Being the One Who Stops: Compassion, CPR, and Saving a Life

I’ve been a mentor for Sussex Pathways for a year, and I’m very grateful to have an insight into the lives of those who have experienced things such as alcohol or substance abuse, engaged in criminal activity or have grown up in poverty. Grateful, because it has taught me one thing that many in society can forget - these people are still human.

Just before Christmas I pulled over to a gentleman who was on the floor and visibly in pain. He was communicating with me but complaining of chest pain, shoulder pain, and breathlessness. It was visible he was an alcoholic due to his skin being so yellow, and he also openly discussed this with me. I have been first aid trained through my job for a number of years with refresher training each year and instantly recognised he was in trouble and suffering a heart attack. Numerous members of the public witnessed what was happening and walked by, a few shouting abuse such as “don’t help the junkies”, “don’t touch him he’s probably contagious”. Eventually his breathing worsened and he began gasping and then his heart rate stopped as he went into cardiac arrest. I administered CPR for 7 minutes and used a community defib which a bystander got for me from the outside of a local pub. Once paramedics arrived they and firefighters hooked up their defib and took over. He went off to hospital with a pulse and breathing. 

If someone is given CPR within 0-1 minutes the survival rate can be as high as 90%, by 5 minutes a person would have brain damage if no intervention is carried out and by 8 minutes death is most likely. From the start of cardiac arrest the ambulance took 8 minutes to arrive so he wouldn’t have made it. I want to encourage everyone to learn CPR and how to use a defib and pass this knowledge on to friends and family. And most importantly, be that person to help someone who may usually be ignored by members of the public for being the ‘drug addict’, ‘alcoholic’ or ‘criminal'. They are human, and all that matters in that moment of cardiac arrest is to save their life.