Queenstowners have a Southlander to thank for a new community defibrillator.
Central Otago Motor Group owners Emma and Scott Billman earlier this year forked out more than $6000 to buy two defibs — one of which has just been installed, for free, by Doug Anderson Building and Plumbing, outside neighbouring business, Queenstown Hospice Shop.
The other is outside the couple’s Cromwell business.
Emma says the inspiration for the defib, and its location, came from her dad, Pip Ryan.
For 12 years, he had carried a defibrillator in the back of his truck — something Emma poked fun at him for — after his father, who had heart complications, died of a heart attack.
Working rurally, Pip knew if he needed it, time would be of the essence.
Two years ago, just before the second Covid lockdown, Pip was at the gym in Invercargill and went into cardiac arrest, falling off a stationary bike.
Fortunately, a colleague, who knew he had a defib, was with him, grabbed his truck keys and the defib, and shocked him back to life.
He was later flown to Dunedin Hospital and had two stents inserted, but Emma’s in no doubt if that defib wasn’t in his truck, ‘‘he wouldn’t be
here’’.
After Emma and Scott decided to buy one for Queenstown, it was Pip who suggested it go outside the Gorge Rd hospice shop, given its visibility and accessibility.
‘‘Our biggest thing is just awareness.
‘‘I’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy and Shortland Street, and I didn’t know the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest.
‘‘Cardiac arrest, you’re gone — you need this to shock you back to life.
‘‘There’s nothing else that can do it.’’
She and Queenstown Hospice Shop retail manager John ‘Boggy’ McDowell are also encouraging locals to download the free ‘AED Locations’ app, which will show people where the nearest defib is in relation to their location, though some are inside office buildings, and therefore inaccessible outside work hours.
‘‘It’s really good to know where your nearest one is to work and your house, so if you’re in an emergency [you know where to go],’’ Emma says.
While the defib will ‘‘talk to you’’ once it’s opened, and provide step-by-step instructions, the first thing to do is call 111 — the call-taker will
also point the caller in the direction of the nearest defib, and stay on the line with them and provide help until an ambulance arrives.
McDowell says the new community defib’s a ‘‘fantastic’’ addition to the hospice shop, and hopes other businesses will pick up the baton and ensure there’s even greater coverage across the Whakatipu, and everyone learns how to use them.
As for Pip, now 64, Emma says he’s fighting fit again and back at the gym.
