Young Charli’s cool head saves mum’s life
“MY mum woke up at 6.30 this morning,” young Charli Johnson can be heard on the end of the phone.
“She was throwing up. I had to make my own lunch and everything,” the nine-year-old adds.
“She was asleep all day. She just got up, opened the door, she kneeled to the ground and just fainted.”
It is about 4.30pm on July 14 and Charli is on the line to triple-0. Moments later she is heard performing CPR on her mum Sharon Williams, counting along with QAS medical dispatcher Anne Barklimore as she does so.
“Charli, for a nine-year-old, you are doing a really good job,” the operator tells her.
“Keep going OK. You’re doing really well.
“… You are doing such a good job, that you knew to call triple-0, I’m so proud of you. You’ve done a really good job helping your mum today. You’ve got her breathing again. And the paramedics are on their way to you. That is so good.”
As Ms Williams had not been breathing properly when Charli called, Ms Barklimore said it was likely the Helensvale State School student had saved her mum’s life.
“She had her wits about her. She followed instruction. We could check her mum’s breathing. It wasn’t enough,” Ms Barklimore said.
“... She told me that she’d watched a television show I’d never heard of called ‘Operation Ouch’, and that had shown kids how to deal with calls and deal with CPR. I was really impressed.
“The mum in me just came out. I wanted to give her a big hug. She didn’t need me, she knew what she was doing.
“... She saved her mum’s life that day.”
Charli was on Friday recognised for her bravery at a special ceremony at Southport Ambulance Station.
QAS Assistant Commissioner Drew Hebbron, who heads the service on the Gold Coast, said what Charli had done was extraordinary.
“The ambulance service doesn’t exist in isolation from the community,” Mr Hebron said. “I think from the moment she made the Triple-0 call she was part of the team. We’re just so proud of the job she did.
“It was a great result. It was wonderful to hear how calm she was on that call.”
Ms Williams said she was astonished by her daughter’s actions, which left her “very proud”.
“I was sick earlier in the morning so it turns out I had a viral infection with a migraine. I think I just fainted,” she said.
“I’m surprised Charli did what she did, she surprised me.
“I hadn’t taught her CPR. We’d gone over our address, my phone number. We hadn’t actually done it for a while but she’s obviously retained it.
“I think the most important message I’d like to give is teach your children their address, their phone number and to use Triple-0 only in an emergency.”
Charli said she was a little “scared” performing the CPR on her mum, but knew something was badly wrong when her mum fell.
“It was a loud bang, that’s for sure”, she said.
“... It was basically like an hour and a half after I got home from school and mum came out of her room and just fainted.
“I checked if she was awake and still breathing and then I went to call Triple-0.
“I thought something was wrong.”
Following her experience, the nine-year-old said she hoped to become a paramedic after she finishes school.
“Because I want to teach kids to learn their address and just do the right thing when something happens,” she said.