27 Sep Defib donation comes from a generous heart to save another

TDHS Meals on Wheels volunteers have already experienced Adrian Till’s generous heart as he has donated chocolate at Easter and Christmas times.

“I’ve been getting Meals on Wheels for two years now and the TDHS volunteers that deliver them go out of their way to give me my meal and it’s always with a friendly chat and smile and that means a lot to me,” Adrian said.

Born in Cobden, he lived in different parts of Australia while working in road maintenance, driving trucks, working on pipelines, and being a farmhand or a deckhand on an abalone vessel. “I’d go where the work was and where help was needed,” he said. “I always wanted to help people and even though I got burned a couple of times, it has never stopped me from trying to help wherever I can.”

Adrian settled back in Timboon in 2018 and was diagnosed ten years ago with emphysema, a lung disease mainly caused by smoking, but other causes include air pollution and chemical fumes. Symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing and fatigue. He stopped smoking in 1996 after a major coughing fit by using one strong “stop smoking” patch for one day and changing his mindset.

“I’ve got an asthma puffer to help me if I need it and with Thunderstorm Asthma season (October through to December) approaching I will definitely be relying on that, as it’s a terrible feeling when you’ve got trouble breathing,” Adrian said.

Adrian’s favourite girl is Rosie, his 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier, who he rescued from the RSPCA in Portland. “I also love a bit of fishing and Rosie will come with me and keeps me company,” he said.

Adrain also enjoys his regular visits with his mate John Wilson, who is a permanent resident at TDHS, and who he has known for almost 60 years. “I love catching up with John, either over the phone or in person, as we have been mates for a long time and we talk about anything,” he said.

During one of these visits, Adrain decided to donate money to TDHS to purchase two defibrillators.

“While visiting John I thought the healthcare service could always use more defibrillators, especially maybe in the physio gym and the Social Support Group area,” Adrian said. “You never know when somebody might need it.”

TDHS chief executive officer Gary Castledine said TDHS is very grateful for Adrian’s thoughtfulness and kindness. Having worked at Ambulance Victoria for about 25 years Gary knows all too well the importance of defibrillators. “Cardiac arrest is unexpected. For every minute a patient doesn’t get CPR/defibrillation, their chances of survival fall,” Gary said. “To make the defibrillators more accessible to the public we’ve installed the two defibrillators donated by Adrian on the outside wall of our physio gym and on the wall next to our Community Health building’s entrance at the top car park.”

A facility map has been included on this page for exact locations.

The defibrillators will also be registered on the Good Sam application, which is a free global smartphone app that alerts responders to someone nearby in cardiac arrest. GoodSAM is linked to the Triple Zero (000) communications centre, so as soon as an ambulance is dispatched, a GoodSAM alert will notify GoodSAM Responders.

For more information and to become a GoodSam Responder please visit https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/goodsam/