Paeroa RSA received an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) donated by Paeroa Hato Hone St John on November 28.
The special presentation took place during the St John Christmas function, which was hosted by Paeroa RSA.
RSA president John Hallett said it was “absolutely thrilling” to have the life-saving new addition on site.
St John Treasurer Helen Appleby told The Profile St John had been distributing 15 AEDs around the district after receiving funding from One Foundation a couple of years ago.
“There’s been one at the Maritime Park and a few of the schools have got them, Karangahake Hall,” Helen said.
“We’ve just put them around the community, generally in locked boxes, but the RSA one, there’s enough [AEDs] close by that we’ve just given them the AED itself,” she said.
AEDs housed outdoors are available 24/7 in spots such as St John, the Squash Club, the library and Caltex, and are all recorded on the ‘AED Locations’ smartphone app. There is also a website available for people wanting to know the location of nearby AEDs in case of emergency: www.aedlocations.co.nz.
“The ones that are outside, they’re in locked boxes and you need to ring 111,” Helen said.
These had a padlock on them, so users needed to call 111 to enable a code for the padlock so the AED could be accessed, and “it actually ensures help is on the way”, she said.
