Referee ‘wouldn’t have survived’ without help from community
MEMBERS of the public came to the aid of a football referee who collapsed during a match on Sunday morning.
The incident occurred during AFC Ipstones and Tean Rangers game, at Ipstones Recreation Ground.
Several retained firefighters and one former firefighter were among people on the field at the time who instantly came to assist referee Jim Tomlinson.
A heart defibrillator, which is located on the wall on the nearby Memorial Hall, was accessed for treatment along with CPR, while the ambulance service was called.
A paramedic, land ambulance, first responders and the air ambulance attended the incident.
A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “The community did a brilliant job. We received a call at 10.54am to the recreation ground in Ipstones where a referee had suffered a cardiac arrest.
“Some people knew what to do, got a defibrillator and used it up to four times. The patient then started to breath.
“The community have given the patient a chance to be with his family longer and hopefully for many more years.
“We sent a rapid response paramedic who was on the scene in eight minutes, a land ambulance, first responders and the Midland Air Ambulance from Staffordshire to the scene.
“He was anaesthetised by paramedics and was air lifted to the Royal Stoke University Hospital for further treatment.
“The incident has clearly shown the use of the defibrillator and what can be done.”
One of the men on the field at the time was retained firefighter Paul Barks.
He said: “I was doing some work on a fence at the nearby nursery, while I was waiting for something to set I went down to watch the football.
“People were on the pitch when the referee collapsed thinking he had suffered a heart attack.
“Some of us have been trained in first aid and the defibrillator. We started CPR immediately while someone fetched the defibrillator located on the front wall of the hall, we checked the airway and found he had no pulse and was not breathing.
“Once we had the defibrillator we shocked him and got him back.
“The paramedics told us we had done a good job and had given him a good chance.”
The defibrillator has been mounted at the front of the Memorial Hall for about 18 months.
Chairman of the hall committee, Linda Malyon, said that it had been worth every penny.
She said: “This gentleman would not have survived without it. It was the quick thinking of the people involved that has given him a great chance.
“All the people involved along with the emergency crews were great. Everyone was marvellous.”