New Zealand owned and operated Scenic Hotel Group has taken its “caring for guests” to another level with the rollout of automated external defibrillators (AED’s) throughout its hotel chain that stretches from the Bay of Islands in the far north to Southland and across to the Pacific Island of Niue.

Group Managing Director, Brendan Taylor says “guest welfare is paramount to the hotel and the installation of an AED in every hotel is an extension of the many and varied community and environmental initiatives that the group already participates in.”

Scenic Hotel Group has procured the AEDs from local company, Heart Saver NZ Ltd. Managing Director, Mike Mander, himself an EMT who is also celebrating 21 years as a volunteer firefighter applauds the move, which he says can be genuinely “lifesaving.”

With many of the Scenic Hotel properties hosting events and conferences, guest numbers rise and so too does the associated risk for a significant health event, which Brendan says “We want to be as well prepared and equipped to deal with until an emergency medic can attend.” Brendan also points to the hotels taking a proactive step toward elevated health and safety requirements which are particularly pertinent in the area of events and conferences and aim to offer professional conference organisers and clients the peace of mind that these devices are available at their hotel.

The easy to use, voice guided devices will be wall mounted in the main public areas of each hotel in early September.

‘Heart Saver’ facts:

  • SCA (sudden cardiac arrest) occurs in 1500 people each year in NZ – this is THREE times greater than the national road toll
  • SCA is the leading cause of death in adults
  • SCA often occurs suddenly and drastically, with no warning. Other patients may have symptoms such as fatigue, chest pain, fainting, weakness and shortness of breath, black-outs or vomiting. The scary things is that unlike a heart attack, SCA can happen to anyone, no matter how fit or healthy you are.
  • When suffering an SCA, each minute that defibrillation is delayed will reduce the chance of survival by 7-10 percent
  • An automated external defibrillator (AED) combined with CPR is the most effective way to restore a person’s heartbeat during SCA. When administered within two minutes of the event, chances of survival increase by 90%.
  • Median call to location interval for St John is 12 minutes (remembering that every minute counts in the use of an AED)
  • There should be 10,000 AEDs in New Zealand to bring us to international comparative standard; currently there are about 4,500 units (anecdotal).
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