New AED machine at Carterton Fire Station. Assistant Wairarapa Fire Chief Nick Pyatt, Page 42 Cafe and Gelato manager Josh Coe and Carterton Fire Chief Bryan Styles. PHOTO/KAREN COLTMAN
Fundraising secures AED for town
Cafe’s AED fundraising a worthy cause
KAREN COLTMAN
[email protected]
After the Rev Jenny Henson was tragically killed in a car crash across from Page 42 Cafe on June 19, Carterton cafe owner Josh Coe started fundraising for an additional Automated External Defibrillator [AED] for the town.
One of his staff was first at the crash scene and had worked previously as a first responder. Coe said while he realised Henson’s life couldn’t be saved, that life-saving equipment should be available at all times.
“There is a machine at New World and the squash courts, but this one now on the Carterton Fire Station wall can be accessed at all times,” he said.
Coe raised $6000 to buy it and have it installed.
As part of his fundraising mission, Coe had a day at the cafe he called ‘pay what you like day’.
“People paid what they could afford knowing everything they spent that day would go towards the purchase of the AED, and we raised more than four thousand dollars,” Coe said.
An AED helps people in cardiac arrest: It analyses the person’s heart rhythm and, if necessary, delivers an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm.
Carterton fire crews have AEDs in their trucks.
Station fire chief Bryan Styles said the first time they went out with their AED, it saved a life.
“The man whose life we saved, came in a few days later and laughed and complained of having a sore chest, blaming us – of course he was joking with us,” Styles said.
The fire station AED has a keypad, accessible when the user rings ‘111’ and then the pin is given to them that opens the door to the machine.
“You know, a family could be at Carrington Park after hours, and grandad could experience a heart attack, so getting this machine and getting him on it could save his life,” Coe said.
There are now several machines around Wairarapa, and there is a map showing where they are found – aedlocations.co.nz
Not all of them are available 24/7.
Wairarapa assistant chief fire officer Nick Pyatt said performing CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] on a person was still vital until a machine was accessed, or paramedics arrived.
