We were delighted to welcome John & Ruth Allen to our North Harbour Resource Centre in Portsmouth on World Restart a Heart Day today.
John suffered a cardiac arrest on 1 August whilst driving home from watching Ruth at a bowls match. Ruth was talked through carrying out CPR on John by emergency call taker, Paul, whilst our ambulances and response cars raced to the incident.
Two ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and local community first responders, Chris and Connor, all responded and thanks to their combined efforts, John made it to hospital albeit in a critical condition.
Ruth and their three daughters at one point were advised to come into hospital to say their goodbyes but following a week in the intensive care unit and a further four days on the cardiac ward, John made it home and has gone on to make a good recovery.
The team were delighted to see the whole family again earlier today and what better way to encourage more people to learn CPR because…CPR saves lives!