A potentially life-saving piece of equipment is set to make the coastal area of Omaui a bit safer.

Thanks to the ILT Foundation, a defibrillator is being installed in Omaui and the Y Southland and St John are teaming up to show the public how to use it on September 10.

Defibrillators enable members of the public to perform life-saving actions for someone in cardiac arrest and can mean the difference between life and death, while an ambulance is on the way.

Originally intended for use at the Y’s Omaui Camp, it will be installed just outside the camp entrance, so residents and visitors can access it if required.

The Y Southland chief executive Vanessa Hughey said the donation of the machine was an important and potentially life-saving move, and it made sense to share it with the wider community.

“We’d like to hope it won’t be needed but, if it is, it’s great to know the Omaui community can access it easily, as well as users of the Omaui Camp,” she said.

ILT Foundation manager Lisa-Maree Fleck said the organisation was delighted to expand its defibrillator programme to include Omaui.

“Provision of this AED is to help protect the lives of those members of our community using the camp and the Omaui residents,” she said.

“There are now 76 defibrillators at locations throughout Invercargill for our community through our partnership with St John. We are proud of our collaborative partnership with St John, with both entities putting community benefit at the heart of all that we do. St John assist us with assessment of site location suitability, proximity to other defibrillators, agreements and training for site operators.”

St John and the Y are teaming up to deliver a public training from 10am-noon on September 10. During the training, St John staff will discuss calling 111, starting CPR and using the defibrillator. There will also be a tour of the Omaui Outdoor Camp.

Anyone interested in attending the training session and camp tour can email the Y at reception@ymcasouth.org.nz.

Article republished from southlandexpress.co.nz