Important information

• Every year in Australia 23,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest.
• Only 1 in ten survives.
• If you believe someone has suffered a cardiac arrest:
  1. In New Zealand Call 111 – follow the instructions
  2. Push – link hands, push hard and fast
  3. Shock – use an AED to shock the person’s heart beat back to life
• A cardiac arrest is not a heart attack.
  • Signs of a heart attack: the person is awake, in pain and feels sick
  • Signs of a cardiac arrest: the person has collapsed, is not breathing properly and is unresponsive
• Anyone can save the life of someone who has experienced a cardiac arrest by acting quickly to restore the heart beat with CPR and defibrillation
• Anyone can use an AED – you do not need medical training
• Anyone can perform CPR – see the video on this website or visit your local ambulance service website
• Encourage your community group, school, organisation to support the installation of AEDs, get them registered.
• Get involved in a Restart A Heart Day event near you – visit www.restartaheart.co.nz
• Share the Restart A Heart Day messages on your social media networks using #restartaheart

Background

Restart A Heart Day, a campaign started by the European Resuscitation Council in 2013, was established to stem the death toll from sudden cardiac arrest around the world – more than three million people every year.

It was developed in response to a declaration by the European Parliament (2012), which acknowledged the survival of many apparently healthy victims of sudden cardiac arrest depends on CPR administered by bystanders in conjunction with early defibrillation.

Intervention within 3-4 minutes may increase the chance of survival by up to 50 per cent.

The declaration called for initiatives including programs to introduce automated external defibrillators (AED) in public places and the training people in the community; changes in legislation to encourage CPR and defibrillation by non-medical people; and the set up of a European cardiac arrest awareness week.

Restart A Heart Day blends these aspirations with the aims of the Global Resuscitation Alliance (GRA) campaign of community engagement, to help save lives around the world.

The Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA), in its role as the GRA’s Australasian Secretariat, is committed to supporting Restart A Heart Day across Australia and New Zealand through member services.