arrest survival rates in the world, and despite everything being thrown at the state last year, I'm heartened by this latest research.
"Today, we're launching our GoodSAM app recruitment drive where we hope to see more Victorians signing up to save a life with the goal to see more people surviving cardiac arrests."
