As part of DHU Healthcare’s commitment to Restart a Heart Day, one of our colleagues knows only too well about the life-saving impact that resuscitation training can provide.
Michelle Thompson is the Clinical and Training Co-Ordinator at DHU Healthcare and has been involved in the planning for DHU’s involvement in the awareness day. The training team will be at Orbis and Number 2: Roundhouse to deliver training to DHU staff that can help to save a life.
Her story could have been very different if those who worked at the supermarket that her Mum was shopping in hadn’t been trained in performing CPR.
Michelle said: “It was shortly before Christmas in 2018 when my Mum and her partner were at the Tesco store in Chesterfield doing the usual shop. Everything was completely normal until my Mum very suddenly became ill and collapsed on the floor. People started shouting for help as it was plain to see that whatever was happening to my Mum was serious.
“Her partner told me that a number of staff at the shop were so quick to jump to action, they set up a screen around my Mum, who was having a cardiac arrest, to ensure she was given the privacy she needed and other shoppers weren’t distressed. Alongside a customer who also intervened, they then performed CPR to keep her heart going and used a defibrillator that had been installed in the shop.
“They stayed with her and continued to perform CPR, keeping everyone calm and my Mum comfortable whilst they called for an ambulance before the paramedics arrived and took over. She was taken to Chesterfield Royal Hospital where she was able to receive specialist treatment on their Coronary Care Ward.
“I am absolutely convinced that had it not been for the quick thinking of those in the shop, the training those staff at Tescos had been given, that there was a defibrillator to hand and people who knew how to use it, my Mum would not have been with us that Christmas. When it happens to you, to a loved one, your wits aren’t always about you but if you know how to react in that situation, even the basics of CPR, you can save a life.
“I have no doubt that my Mum’s life was saved that day and I’m pleased that our training team will be at Orbis and Roundhouse to teach our staff CPR. It can happen to anyone at any time and even if it isn’t someone you know, as was the case with those staff and the customer at Tesco with my Mum, knowing that you have it within yourself to save a life is a skill worth having.”