By YASEMIN TALAT
ISON Village residents were thrilled last week when they were presented with a defibrillator from Bendigo Bank.
The residents have been fund-raising for a defibrillator for a few months but struggled to meet their target.
Housing For The Aged Action Group Deputy Chairperson, Bob Purves said the residents fund-raised by holding trivia nights, selling raffle tickets and organising activity days.
“It was a lot of hard work because there are only between 40 and 50 residents and it’s taken quite a while to raise funds,” Mr Purves said.
Mr Purves said a minor incident in the village sparked concern for the lack of medical equipment available to the residents.
The residents had barely raised half the money needed to buy a defibrillator when Mr Purves stepped in to help source more funds.
“I started to ring around some of the contacts that I know,” Mr Purves said.
“I spoke to the local Bendigo Bank branch and told them about our situation.”
Bendigo Bank’s Werribee branch helped contribute the rest of the funds to buy the defibrillator for the small community.
Mr Purves said Bendigo Bank customer relations manager Mary Dimovska was their guiding light.
“When I asked her about it she became involved straight away,” he said.
Bendigo Bank branch manager Dino Gulizia presented the defibrillator to Ison Village resident Nigel Warrington last Wednesday.
Mr Warrington was the first to initiate the fund-raiser.
“We want to say thankyou to the bank and residents,” Mr Purves said.
