Hamilton student Cheng (Kenneth) Yew with St John advanced paramedic Adrian Gavin. Adrian praises Kenneth’s fellow high school students, teachers and school nurse who all looked after Kenneth until the ambulances arrived – helping to save his life.TEENAGER PUTS PHONE SKILLS TO GOOD USE
Like most teenagers, Hillcrest High School student Kelly Cranstoun enjoys talking and texting on her mobile phone. She had never imagined she would find put those skills to such great use when she found herself making a lifesaving call from her mobile on Friday 15 February 2008.
Her classmate Cheng (Kenneth) Yew collapsed and went into cardiac arrest during a gym class at school. Kelly grabbed her mobile phone, called 111 and asked for Ambulance. Meanwhile, her fellow students and teachers began performing CPR (the life saving resuscitation technique) on Kenneth. Kelly requested a St John ambulance and sent fellow classmate James Wharton to meet the ambulance at the school gate.
Ambulance Communications Centre call taker Charles Bougher answered Kelly’s call. After taking address and phone number details and dispatching an ambulance to the school he remained on the phone with Kelly. While the staff and students assisted Kenneth, Kelly relayed messages between the school nurse and Charles in the Communications Centre.
Charles says, “Kelly did an excellent job when she phoned for an ambulance. She was very clear and very calm on the phone and was able to provide very detailed information about what was happening.”
One of the first things Kelly told Charles was that the school had an automated external defibrillator on site which had been brought across from the nurse’s office. An automated external defibrillator is a machine smaller than a laptop, which members of the public can use to give people a safe electronic shock through the chest to ‘restart’ a patient’s heart in cardiac arrest cases while an ambulance is on the way. The machine diagnoses patients and only delivers shocks when the patient’s condition requires this.
Charles says, “This piece of equipment, along with the quick actions of those involved, was vital to saving the patient’s life.”
Charles and Kelly remained on the phone while the ambulance raced across Hamilton to the scene. During this time, Kelly updated Charles with details of how things were progressing with the defibrillator and CPR. Charles recorded the progress and passed the information to the advanced paramedic and crew so they were fully informed about the patient’s condition when they arrived at the school
Kelly says, “This was the first time I have had to phone 111. I knew I needed to remain calm and that it was my job to give information to the call taker. The most difficult thing I had to do was to verbalise things like ‘he has stopped breathing’ – as this was a classmate and someone I knew.”
Three St John ambulance officers including an advanced paramedic arrived at the scene in two vehicles. After stabilising Kenneth they transported him to Waikato Hospital, where he began to make a steady recovery. Kenneth and his family say they are grateful to all those who assisted him, and can’t thank them enough for what they did to save his life.
