Having an AED, or automated external defibrillator, on hand can be the difference between life and death, but they need to be accessible at any time.
North Shore resident Graeme Selkirk is on a mission to save lives, constructing waterproof cabinets to house AEDs.
Selkirk's wife Wendy said he constructed the first cabinet in his shed when she was diagnosed with a "very minor heart condition".
"He sort of came home saying, 'Well, I think you need a defib'," she said.
But instead of putting the defibrillator in his house, Selkirk put it outside his gate so anyone in the neighbourhood could use it.
"We did a whip around with the neighbours," he explained.
"The community feels pretty safe with it."
He then invited Laura from St John over to help train them on how to use it.
"You only have seven minutes before they potentially could start to have brain damage or die," she said.
And the defibrillator has already been put to use.
Selkirk's made many more cabinets since – in fact, St John puts the number at over 800.
“He’s helped the whole of New Zealand because they are all over the place,” Laura said.
"This is the start of what we want to achieve – getting an AED on every street."
"It's worth its weight having it there," Selkirk added.
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