Yackandandah Community

Food Share

Heart Start,

the Yackandandah Defibrillator project

This project has been a wonderful demonstration of community collaboration, the involvement grew to include; YCC, as project manager; YDCco, provided funding and community connections; Yackandandah Post Office, sourced grant funding from Australia Post; Yack Men’s Shed, sourced funding and installed AED cabinets and Ambulance Victoria, provided free education.

Funding allowed us to purchase new cabinets, a new AED, replace parts of existing AEDs, create a map, printing, and signage.

This community collaboration has improved the accessibility of AED’s by moving the public Hall AED from inside to the outside of the building and adding a new AED to the swimming pool area, which covers the Court House, Swimming Pool, Skate Park, and Community Garden.  We have three 24/7 AED’s accessible on High Street, with a forth one located within the Yackandandah Primary school foyer (accessible during open hours).

Most of Yackandandah’s AED’s are housed in a purpose built and alarmed AED cabinet. The AED’s cabinets are either white, red, or green in colour, they also display the AED logo, making them highly visible and easy to spot.  The AED’s are registered with Ambulance Victoria, so when “000” is called the call taker immediately dispatches emergency services, then will guide the first responder on how to do CPR as well as inform of the location of the closet defibrillator while emergency services are on the way.

The map indicating the locations of Yackandandah’s AED’s was created by two local freelance graphic designers and sisters, Jessee and Darcee Schulz Dahlenburg, who have been a pleasure to work with.  Along with the map, education sessions have been organised for locals, this is where they can get a demonstration on how a defibrillator works. 

An annual device check for each defibrillator has also been put in place to ensure that the registered owners are aware of the condition of their AED and replace parts if necessary to ensure that the AED is in good working order, ready for use.