Meet the lifesavers

Gay Molineaux thought her husband, Chris, had hurt himself when she heard him swear on the driveway at their Stoke home.

‘‘It’s not printable,’’ she said of the four-letter word Chris cried out. ‘‘I initially thought he must have jammed his finger in the [car] door.’’

However, the worryingly shrill sound prompted her to check on Chris, who had been loading furniture into their car.

‘‘He was on his back in the drive, grey and unresponsive.’’

Chris had suffered a cardiac arrest. Gay called 111. St John call handler Kalolaine Palu, of Auckland, took the call and helped to guide Gay through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until St John and fire crews reached the couple.

That 111 call was lodged at 11.34am on April 20 and it took just seven minutes for the first of those responders – St John intensive care paramedic Barney Rennie – to get to them.

‘‘I said three years,’’ Gay joked this week about the time lag when she and a recovered Chris welcomed Palu, Rennie and the other lifesavers to their home.

‘‘The first man I saw was Barney, who came in and said, ‘Could you please move away, lady?’, and I . . . was thinking, ‘Yes, with pleasure’.’’

Gay said it sounded trite but she believed Palu’s guidance and encouragement during those crucial seven minutes was the difference between life and death for Chris.

Palu was calm and collected as she took Gay through CPR. ‘‘I remember with great clarity her saying, ‘You’re doing a great job, keep going – one, two three, four’.’’

Gay also remembered telling Palu that she believed Chris was dead. ‘‘And she said, ‘Keep going, help will be here very soon’.’’

Palu, too, recalled that moment. ‘‘I just remember her saying, ‘It’s OK, love, I think he’s gone’, and I’m, ‘No, no, you can do this’.’’

Palu’s calmness, encouragement and sense of hope were integral, said Gay, who didn’t stop, even though it was the first time she’d performed CPR.

‘‘Any CPR is better than no CPR at all, and that was really what I was doing.’’

Rennie and fellow intensive care paramedic Jon Leach backed Gay’s point about bystander CPR, even if it wasn’t done really well. The early CPR by Gay was a key factor in increasing the chances of bringing her husband back.

Once Rennie, Leach and the rest of the St John team arrived, along with members of the Stoke Volunteer Fire Brigade, Chris was in experienced hands.

Rennie said Chris was defibrillated about nine times, which was a lot. The St John team also intubated him to help with his breathing, and popped in IV access.

As is normally the case, it was the members of the fire brigade who performed the CPR. ‘‘That is their key role,’’ Leach said. ‘‘It frees us up to do the specific skills we do. With them, we become a much more effective unit.’’

For the St John and fire teams involved in the callout, it was unusual to find out what happened to patients after they were taken to hospital.

In this case, Gay had written to the responders, many of whom were volunteers, to express her thanks. ‘‘Each and every one of these people has played a huge part in Chris being here.’’

For Palu, the thank-you gathering was her first trip to Nelson.

‘‘When you get thanks, it makes a massive difference,’’ she said. ‘‘We’re always taking the next call, and we don’t really know what happens. It’s awesome to be able to come to Nelson for the first time, but even more rewarding to come and see Gay and Chris.’’

Chris said he had no recollection of his cardiac arrest. He woke in hospital 21⁄2 days later, wondering what happened. ‘‘I’m fine, thanks to everybody here.’’

More than 2000 New Zealanders go into cardiac arrest each year, and only one in 10 survive.

Along with early CPR, other key factors that increase the likelihood of a successful resuscitation include early recognition of a cardiac arrest, calling 111 for help, and early defibrillation. Apps are available to pinpoint the location of automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

People who know CPR can visit stjohn.org.nz/goodSAM to register and download the GoodSAM Responder App so they can be alerted if a person nearby is in cardiac arrest and needs help. Registered responders who accept a call for help are shown a map to the patient and the location of nearby AEDs.

World Restart A Heart Day is on Tuesday and is supported by St John, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, police and the Heart Foundation.

BRADEN FASTIER/STUFF Stoke resident Chris Molineaux personally thanks St John Ambulance staff and Stoke volunteer firefighters who helped him survive a near-fatal cardiac arrest earlier this year. St John call handler Kalolaine Palu, third from right, helped to guide his wife, Gay, centre, through CPR over the phone.