Seventeen lives have been saved thanks to members of the community who signed up to participate in NSW Ambulance’s GoodSAM program, with the Minister for Health Ryan Park calling on more people to sign up to the free life-saving app.
The GoodSAM app works by alerting registered responders when someone near them goes into cardiac arrest and a Triple Zero (000) call has been received. Responders can opt whether or not to accept the alert and respond by providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), while at the same time, an ambulance is dispatched.
Thousands of Australians will experience an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year and statistics show that only 12 per cent of people who receive resuscitation survive. In 2021, 9,273 cardiac arrest patients were attended across NSW.
Mr Park said more people joining the almost 6,500 community members who have already volunteered for the GoodSAM program, will lead to more lives being saved.
“Increasing volunteer numbers increases the odds that someone is near enough to perform simple chest compressions in the first few minutes while paramedics arrive and help save a life,” Mr Park said.
“As we all know, every minute counts when someone is in cardiac arrest and for every minute that a patient is in cardiac arrest and does not receive CPR, their chance of survival drops by seven to ten per cent.”
NSW Ambulance Chief Executive Dr Dominic Morgan said that by integrating with the Triple Zero (000) dispatch system, a NSW Ambulance Emergency Medical Call Taker is available to step the volunteer through providing chest compressions, while paramedics are on the way.
“The survival rate improves significantly if chest compressions begin in the first few minutes and the GoodSAM app can help to ensure more people receive this life-saving intervention,” Dr Morgan said.
“Sadly, not everyone can survive a cardiac arrest; but for situations where the medical condition causing the arrest is treatable, we need to give those people the very best chance of returning home – and that means early chest compressions.”
In 2022, the NSW Government announced a $2.5 million partnership between NSW Ambulance and the GoodSAM responder app.
You can register as a GoodSAM responder if you’re 18 years old or over, and able and willing to provide chest compressions, which are easy and safe to do. You don’t need to have formal first aid or CPR training to sign up. To register, please visit: ambulance.nsw.gov.au/goodsam
Announcement; News