Rory was spending his night like any other 16-year-old, playing sports with friends, when the unthinkable happened. He went into cardiac arrest.
Basketball player Rory Pittman is now a volunteer for St Johns Ambulance after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest at 16. Last year, Rory Pittman was spending his night like any other 16-year-old, playing sports with friends, when the unthinkable happened.
But thanks to quick-thinking bystanders and the Automated External Defibrillator located at the Queanbeyan basketball courts, his life was saved. Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in Australia, with more than 26,000 cases occurring annually — 70 every day, according to the Heart Foundation.
"A lot of it I can't remember, but there are pieces of other people's recollection that I can fragment together and look at the whole story that way," Rory says. "A lot of it was the nurses at the game that helped actually restart my heart and follow the procedure correctly. " Rory's heart was brought back into a normal rhythm and he was taken to hospital immediately, where he recovered.
"Without the availability of the AED, we wouldn't have our boy anymore," Michael Pittman, Rory's father, says. After he asked if his son was ok, "quite chillingly, she said 'I don't know'.
""We were one of the lucky ones, because of where it happened and who was around and the response that they gave," he says. "We would like it not to be a matter of luck and for more people to benefit from the life-saving technology. " Mr Pittman's pleas have now been answered, with defibrillators to be installed in every Canberra suburb by the end of the year.
The easy-to-use devices work by delivering an electric shock to restart the heart during sudden cardiac arrest. St John Ambulance is partnering with Goodloop Mutual and StreetBeat to fund the rollout of publicly accessible AEDs. Martin Fisk, the chief executive of St John's ACT branch, says 47 have already been installed, with another 77 to be rolled out.
"Which may well make Canberra one of the world's first cities to have a publicly accessible life-saving defibrillator in every suburb. ""You can basically take a defibrillator, press the button, and it will tell you every step of the way what to do," he says. The devices include vocal instructions and an easy-to-read coloured screen for CPR and for the shocking paddles — telling users when to give breath, and if another shock is required.
To avoid misuse, AEDs can only be operated when a person is going through cardiac arrest, and they also contain GPS trackers to prevent theft.
"28,000 every single year — 28,000 Australians — will suffer a cardiac arrest outside of hospital. "Now unfortunately, the survival rate on average is less than 10 per cent, however, if you get early defibrillation, early CPR, in those critical first few minutes, you can increase their survival rate by five times or more. "Start CPR immediately. Perform 30 chest compressions followed by 2 breaths.
If unwilling or unable to do breaths, perform continuous chest compressions at a rate of roughly 100-120 per minute. Rory is in good health, and he continues to play the same sports he did before his health scare.
"All of the genetic screenings and all of the testing we've had, no real cause has been identified," Mr Pittman says. Rory is now a St John's cadet, hoping that after what happened to him, he can help others who are in his position.
"A lot of them have donated AEDs and have indirectly helped me in that way," Rory says of why he decided to volunteer.
Act Aed Cardia Arrest Life Saving Emergency Defibrillator Heart Attack Health Shock Suburb Public Teenager Sport St John Ambulance Hospital
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