Countdown shoppers in Bethlehem and Papamoa are assured help is just a heartbeat away if their heart stops.

The Progressive Enterprises supermarkets have had automated external defibrillators installed and St John is providing training to supermarket staff.

St John district operations manager Jeremy Gooders says more than 1000 people go into cardiac arrest out of hospital in New Zealand every year and only eight per cent survive.

'If someone goes into sudden cardiac arrest, immediately dialling 111 and performing CPR is essential, but it's not always good enough to ensure they survive,” says Jeremy.

'Patients also need to receive a safe electric shock from a defibrillator to restart the heart.”

Progressive Enterprises national safety health and environment manager Bruce McKinnon says about $50,000 has been invested in the new equipment.

'To identify where the AEDs could be most needed we completed a national risk assessment by looking at the locations of sites, the number of people in them and the average response times of ambulance teams,” says Bruce.

'Our supermarkets are very busy places and having an AED available is important for our team and the communities they support.”