AED cabinet donation benefits Waihopai Valley

Saving the life of a person in medical distress frequently is a matter of time. Two local business leaders know this well, and their parallel motivation should have the Waihopai Valley breathing easier.

On 28 January, Allan Udy of Golden Micro Solutions delivered an all-weather cabinet for an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to Amanda Johnson at Spy Valley Wines. Allan’s firm had refurbished a cabinet they had previously donated to Mayfield School which was no longer required. Amanda’s company has an AED it has had to keep inside, thereby limiting its availability to operating hours of the Spy Valley Cellar Door.

Now, anyone on the property and in the vicinity has access to the device at any time if they need it. Meanwhile, Golden Micro has another AED which it loans to community groups holding events.

“After the AED and cabinet at Mayfield was vandalised, we took possession [of the cabinet] again and have restored it,” Allan said ahead of the delivery. “We’ve been wanting to donate it to someone locally who already has an AED, but one that’s not [publicly available] 24/7. The goal was to find somewhere where there’s a bit of a black spot in terms of 24/7 accessible ones, and so the Waihopai Valley seems a good option.”

Amanda agrees. The winery has staff working different schedules, notably during harvest, and sits in a rural area where agricultural activities take place every day from dawn through dusk and even darkness.

“We’ve talked about it before and looked into it, getting these sorts of weather-proof, lockable AED cabinets, but we never quite got there,” she explained. “When the offer came up from Allan at Golden Micro Solutions, we thought, ‘Oh, gosh, this is perfect!’ We applied, and we were fortunate to get an email from Allan saying they decided to go with us.”

‘How critical it is’

Allan has a personal connection to the cause. Many in Marlborough know that the Udys’ daughter went into cardiac arrest in 2014 and had her life saved by a military veteran who applied CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) until volunteer firefighters and an AED arrived. She now is at Cambridge University in the UK studying for a Master’s degree in law.

Amanda has a similar story, albeit one step removed. Her octogenarian father was playing tennis when a fellow player in the doubles match suffered a heart attack on the court.

“Dad started CPR on his friend,” Amanda shared, “but it was completely exhausting. Someone went and fetched the defib, and it made all the difference. Now my dad’s friend is back playing tennis, where if that [resuscitation] hadn’t been successful, he wouldn’t be here today.

“It’s quite remarkable to hear the first-hand stories,” she added. “It makes you realize how critical it is.”

Visit golden.co.nz/#aed for information about Golden Micro’s AED programme, and spyvalleywine.co.nz for more about the winery.