GoodSAM app to save more lives in Victoria

A FREE global smartphone app is helping to save lives in the local community by alerting responders of someone nearby who is experiencing cardiac arrest.

GoodSAM which is being powered by Ambulance Victoria, alerts, notifies and connects responders to patients in need in the first critical minutes of a cardiac arrest, giving patients the best chance of survival.

After sending a signal off to Triple Zero (000), the app supplies registered responders with the exact cardiac arrest location for them to attend to commence life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defribillation (AEDS) if available.

The latest Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry (VACAR) Annual Report suggests that paramedics responded to 7,361 cardiac arrests in 2021/22 – a rise of 5.8 per cent.

When cardiac arrests were witnessed by members of the public, 79 per cent of people were willing to step up and commence CPR – up from 77 per cent a year earlier.

The data also showed that bystanders are becoming more comfortable using public automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which is significantly improving survival rates.

According to Ambulance Victoria, Regional Director at Barwon South West, Terry Marshall, “bystander intervention is the difference between life and death.”

“Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere, at any age, health or fitness level, often without symptoms,” Marshall said.

“Every day, around 20 Victorians suffer a cardiac arrest and only 1 in 10 survive.

“When bystanders act to call Triple Zero (000), begin CPR and shock using an AED, the chances of survival more than doubles.

“You don’t need to be a paramedic to be a life saver, you just have to be willing to give hands-only CPR.”

Mr Marshall said that the 326 public access defibrillators in Greater Geelong and additional 204 in the broader Surf Coast area from Ocean Grove to Port Campbell are assisting local paramedics in saving lives.

Currently there are more than 15,000 GoodSAM Responders in Victoria and 731 active in the Barwon South West region.

Since 2018, more than 55 lives have been saved thanks to GoodSAM Responders.

For more on GoodSAM head to, www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/goodsam/