Shocktober is our month-long campaign which takes place during October every year. It aims to highlight the importance of learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).
This Shocktober
Learn Call Push Shock
Learn how to perform CPR and use an AED
Sign-up to GoodSAM
GoodSAM is a free app that helps save lives.
Learn about AEDs
Find an AED
Search the AED registry and view AED locations on a map.
Register my AED
Register your AED to help connect AEDs with people who need them.
Why is it important?
Every day around 21 Victorians suffer a cardiac arrest, with only one in 10 surviving. That’s why immediate action is critical.
A cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood effectively around the body.
For every minute that CPR is delayed, survival decreases by 10 per cent. But when a patient receives CPR and a shock from an AED before paramedics arrive, their chance of survival more than doubles.
Restart A Heart Day
Restart A Heart Day on 16 October is part of the Shocktober campaign and is a global initiative to raise awareness and educate our community about learning CPR and how to use an AED.
By knowing how to perform CPR and use an AED we can improve cardiac arrest survival rates and help save lives, together.
Community events this year
We’ll be out and about across Victoria this October, connecting with locals and teaching our community all about AEDs and CPR. Come and find us at one of our upcoming community events.
Community resources
Translated resources
Call Push Shock resources are available in multiple languages to help everyone understand important health information.
Stakeholder resources
Download Shocktober images, graphics and videos to share on social media channels.
Shocktober stories
Twelve shocks help save the life of truck driver in cardiac arrest
A truck driver has defied the odds to survive a heart attack and cardiac arrest in the sleeper cabin of his vehicle.
More Victorians ready to Restart a Heart
Community members in 12 Victorian towns are now well equipped to help save the life of someone in cardiac arrest – the towns graduating this month as Heart Safe Communities.
Ray’s second chance thanks to the chain of survival
Ray Riehm is a familiar face at his local swimming pool, where he regularly swims laps to stay active. But in early February, his routine took a dramatic turn when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
Bowlers band together to save fellow player’s life
Geelong man, Richard Sinclair is alive today thanks to the quick actions of others, after a cardiac arrest while playing lawn bowls almost took his life in June.
Shocktober 2025 community events
We’ll be out and about across Victoria this October, connecting with locals and teaching our community all about AEDs and CPR. Come and find us at these upcoming community events.
Be a heart starter this Shocktober
Ambulance Victoria has launched its annual Shocktober campaign, inviting Victorians to learn or refresh their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills and sign up to be a GoodSAM responder.
Young workmates save a life thanks to CPR and a workplace defibrillator
When 69-year-old Peter Newell collapsed suddenly at his workplace earlier this year, it was the quick actions of two of his young colleagues that saved his life.
Harry's chance to say thanks to his heroes
Cape Woolamai local Matt Ware attended an AV Call, Push, Shock session last Shocktober never expecting he would soon need to use the skills he had learned.
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