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After suffering a sudden cardiac arrest and surviving, I realised just how lucky I was. But I also realised that luck shouldn't come into it. Why should some people be "lucky enough" to have bystanders around them who know what to do to save a life, and be confident enough to do it, and not others?
Why is it, that at the age of 48 at the time of my cardiac arrest, and with a wife who is a cardiac nurse, did I not understand that CPR was not only something that you use for patients who have drowned in a swimming pool?
Why did I not know that the cabinets that I walked past in Coles, Bunnings, Woolworths and many other places with a first aid symbol on them, were NOT first aid cabinets?
I realised that there were a lot of gaps that allowed many victims of sudden cardiac arrest to fall through, resulting in just 5% of all cardiac arrest patient surviving. That means 19 out of every 20 people who suffer a cardiac arrest do not make it home to their families.
That rocked me.
After reading many research papers and looking at the systems at play in Australia, I realised there were many gaps that could be filled with a new approach to many things in the space.
I founded "Heart of the Nation", a charitable initiative to bring to life many of these programs and fill those gaps in an attempt to save more lives. This was something that I devoted my time to, full time for 5 years, on a volunteer basis. I was never paid for my time.
After operating the foundation for 5 years, it became a part of the National Heart Foundation of Australia. But not all the programs that we began under the Heart of the Nation banner continued under the NHF.
Shocked Into Action is where I will be continuing to create and deliver these projects on either a commercial or not for profit basis, depending on what is the best scenario to achieve the greatest impact for each program.
Now is the time to see rapid change in this space, and see the right programs implemented that will make a difference. Now. Not in 5 or 10 years time.
With more than 29,500(1) people each year passing away because their hearts suddenly stop beating, we cannot afford to wait a minute longer. We need to be SHOCKED INTO ACTION so that more people can go home to their families - today.
Be part of the movement and find out about the projects I will be a part of to help save lives, and how you can be involved too.
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