Paramedic teaches old dog lifesaving new trick
Ambulance worker teaches pet to help out
A SCOTS ambulance technician has taught her dog to help people save lives.
Shetland sheepdog Fenton stars in a new video that shows how easy it is to do CPR if someone suffers a cardiac arrest.
In the promo, Kaylee Garrick’s prized pet uses a computer to answer an emergency call before donning a Superman-style outfit and dashing off to do CPR.
The video, made in silent movie style, shows Kaylee enjoying a day out when her companion – a first aid dummy – falls ill.
Fenton puts her front paws on to the dummy and repeatedly presses the chest.
Animal lover Kaylee, 29, from Scalloway in Shetland, has six sheepdogs and an Alaskan Klee Kai.
She said: “Fenton is seven and is the oldest and the cleverest of my dogs. I can rely on her for anything. She is one in a million.”
Kaylee came up with the idea for the video as she is concerned about the number of people who don’t know how to carry out basic life-saving skills.
She intends to use it with demonstrations on CPR. Kaylee said: “It took a long while to teach Fen how to get on and off the dummy. It’s got a mechanical ram fitted in the middle of it and I rigged it up myself.
“I taught Fen to ‘get on the chest’ while I work a switch which moves the chest up and down, like she’s doing CPR.
“She’s too small to move the chest herself, so I had to think up a way of helping it look real.” She added: “I’ve started a campaign to promote doing CPR, to improve the likelihood of people surviving a pre-hospital cardiac arrest.
“It scares me how many shouts I’ve attended where no form of basic life support has taken place prior to our arrival. This is based on fear and a lack of knowledge on what to do in these situations.
“I created a silly video to introduce people to CPR and used Fenton not only to grab the public’s attention but also to help ease them into what can be a difficult subject to talk about.”