Marine Rescue NSW volunteers in the southern Illawarra region now have new life-saving equipment after receiving a National Australia Bank Foundation community grant.
NAB Senior Private Client Manager David Novakovic presented a cheque for $9,680 to fund eight Jon Buoys which will be distributed amongst the Jervis Bay, Shoalhaven, Sussex Inlet, Ulladulla and Kioloa Marine Rescue units.
Marine Rescue Jervis Bay Unit Commander Kevin Hill said a Jon Buoy is essentially a one-man recovery system or life raft.
“We’ve been able to adapt it to so many more uses than that.
“We recently had an exercise with the Sussex Inlet unit with their rescue watercraft and there were some people on the beach being resuscitated.
“There was a need to deploy onto the beach the oxygen set as well as the defibrillator and they couldn’t get anywhere close enough to the boat.
“So what we did was put the oxygen kit and the defibrillator into one of these Jon Buoys and they were able to tow it into the shore where it was needed, so another versatile use for that particular piece of equipment,” Unit Commander Hill said.
Mr Novakovic said the National Australia Bank Foundation was pleased to support such a vital piece of life-saving equipment.
“As we’ve heard from the stories, the benefits that would have been in place had the Jon Buoys been part of the inventory would have been amazing.
“It’s going to allow for more versatility going forward and for safer rescues to take place in the future,” Mr Novakovic said.
The Jervis Bay Unit Commander said the support shown by the NAB Foundation is greatly appreciated and the generosity will benefit boaters on the South Coast.
“I cannot stress enough how grateful we are as a unit but more importantly how NAB are going to support Marine Rescue NSW,” Mr Hill said.
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