By Abbey Cannan
Noosa’s four State Emergency Service (SES) sites now have lifesaving defibrillators thanks to donations from the Rotary Club of Noosa.
Noosa Rotary treasurer Tess Alexandroff said they were privileged to be able to donate defibrillators for the benefit of the Noosa community.
“These are lifesaving devices for the SES to have when out attending their matters,” Tess said.
Despite having these lifesaving devices located around Noosa including along the Noosa River, most people would be unaware of where to find them in an emergency due to the lack of signage.
Noosa Council Director of Community Services, Kerri Contini, said it was a great initiative to help save lives but the installation of permanent wayfinding signage could cause a few issues.
“QAS, as a key emergency health service, has developed a new centralised Queensland AED register and this is the best place to register the devices,” she said.
“This service makes it much easier and quicker for emergency personnel to pinpoint locations of the lifesaving equipment.”
Ms Contini said the council had informed the Rotary Club of the reasons for not installing permanent signage and encouraged it to make use of the newly-developed Queensland register.
“The installation of permanent wayfinding signage means any change of location for the devices would affect the accuracy of the signage,” she added.
“The private ownership of these devices also makes it difficult to monitor the operation, placement and maintenance of the AEDs.”
Ms Contini said time was a critical factor in accessing these devices and the QAS register was the most accurate and effective place to record the newly installed defibrillators.
Noosa SES local controller Warren Kuskopf said the donation of the defibrillators was invaluable.
“We have four groups across the unit in Tewantin, Cooroy, Pomona, and Boreen Point, and we now have four defibrillators that will help to cover the Noosa Shire,” Warren said.
Noosa SES deputy local controller Sue Below said they wouldn’t be able to afford the devices without the help from the Rotary Club.
“I’m the first aid instructor here and we have defibs that we practise with, but to have these to actually take out with us is a fantastic thing,” Sue said.
