Potentially life-saving defibrillator installed at Mackey Park
Inner West Council has supported the installation of an automatic electronic defibrillator at Mackey Park.
The AED system, the first NSW defibrillator installed in NSW as a result of the Heartbeat of Football program, was unveiled yesterday by Socceroos Tim Cahill and Bailey Wright, who also launched the program.
Other guests included Chairman of the Cardiac Arrest Survival Foundation Dr Donald Dingsdag, Secretary of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Deployment Registry Sophie York, Heartbeat of Football’s Andy Paschalidis, and Interim General Manager of Inner West Council Vanessa Chan.
Tim Cahill’s junior club was Marrickville Red Devils, whose home ground is Mackey Park. He said it was where he scored his first header, and that he was pleased to back in Australia to launch the Heartbeat of Football program.
Inner West Council Interim General Manager Vanessa Chan said Council was proud to assist in the installation of the potentially life-saving device.
“I congratulate Andy Paschalidis, the former SBS/Fox Sports presenter, who is the driving force behind the Heartbeat of Football program,” Ms Chan said.
“When we were approached by Heartbeat of Football to install their first defibrillator at Mackey Park we didn’t hesitate to assist.
“In fact we are honoured that Mackey Park is the first installation in the planned roll-out across Sydney, which includes Jubilee Oval in Kogarah, Belmore Sports Ground, Doyle Park in North Parramatta, and Cromer Park,” Ms Chan said.
For a print quality image of yesterday’s unveiling and launch, contact the Communication team.