Residents who may have to administer CPR in Belmore Street can now be assisted by a defibrillator that will be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week outside Yarrawonga News and Gifts.
With an aging population and several medical episodes that have sadly occurred in the main street, Yarrawonga News and Gifts owner Sue Castelow looked into what needed to be done to get a public access defibrillator that could be accessed at all times of the day with the Central Murray Sunrise Rotary Club stepping up to purchase the lifesaving machine.
“We have had a few people collapse near the newsagency and we realised there isn’t any public access defibrillators down Belmore Street,” Sue said.
“Several businesses in Yarrawonga do have defibs but unfortunately most aren’t accessible after hours.
“We have an elderly population, and if something happens in the street at, say 6 o’clock at night, this can literally save their life.
“I put the proposal to the Central Murray Sunrise Rotary Club and they have funded and purchased the defibrillator to be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, outside the newsagency in the main street.
“We need one on the street that is accessible whenever as it is literally a lifesaver. There have been talks about getting one in Mulwala as well and maybe a second one in the street.
“It will be installed in the coming days.
“It’s a really good thing, it even gets people aware of how to perform first aid and CPR.”
Central Murray Rotary Club President Jan Marshall and President elect Dominique Fotia were both of the same consensus that this is a much-needed community asset and displays the principles of the Central Murray Rotary Club perfectly.
“You only need to save one life, and how precious is that,” Mr Fotia said.
“From a business point of view it is nice to know that there is something accessible that we can all use.
“From a Rotary point of view, we’re a community organisation and our main aim is to be there for the community.
“This is a great thing for the community overall and is what Central Murray Sunrise Rotary is all about.”
“We are pushing to get more local projects that we are trying to focus on,” Ms Marshall added.
“This is just another local projects that we are so happy to have been involved in and assisted with.
“One hundred per cent of the donation for this defibrillator was made by our members, as most of our funding also comes from the Rotary Market and our barbecue.
“This is the perfect project to donate to, and we are pleased our town will have this type of machine available at all times.”
“