First Aid Corps

The life of a gym-goer was saved after he collapsed – in a room full of exercising nurses.

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The heart attack victim was working out at a health club in Fife, accompanied by four nurses, three of whom work in the same ward.

Ciara Grealis the Saviour

As soon as the man collapsed, the nurses sprang in to action, keeping him alive using CPR and a defibrillator until an ambulance arrived.

The patient was then transported to the nurses’ own hospital, Queen Margaret, Dunfermline.

A defibrillator donated to the club seven years ago by a heart charity was used during the emergency at Bannatyne’s Health Club at Fife Leisure Park.

The man, who has not been named, is said to be recovering.

Queen Margaret staff nurse Heather Bryson was having a work-out in the gym with ward colleagues Katharine Sharpe and Ciara Grealis when the man collapsed.

Also in the gym at the time was a fourth nurse from the Queen Margaret and another health professional.

Heather said: “We were all in the gym when we saw the commotion and a lot of people around the man.

“It just so happened that he collapsed and there were five of us at the gym at the time. We all took turns doing CPR. There were loads of people there.

“We used the defibrillator. The sweat was stopping the pads from sticking. He got shocked twice and it probably helped. It was the shock that the paramedic gave him that worked and got him breathing again.

“You replay it over in your head. We’ve talked about it all the time to make sure we did everything we could. It was just a big relief when he made it.

“I went to see him in hospital and he’s doing well. He’s a lucky man.”

Katharine said, “It was good that there were a few of us because one person couldn’t have kept it up alone until the ambulance arrived.

Scott Niven, the club’s general manager, said, “Our team of trained first aiders came to the member’s aid quickly and efficiently and were assisted by a group of members including health care professionals who were very supportive in the time before the ambulance arrived.

“I want to thank these members for their efforts.

“This was a perfect example of the community atmosphere at the health club.

“We wish the gentleman well with his recovery and look forward to welcoming him back to the club.”

A MELBOURNE woman who was clinically dead for almost 20 minutes was saved by first aid-savvy strangers.

Family of Leanne Jackson

Leanne Jackson collapsed two weeks ago in Scoresby while she was walking the dog with her husband, Victoria Police Inspector and Foundation Training manager Glenn Jackson.

Her heart began quivering, preventing blood from pumping to her body and brain.

“It was like the worst feeling in my life, times 100,” Inspector Jackson told the Herald Sun.

Keeping their dog’s leash secured in one hand, he used his other hand to brace her fall.

A cyclist who pulled over to help then held their dog and called an ambulance.

Another couple stopped and helped with CPR, taking instructions from an emergency operator.

“Nothing was working, she was blue,” Mrs Jackson’s sister-in-law Sue Ulbrick said.

Ambulance Victoria Advanced life support paramedic Patrick Donaldson said Mrs Jackson was clinically dead when they arrived.

“We shocked her four times before her heart started beating again,” Mr Donaldson said.

“We had no idea if she was going to pull through or not,” Mrs Ulbrick said.

Last Friday she was taken out of an induced coma.

“Not only was she alive, but she was walking and talking,” she said.

“By Tuesday she was on Facebook.”

MonashHeart director Professor Ian Meredith said ventricular fibrillation was caused by a chaotic electrical rhythm.

“The CPR actually kept her alive by keeping blood flowing to her brain,” he said.

She now has an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator which acts as a pacemaker and defibrillator.

“Without the help of those people who came to her aid, she wouldn’t be here,” Insp Jackson said.

Insp Jackson is desperate to find those who helped save his wife’s life so he returned to Ferntree Gully Rd and held up a sign saying: “Thank you. She lived.”

Allan Robertson would almost certainly be dead today had he’d suffered his sudden cardiac arrest somewhere else.

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The 57-year-old St. Albert father of three collapsed at a pickup soccer game Nov. 14 in the Edmonton Soccer Centre South. His heart stopped, cutting off the blood’s supply of oxygen and nutrients to his brain. At a time when his risk of brain damage and death climbed by the second, there was an automated external defibrillator (AED) nearby and one of Robertson’s teammates was an off-duty emergency medical technician who knew how to use it.

“I remember warming up and joking with one of my buddies, ‘Gee, look at us. We’re the oldest two here,’ ” Robertson said Friday at a news conference on the field where it happened.

“The next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital.”

Matt Austin, 37, was in net at the other end of the indoor field when he saw Robertson lying face-down on the ground.

“Since I didn’t see the play, I guess I assumed initially it was a head injury,” said the Edmonton man, who has been an EMT for three years and works in Camrose.

