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Care Opinion

Cardiac Arrest with Paramedic and Passers-by intervention.

Posted By KenForres

"Cardiac Arrest with Paramedic and Passers-by intervention."

About: Aberdeen Royal Infirmary / Cardiology / Coronary Care Unit Dr Gray's Hospital / Cardiology (Heart Conditions) Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance

(as the patient),

In Feb 2017 I was playing football in Findhorn with friends. Late in the game I suffered a blow to the head and immediately did not feel right. I realised I had a concussion and after being sick I got my mate Dave to drive me in my car to the hospital.

5mins into the drive I suddenly lost consciousness in the passenger seat. Dave, having had extensive CPR training, immediately acted to get me out of the car onto the ground and begin CPR. a number of Passers-by stopped to assist- to whom I will be forever grateful, they called 999, assisted with CPR and importantly spent time with my young daughter who was witnessing events from the back seat of the car!

19mins of excellent CPR later by Dave and another pal Eric and the paramedics arrived. They promptly proceeded to continue CPR and apply defibrilator. Their not giving up on me and persistence with giving me 7 shocks ensured a heart rhythm was reestablished. The tireless efforts of the trained members of the local community along with expert care from the paramedics. gave me the fighting chance I needed to recover.

16days later with my Internal Cardiover Defibrillator fitted I was allowed to leave ARI. During my 2 weeks there I was looked after like a king by some of the loveliest most caring nursing staff you could ever hope to meet.

So I have been home for a week now and am fully on my feet walking in the woods and on the beach. No end of visitors and cups of coffee!

This is an experience not to be forgotten and I have no idea how many people were involved in my care throughout this process but I am thankful to every single one of them.

The NHS should be proud of you all because without your input I would not be filling out this form!

This is a testament to CPR training to be given to as much of the population as possible and the roll out of more and more Defibrillators throughout Scotland to give every victim of a cardiac episode the same fighting chance I was given!

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Responses

Response from Martin Esposito, Consultant Paramedic - Major Trauma, Clinical Directorate, Scottish Ambulance Service 7 years ago
Martin Esposito
Consultant Paramedic - Major Trauma, Clinical Directorate,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 16/03/2017 at 12:29
Published on Care Opinion at 12:35

picture of Martin Esposito

Dear KenForres

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing story on Patient Opinion.

In line with the Scottish Government’s Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy, there is a huge amount of work ongoing to improve the survival rates of those who suffer a cardiac arrest out of hospital. One of the keys to the success of this is optimising the chain of survival with early, high quality bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation being part of this. Your story is a fantastic example of how important and life saving this can be.

From the information that you have provided I have managed to identify the ambulance staff that treated you on that day and I will ensure that your thanks are passed onto them. On behalf of the Scottish Ambulance Service, can I ask you to pass on my thanks to your friends Dave and Eric and the other bystanders who assisted for their outstanding achievement. Even with training, it must have been extremely difficult for them having to carry out CPR on one of their friends.

I agree with your thoughts on CPR training and the roll out of Defibs. As part of the national strategy we are a partner in ‘Save a Life for Scotland,’ which aims to train 500,000 people in CPR skills. We have just launched our ‘Registration to Resuscitation’ campaign aimed at mapping public access defibrillators across Scotland. More details about this can be found on our website.

Finally, the pre-hospital element is only one part of the story and I was pleased to hear about the care that you received at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and glad to hear of your recovery.

Thank you again for sharing and I wish you well with your ongoing recovery........please go easy on the coffee though!

Take care

Martin.

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Response from Fiona Robertson, Chief Nurse, Dr Gray's Hospital & Moray HSCP, NHS Grampian 7 years ago
Fiona Robertson
Chief Nurse, Dr Gray's Hospital & Moray HSCP,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 16/03/2017 at 23:54
Published on Care Opinion on 17/03/2017 at 09:40

Dear KenForres,

Like Martin I would like to thank you for sharing your amazing story and to acknowledge the heroic actions of your friends and the by standers as well as our paramedic colleagues.

I am delighted to hear your comments in regards to the care you received whilst in hospital and that all the staff were kind and friendly.

I will of course share your kind comments with the teams involved in your care and wish you well for the future.

Take care

Fiona Robertson, Chief Nurse

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