Lifesaving heart machines arrive in Broome

Five new life-saving defibrillators will be at the ready at prominent locations around Broome, with the units being brought up to the Kimberley from Perth last week.

A defibrillator is a device which delivers a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to a person's heart when it has stopped pumping.

The defibrillators will be located at Broome Turf Club, Roebuck Bay Caravan Park, Life and Soul Health Club, Broome Surf Life Saving Club and Broome Police Station.

St John Ambulance WA first-responder program manager Sally Simmonds travelled to Broome to give a demonstration on the technology's use to representatives from the respective locations last Tuesday.

The cost of the defibrillators, which retail at $2400 each, has been covered by Woodside Energy, with the individual locations responsible for the cost and responsibility of the units' upkeep.

Simmonds said the presence of the Heartstart Automated External Defibrillators could be the difference between life and death for someone who has a cardiac arrest.

"This donation empowers people living in Broome to use the defibrillator and potentially save someone's life in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest," she said.

"When someone has a cardiac arrest, time is of the absolute essence - up to 33,000 people die of cardiac arrest a year.

"More often than not, someone on the scene with a defibrillator will save a cardiac arrest victim's life, not a nurse or paramedic."

The number of defibrillators in Broome has now expanded to 11, with the first-responder system operating in more than 460 locations across WA.