CPR skills a must
THE frantic banging on the front door began just minutes into the televised coverage of a Geelong AFL game earlier this year.
Standing outside our holiday apartment overlooking a quiet stretch of the Noosa River was a middle-aged stranger, wearing boardies, Hawaiian shirt and thongs, in obvious distress. “Come with me,” he said. “He’s collapsed and he’s not moving.”
In the adjoining apartment, face down on the floor, was his mate, a big man who he said lived alone and had been ill for some time.
It took both of us to roll the man onto his back.
His face was covered in blood from the fall, he was not breathing and there was no pulse.
I checked his airways; clear. But there was no movement; nothing.
The stranger started talking on his mobile to a 000 operator, then asked me to wait outside for an ambulance.
A few minutes standing on the darkened street at the front of the accommodation complex seemed senseless, so I ran back to help.
The stranger — he never told me his name, only that he lived locally — was pushing on his mate’s chest with one hand, and holding the mobile with the other while repeating instructions from the oper- ator. With his mate unconscious, showing no sign of life, his body clammy and face ashen, the stranger became more distraught.
Without a word, he handed over the phone, then stood a metre away rooted to the spot He appeared to be in shock. That’s when training as a lifesaver at Torquay many, many years ago kicked in.
When I told the operator there was no change in the man’s condition, he asked if I knew CPR. Affirmative. “Then give him the best chance you can,” he said.
To this day I cannot recall how long before the ambulance arrived, but I was still applying chest compressions when five paramedics ran into the apartment.
One asked if I was OK to continue CPR while they evaluated the man’s condition, unpacked a defibrillator, needles and other gear, and fired off questions about what had happened.
As they went to work, I left the apartment and kept clear until they stretchered the man to an ambulance out front.
The paramedics were too focused to talk about the man’s condition.
I never saw the man again, but was told by another of his friends next day: “The ambos lost him three times. He had a very weak pulse when they took him away. He’s now on life support.”
He said the stranger who knocked on our door was “still a mess, but we are keeping an eye on him”.
The adjoining apartment was still empty, with curtains drawn, when we checked out several days later to return home to Geelong.
We heard nothing more about the man or the stranger until I inquired recently.
The Sunshine Coast Queensland Ambulance Service reported the team of paramedics successfully resuscitated the man en route to hospital. He was lucky. The lesson I gained from this incident?
Every adult, every young person, every parent, should learn basic first aid, particularly CPR.
Make a genuine effort, a real commitment, to sign up to a course conducted by one of the many authorised agencies; just Google it.
As was the case with the stranger at our door, first aid skills cannot be learned in an emergency situation.
You may never be called on to put your training into practice, but never say never. It could save someone’s life. Graeme Vincent is a former Geelong Advertiser editor.