Te Puke St John in innovative medical emergency initiative

Countdown Te Puke senior manager Brendon Hack (left) performs CPR with store manager Wynand Kruger, as Te Puke St John emergency medical technician Tupaea Rollinson and area committee chairwoman Lyn Govenlock look on.

There's no telling where or when a medical event can take place.

Could be in the supermarket, the cafe or the hairdressers.

By the end of the month, some of the town's business owners and managers will be better equipped to help thanks to a St John initiative called Shocktober.

Once a week this month, St John staff will visit a business for a "flash CPR and AED" scenario.

The first one was last week at Countdown Te Puke, where a member of staff "collapsed", triggering the scenario where another had to administer CPR while a third had to "fetch" an AED by tagging it.

In reality, CPR was performed on a mannequin and the AED was one used for training.

The supermarket has its own AED, but other businesses won't, so staff will have to go to the nearest available AED to "tag" it to simulate fetching it and taking it to the medical emergency scene.

St John Te Puke area committee chairwoman Lyn Govenlock says the thinking behind Shocktober is to raise awareness of CPR and the need to know where the AEDs are in the community.

"So what we are asking [businesses] to do is to have a plan for when someone drops in your shop."

There is an AED outside Te Puke Library. That won't necessarily be the nearest, because some clinics and health providers also have them, but these might not be available to take or they may be closed.

Other businesses taking part include Marigold Cafe, Barbz Hairdressing and Te Puke Fitness. They will all get a St John first aid kit for taking part.

Countdown Te Puke store manager Wynand Kruger says he thinks Shocktober is a fantastic initiative for the community.

"It's a really good opportunity for us to just refresh our own learning and to be aware of situations like and to support St John," he says.

Several staff members are first aiders and trained to use the AED.

"When it does happen it will be a stressful situation, but we know what we are doing," he says.

Lyn says being on business premises makes the scenario more realistic than it would be in a training room.

She says other businesses are welcome to contact St John if they want to run similar scenarios, although only those taking part this month will get first aid kits.