Project HeartStart Australia (PHSA) is a community based national project launched on the 10th February 2004, at Government House by His Excellency Governor General Michael Jeffery AC, MC. Ultimately this project is about saving lives. It is a Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) program implemented by St John Ambulance Australia (SJAA) placing Automated External Defibrillator's (AED's) into the public domain. The rationale behind the project is to create a high profile campaign aimed at reducing the mortality rate of pre-hospital sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), implementing programs where members of the public gather such as airports, railway stations, shopping centres, fitness centres, recreational clubs, convention centres, hotels and tourist attractions.
In the media: Watch the Channel Ten news clip for details on the latest Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) activation at the Sydney Airport Virgin Blue terminal. Watch Now
Awards Received
Phase 1
The project was originally funded by Insurance Australia Group (IAG), the community based defibrillation project was designed to encourage lay persons to use this simple, yet life saving device. It is defibrillation which offers the casualty the best hope of surviving an out-of-hospital SCA. The more defibrillators available in the community the greater the chance a casualty has of survival. SJAA accepts that we can not have PADs everywhere. But, by making them readily available in as many public places as possible, they have the potential to make a difference to survival rates.
IAG through its retail brands entered into a sponsorship agreement with SJAA. Our organisations shared the belief that together we can help our people, customers and the community be safer at work, in the home and community, and on the road. The partnership involved a wide range of activities and initiatives focused on the guiding principle of promoting safety and reducing risk. The IAG PHSA project will have installed 150 PAD programs by June 2008.
Phase 2
The PAD concept had previously been lobbied with the Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing from as far back as December 2002, it saw the Commonwealth Government host a PAD workshop, chaired by Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, and included senior representatives from leading non-government organisations such as SJAA, the Australian Resuscitation Council and the National Heart Foundation. The workshop also included a representative from private industry, consumers, ambulance and other EMS personnel, and representatives from the National Health Priority Action Council and the National Heart, Stroke and Vascular Health Strategies Group.
After establishing a National Working Party Group in 2003 and several more years working with the Department of Health and Ageing, 2005 SJAA was selected to undertake the Design and Implementation Phase of a PAD Demonstration Project with the Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing deploying 152 PADs, building upon the IAG initiative PHSA based upon the level of intelligence in the field.
Evaluation Report, by the Australian Government, Department of Health and Ageing
In May 2008, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing engaged Melbourne based Campbell Research & Consulting to undertake an evaluation of the project. The evaluation report has now been released and is available from the Department of Health and Ageing website.
The objective of the evaluation was to consider the effectiveness of the trial implementation, identify issues that arose during the trial and lessons that may be relevant to any future possible considerations regarding PAD. St John Ambulance Australia (SJAA) was found to be well suited to conduct the project with stakeholders reporting a high level of professionalism and commitment. SJAA has demonstrated that, with appropriate training, installation of AEDs results in a sustainable benefit.
Phase 3
In July 2009, St John Ambulance Australia launched Project HeartStart Australia (PHSA) stage 3, a community awareness program. This program is designed to increase the public’s awareness of Publicly Accessible Defibrillators (PADs), ensuring that the community is able to fully utilize these devices to the benefit of the community. The program will compliment previous stages of PHSA by demonstrating the benefits of CPR and early access to defibrillation, focusing on community education activities/demonstrations particularly associated with high traffic sites that have PADs installed. PHSA stage 3 will continue to demonstrate SJAA’s leadership in the area of PAD, leading to greater promotion of CPR whilst demystifying defibrillation with the added benefit of increasing people trained in first aid.
Research into Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Research continues to strongly demonstrate the benefits of early defibrillation to increase the survival rate of persons suffering SCA due to ventricular fibrillation (VF), a cardiac arrhythmia. The program relies on support from commercial and public sector agencies for the acceptance and placement of the PADs, the training and support provided ensures that the equipment is used safely. It was apparent that SJAA was suitably qualified, having a national reach and positioned as a ‘one stop shop’ to offer expertise with the management, training, and administrative support services to make a substantial impact with PAD in the community.
Survival from out-of-hospital SCA in Australia remains poor with less than 10% of victims leaving hospital alive. Factors which have been identified as those influencing outcome include the underlying cardiac rhythm, the early initiation of Cardiopulmonary (CPR) and early defibrillation. SCA is the most common mode of death in this country, approximately 20,000 Australians die from this condition every year. Time to defibrillation has been shown to be a key factor that influences survival which has been demonstrated in numerous studies. Every minute defibrillation is delayed; a person loses approximately 10% survival chance.
The Chain of Survival
SJA traditionally uses 4 links in a chain to illustrate the important actions that can create a “chain of survival” for victims of SCA:
- Early Access - early recognition of SCA and access to the victim.
- Early Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation - to buy time.
- Early Defibrillation - restoring a normal heart beat.
- Early Advanced Life Support - ambulance arriving to stabilise the patient.
Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) programs can only improve community safety with future benefits to be expected. The ARC guideline 10.1.3 states ‘Survival from out of hospital SCA in Australia remains poor with approximately less than 10% of victims leaving hospital alive. ‘Defibrillation should preferably be undertaken by trained lay people or health professionals. As trained personnel may not be available immediately, untrained bystanders should also have access to the use of public access defibrillators.’
- Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) Frequently Asked Questions
- Project HeartStart Australia Public Access Defibrillator Locations on GoogleTM Maps Australia:
Virtual Office
See how a Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) can be placed in your workplace, click the picture to explore the Virtual Office developed by Comcare:
