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Great-gran saved by passer-by nurse after collapsing 'smack down' in Romford street having cardiac arrest

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date11 April 2024
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
The incident happened in December and led to a long recovery for Iris, with weeks in hospital including Queen’s and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, and having a pacemaker fitted. As she continues to recover at home in Romford, Iris has recounted the traumatic experience and praised Anna who helped save her life, alongside a passing GP and members of the public

Iris said: “I’d gone to have a haircut, feeling fine, then was heading back to my car when I started feeling giddy. Then bang, I was smack down on the pavement and don’t remember anymore until I heard a faint screaming, getting louder, and realised it was me.

“I woke up briefly when the paramedics got there and then I was in intensive care. It didn’t hit me what had happened until I got home and I was traumatised by it. I was very lucky it happened in a public place and there was a nurse nearby, I’ve since heard a very low percentage of people who have a cardiac arrest out of hospital survive. I had the right people, in the right place to help.”

Anna, Director of Nursing for Workforce at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, was Christmas shopping in Romford with her husband when she came across a crowd of people trying to help Iris. She took over and started CPR straight away.

'I've never done CPR on a busy street before'

She said: “I’m a ITU nurse by background but hadn’t done CPR in years and I’ve never done it on a busy street before. Luckily, I’d completed my mandatory basic life support training just a month before. Members of the public were really helpful, they’d already called an ambulance and some ran off to get a defibrillator, I had two brought back.”

Anna is encouraging everyone to get basic life support training, including CPR, so they could save a life if the situation arose...

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