Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
When Graham Clark isn’t extolling the virtues of Zevro Europe products he’s out on the road as a volunteer with Surrey St John Ambulance – and last month he saved a man’s life.
Ambulance crew Clark and Bradley Pazzard were in attendance at the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride in June when they were flagged down by a crowd of bystanders. A middle-aged cyclist had suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed. That aside, though, he had been extraordinarily lucky. His head had hit the verge and not the road, and he was receiving immediate mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as cycling right behind him had been an off-duty anaesthetist and an off-duty paramedic.
The ambulancemen took over, Pazzard operating the oxygen equipment and maintaining an open airway using a suction machine. Clark connected the defibrillator and after just one shock the man started to make an effort to breathe again.
By the time the county ambulance service arrived his breathing had improved and he was taken to hospital. He has since made a full recovery.
“It was the first time I’ve done a resuscitation,” said Zevro director Clark, “and it’s rare to get them back after one shock. The whole chain of events was really unusual. He was such a lucky man. You know that one day this is going to happen and when we saw the crowds part there was this massive adrenalin rush but I didn’t panic. It was a good example of effective St John Ambulance training and having the necessary equipment to hand.”
Clark, 23, has been a St John Ambulance volunteer for 10 years.
