Kalianna School says a new life-saving defibrillator donated by The Personnel Group will provide extra peace of mind for staff and be accessible to community groups and after hours care programs.
Ambulance Victoria will add the new Kalianna defibrillator to its registry of more than 6500 public defibrillators (AEDs) across the state.
The donation was possible after fundraising by The Personnel Group staff.
“The Personnel Group has an active Health and Wellbeing program that focuses on mental and physical health and also community participation,” The Personnel Group chief executive officer Tracey Fraser said.
“We also wanted to incorporate a community aspect, as during lockdowns we were not able to participate in our annual community volunteering day.
“So we ran a defibrillator competition, a fundraising challenge where sites raised money in a variety of ways to be able to purchase defibrillator machines for the community.
“Across our organisation staff raised close to $6000 and this enabled us to donate three defibrillator machines within the community, which were chosen by our sites that raised the most money; Bendigo, Wodonga and Canberra.”
The defibrillator was presented to Kalianna principal Peter Bush by The Personnel Group’s Bendigo area manager Kylie Skilbeck today.
Pictured: Emma and Kylie from our Bendigo office with senior student and The Personnel Group participant Taryn and Kalianna teacher Rob Brown.
“We are very grateful to The Personnel Group for their donation as having access to a defibrillator improves the safety of our school community and the wider community who have access to our facilities,” Mr Bush said.
The defibrillator will be located in a central area, reachable for all learning centres. It will also be accessible for after school care and community groups.
“Minutes matter in a cardiac arrest and this defibrillator could better someone’s chances of survival,” Mr Bush said.
“I hope the defibrillator will never have to be used but having it available means so much to everyone at the school because it means we will be better equipped in the case of an emergency.”
Ambulance Victoria will also provide a defibrillator demonstration and Call Push Shock presentation for the school community.
“Kalianna School has been providing specialist education in the Bendigo region for more than 50 years and The Personnel Group wanted to acknowledge that in a meaningful, practical way,” The Personnel Group’s Bendigo area manager Kylie Skilbeck said.
“Kalianna’s vision to ensure its students are active and productive members of society is something that definitely resonates with The Personnel Group.”
Defibrillators are used to restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock to the heart when someone suffers a sudden cardiac arrest.
