A new potential lifesaver has been installed in Motueka thanks to one of our community grants. The Motueka Over Fifties Social Hub has just bought a brand new automated external defibrillator, or AED, to help if someone suffers a heart attack.
An AED is a medical device designed to analyse heart rhythms and deliver an electric shock to victims of ventricular fibrillation to restore the heart rhythm to normal. Ventricular fibrillation is the uncoordinated heart rhythm most often responsible for sudden cardiac arrest.
President/Secretary of the Hub, Jude Alderson, is thrilled to have an AED on hand should someone have heart problems while using the facility.
She says more than a hundred people a week use the Social Hub on Pah Street next to the Memorial Hall and enjoy activities from yoga and Tai Chi to indoor bowls, knitting groups and more.
The machine was paid for with help from community grants from us and NBS plus generous assistance from Hato Hone St John.
If your community group needs financial help for projects like this, head to tasman.govt.nz/grants or if your organisation wants to buy an AED email St John at aed@stjohn.org.nz.