Former Wiggle and cardiac arrest survivor Greg Page and his celebrity friends are on a mission to set a new world record while saving thousands of Aussie lives.
Just a few months ago, Australia nearly lost beloved former Wiggle Greg Page when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of a bushfire relief concert while on stage with The Wiggles. Greg was one of only 10% of Aussies that are saved from cardiac arrest each year. Now, Greg, The Wiggles, and some surprise celebrity guests are joining forces with Surf Life Saving NSW and Nextdoor to shatter the world record for the most people trained in CPR and AED (Automated External Defibrillation) in one virtual class. Just by dialing into this fun, free session, you can keep the “Heart of the Neighbourhood” beating and save countless Aussie lives.
The Australian neighbourhood with the most registered attendees for the training class will win a Grand Prize, including a special song about their neighbourhood composed and performed by Greg and his celebrity friends, a free AED for a central community location, and a neighbourhood celebration ( in line with Covid-19 restrictions) courtesy of Nextdoor. Every Australian will automatically be entered to win by registering for the free class at nextdoor.com.au/heartoftheneighbourhood.
Hosted by Greg and friends on the 19th of September, at 7pm AEST, the 30-minute “Heart of the Neighbourhood” edu-tainment live stream will include musical performances, a training session from SLSNSW, surprise celebrity guests, and a special performance of “Hot Potato”, (the song Greg didn’t get to perform in January) by the Original Wiggles – performing together live for the first time since Greg’s cardiac arrest.
Every year there are approximately 30,000 cases of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) within Australia, with the majority occurring outside a hospital setting. The survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is only 10%. That means that for every one person that survives an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, nine die. This is one of the worst survival rates in the world. The good news is that bystander CPR and early use of a defibrillator increases the chance of survival by around 70%.
A number of bystanders saved Greg’s life by administering CPR and then acting fast to use the club’s AED. Greg now runs Heart of the Nation – a not for profit organisation that aims to get as many AEDs into the community as possible, as well as acknowledge those businesses, community groups and organisations that have them on site. It’s no small feat and this mission has become his main focus and passion.
This year, Greg wants to set a record for the largest number of people to be involved in a CPR and AED training class and says that “given that the Australian Resuscitation Council states that;
‘Any attempt at resuscitation is better than no attempt’ our goal is to get as many people as possible educated about this mantra, and confident enough to have a go at CPR if they ever need to.”
Jennie Sager, Head of Nextdoor Australia says that, “We are absolutely thrilled to be working with Greg and his team to improve the health of our communities. Our mission is to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighbourhood to rely on and research shows that mental and physical health improve in communities where neighbours are strongly connected. This virtual session with Greg and friends is a fun way to kickstart that connection and potentially save a life.”
REGISTRATION IS OPEN TO ALL AUSTRALIANS. TO ATTEND the free virtual training session, register at nextdoor.com.au/heartoftheneighbourhood.
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