Emergency services are calling on the public to lift the number of cardiac arrest survivors.
It's Restart a Heart Day and St John Ambulance wants more people to learn CPR.
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St John medical director, Dr Tony Smith, says five people a day suffer cardiac arrest and the chances of survival remain stubbornly low.
"Only one in 10 of those people survive, so this means that our toll from cardiac arrest is higher than our road toll," he told Newshub.
Dr Smith said cardiac arrest can hit anyone, without warning.
"The average age is around the mid-sixties so these are not old people and of course on average it means 50 percent of the people would be younger than their mid-sixties," he said.
Technology can help, Dr Smith said people need to know how to use defibrillators and can use apps to help them perform CPR.
"There are lots of apps that help with it and we just really encourage people to know about cardiac arrest and know how easy it is to save someone's life," he said.
Newshub.
