General News
7 November, 2023
Donation provides new defib
A GENEROUS gift from a local resident could help save lives. Timboon and District Healthcare Service (TDHS) Meals on Wheels volunteers have already experienced Adrian Till’s generous heart as he has donated chocolate at Easter and Christmas times...
A GENEROUS gift from a local resident could help save lives.
Timboon and District Healthcare Service (TDHS) Meals on Wheels volunteers have already experienced Adrian Till’s generous heart as he has donated chocolate at Easter and Christmas times.
“I’ve been getting Meals on Wheels for two years now, and the TDHS volunteers that deliver them go out of their way to give me my meal and it’s always with a friendly chat and smile and that means a lot to me,” Mr Till said.
Born in Cobden, he lived in different parts of Australia while working in road maintenance, driving trucks, working on pipelines, and being a farmhand or a deckhand on an abalone vessel.
“I’d go where the work was and where help was needed,” Mr Till said.
“I always wanted to help people and even though I got burned a couple of times, it has never stopped me from trying to help wherever I can.”
He settled back in Timboon in 2018 and was diagnosed 10 years ago with emphysema, a lung disease mainly caused by smoking, but other causes include air pollution and chemical fumes.
Mr Till enjoys regular visits with his mate John Wilson, who is a permanent resident at TDHS, and who he has known for almost 60 years.
“I love catching up with John, either over the phone or in person, as we have been mates for a long time and we talk about anything,” he said.
During one of these visits, Mr Till decided to donate money to TDHS to purchase two defibrillators.
“While visiting John I thought the healthcare service could always use more defibrillators, especially maybe in the physio gym and the Social Support Group area,” he said.
“You never know when somebody might need it.”
TDHS chief executive officer Gary Castledine said TDHS was grateful for Mr Till’s “thoughtfulness and kindness”.
Having worked at Ambulance Victoria for about 25 years, Mr Castledine knows all too well the importance of defibrillators.
“Cardiac arrest is unexpected. For every minute a patient doesn’t get CPR/defibrillation, their chances of survival fall,” he said.
“To make the defibrillators more accessible to the public, we’ve installed the two defibrillators donated by Adrian on the outside wall of our physio gym and on the wall next to our Community Health building’s entrance at the top car park.”
The defibrillators will also be registered on the Good Sam application, which is a free global smartphone app which alerts responders to someone nearby in cardiac arrest.
GoodSAM is linked to the Triple Zero (000) communications centre, so as soon as an ambulance is dispatched, a GoodSAM alert will notify GoodSAM Responders.
For more information, and to become a GoodSam Responder please visit www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/goodsam/