CPR training: clockwise from left, the Lawrence children Isla, 9, Ethan, 7, (Cambridge East Primary) and Jacob, 4, (Cambridge Kindergarten) and St John ambulance officers Ash Hammond and Jo Pannell. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Cambridge St John officers refused to engage with two NZ Loyal members who accused them of scaremongering at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday.
The five officers who were there in a voluntary capacity as part of Hato Hone St John’s 3 Steps for Life promotion – part of Shocktober and Restart and Heart Day campaigns – spoke to more than 200 people at the market.
The NZ Loyal members said teaching people, particularly children, about Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) was scaremongering and was only needed for people who had been vaccinated.
They claimed vaccines contributed to hundreds of deaths.
Ambulance officer and undertaker Jim Goddin asked the two women to move but they refused saying it was a public space.
Because the officers were in their uniforms, they were unable to get involved in any debate.
Hato Hone St John is on a mission to empower 10,000 people with the 3 Steps for Life.
In a media statement, the organisation said cardiac arrest is still one of the leading causes of death in New Zealand with more than 2000 people a year treated for cardiac arrest. Of those, only 25 percent survive hospital arrival and 11 per cent leave hospital alive.
The 3 Steps for Life programme is uses the phrase Call, Push, Shock – call 111, push is to start CPR, and shock is to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
The urgency to learn CPR and how to use an defibrillator was more important than ever, given that the latest Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Report showed cardiac survival rates fell during the pandemic, said the statement.
More than 6000 people in New Zealand have registered for the free Goodsam app which alerts trained volunteers that a person nearby could be in cardias arrest.
Defibrillator numbers in the community are growing and more than 5500 are registered throughout the country.
St John at Cambridge Farmers’ Market on Saturday promoting Shocktober l-r Ash Hammond, Jo Pannell, Jim Goddin, Jade Morris, Cameron New. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
