The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)

‘Heroic’ pair save man who has heart attack in street.

Duo used public access defibrilla­tor to bring elderly man back from the brink

- richard waTT

A “heroic” off-duty nurse and firefighte­r have been praised after a man collapsed on an Angus high street.

The elderly gentleman stopped breathing after going into cardiac arrest in Arbroath High Street at the weekend.

He was brought back from the brink by two passers-by with the right skills to resuscitat­e him with a new public access defibrilla­tor.

The quick-thinking off-duty nurse administer­ed mouth-to-mouth and firefighte­r Scott Robbie used the equipment on him.

When he was breathing he was conveyed by the Scottish Ambulance Service to Ninewells Hospital.

Mr Robbie said: “I was just passing by and saw the woman over him and I went to help.

“We get defibrilla­tor training when we join the fire service and get a refresher after three years.

“Each station has one in the main engine because we’re often the first people at an accident.

“You don’t carry one around, though, so it’s great to have these available to the public.”

The drama unfolded outside the Sun Studio in High Street, with the defibrilla­tor kept yards away outside Thorntons.

Harry Simpson, president of Arbroath Rotary Club, which supplied and commission­ed six of the units around Arbroath and Friockheim following a successful fundraisin­g campaign, said the emergency underlined the importance of having them accessible to the public.

He said: “We’re very lucky to have two off-duty health and emergency services people just passing by when this happened.

“Even when they’re not working, their heroic actions have saved a life.

“If even one life is saved by these units, they are worth their weight in gold.”

Defibrilla­tors are now at the police station in Gravesend, the lifeboat shed, Tesco and Morrisons in town, the square at Thorntons, and Davidson’s the chemist in Friockheim.

Maintenanc­e and training is undertaken by First Responders and Arbroath Rotary Club are very grateful for the support given by local First Responder James Williamson who ensures the defibrilla­tors are properly maintained and to that end Arbroath Rotary Club have just supplied replacemen­t pads which are now being installed across all the machines by Mr Williamson. It is understood the man recovered at the Dundee hospital and was out of bed by Sunday.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We attended in Arbroath High Street after lunchtime on Friday afternoon, following reports of an elderly gentleman suffering cardiac arrest. He was stabilised and taken to Ninewells Hospital for further observatio­n.”

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