Matt Austin the Saviour and Allan Robertson the Survivor

Austin quickly realized Robertson wasn’t breathing. He started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and told teammates to call 911 and get the defibrillator the soccer centre keeps near the front door.

“I attached it right away and gave him his first shock after it advised me to do that,” Austin said. “I didn’t feel any pulse or breathing or anything like that again, so I started compressions, did a couple rounds of that, and he took two breaths and his eyes opened for a second.”

After two more rounds of CPR, Robertson gasped for air and opened his eyes. “Within 30 seconds of that, he was actually trying to get off the turf here. He was trying to get up. I said, ‘No, Al, you’ve got to stay down. Stay where you’re at. The ambulance is on its way.’ ”

Approximately four minutes passed between the time Robertson collapsed and when Austin revived him and he tried to get up. The ambulance arrived a few minutes after that, Austin said.

“The brain doesn’t go very long without oxygen. Three to five minutes, they say, is the average, so without early intervention with either CPR or AED or, ideally, both, the possibility of recovery is a lot less.”

Austin said his training took over during the dramatic events. “CPR, I’ve done many times but I’ve never had positive results out of it. By the time an ambulance gets there, if CPR hasn’t been initiated, we’re outside that three- to five-minute window just about always. If CPR hadn’t been started by the so-called bystander, the results would have been a lot worse.”

Robertson was taken to the Grey Nuns Hospital where he had surgery to implant a defibrillator that keeps his heart pumping properly.

Doctors told him the cardiac arrest was caused by a heart abnormality called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which Robertson might have inherited. Robertson doesn’t know yet if he’ll be able to play soccer again, something he’s done twice a week for the past 20 years.

He had no indication of heart trouble before the cardiac arrest.

“I’m just so thankful to be here with everyone and I’m so thankful to Matt,” Robertson said. “Fortunately, Matt was here that day.”

Roberson is convinced he would have died had his cardiac arrest happened during another soccer game he plays every week.

“I play soccer with another group as well, on Friday night, and if this had happened at that venue, they don’t have a defibrillator there. I asked the guys after I visited there, ‘Does anybody know CPR?’ and of the guys that were there, not one knew CPR.”

Robertson’s wife, Karen, said her husband had “a real guardian angel with him that day.” The incident has helped the Robertsons focus on what’s really important in life, such as friends and family, she said.

Austin said he is grateful he could make such a difference to the lives of so many people who love Robertson, including Robertson’s wife and three adult kids.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Austin said. “It’s an incredible feeling. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

You wish you never have to use it, but if you do you’re glad it’s there.

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That was the case at the Nov. 11 when the quick work of emergency personnel and effective use of a public access defibrillator saved the life of an Orleans man at the Smiths Falls Memorial Community Centre.

Joe McGrath was there to watch his grandson Connor play a Central Canada Hockey League game for the hometown Bears against the visiting Cumberland Grads. Towards the end of the first period, the gentleman passed out after his heart stopped as a result of cardiac arrhythmia.

Almost immediately, volunteer firefighter Paul Bisonette left his spot at the rink and came to his aid. He administered CPR while awaiting the arrival of the defibrillator that was on site at the rink.

Equipment manager Tom Arnold knew exactly where it was located and left the players bench to retrieve the vital equipment and rush it to the scene.

By then, Bears’ trainer Dale McCabe, a Lanark County paramedic, was also on hand and ready to place the pads and administer the initial shock to get the heart beating again.

Within seconds after resuming CPR, the gentleman’s breathing returned and he was even able to utter some words to those around him.

Having returned to life, emergency personnel were able to transport Mr. McGrath across the road to the Smiths Falls hospital before he was transferred to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Ottawa.

Some might call it a miracle. That so many capable individuals would be on site and be ready to take action to save this person’s life is truly remarkable. There are no words, Mr. McGrath says, to describe the thanks he has for all of them.

When it comes to saving lives, there’s no such thing as “off-duty.”

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Paramedic Bruce Binda saved his teammate’s life when the man suffered a heart attack while playing hockey at a local arena around 11 a.m. Saturday.

“He collapsed on his hands and knees,” said Binda, who has been an emergency worker for 21 years but wasn’t on duty Saturday. “I thought he was injured.”

Still on the ice, Binda immediately began CPR and used the public Automated External Defibrillator, shocking the 41-year-old man three times.

Binda’s colleagues arrived and took over, transporting the man to hospital, where he’s conscious and speaking.

Paramedic Supt. Steven Leu said Binda is “one of the guys who, ironically, took the day off.”

The men were playing a regular-season game, said Binda, adding his friend of 10 years is married with two children.

“I’m pretty happy with the result,” said Binda.