Dunsborough ambo's glimpse saves a life

Sean De Souza has been heaped with praise by his fellow St John Ambulance Dunsborough volunteers, after his swift actions last week saved a man’s life.

Mr De Souza was in Perth visiting his mum last Tuesday, and while out grabbing some dinner in Morley, he happened to spot a man lying unconscious next to his bike, just off a busy road.

“I saw a guy lying on the ground in the middle of the driveway. I thought it was odd, because he wasn’t moving,” Mr De Souza said.

“I threw the hazards on and went and checked him out. I found he wasn’t responding, so I called 000 straight away.”

Mr De Souza has been a volunteer with St John Ambulance Dunsborough for about 18 months, so the procedure was second nature to him. However, he hadn’t thought to tell the Triple Zero operator, who dutifully started running him step-by-step through what to do.

“I could see he was breathing, but it rapidly started slowing, then it just stopped.”

“I was already running through [procedures] at the time. She said I needed to start CPR, and I said ‘I think I do’.”

St John Ambulance guidelines are that a person doing CPR should swap out with someone else after two minutes, so the compressions remain strong. Mr De Souza said he was doing it solo for about 10 minutes before paramedics arrived.

“It doesn’t seem that long when you’re doing it. I think adrenaline kicks in, and you’re just flat out going for it,” he said.

“Don’t get me wrong, when I stopped, I could feel it.”

Despite being along one of the main roads in and out of one of Perth’s biggest shopping centres, Mr De Souza said nobody else stopped to help.

Whether they couldn’t see him in the dark, or they were distracted by his car’s flashing hazards in the median strip, he’s not sure. But he said an extra pair of hands – no matter how skilled in first aid – would have been a great help.

“It just felt like it was forever, and nobody was stopping. I was looking around, trying to attract someone’s attention, but I couldn’t, so I just kept going.”

“It got to the stage where I thought, I’m the only one here, how long am I going to be doing this for?”

His efforts paid off. Just as the ambulance arrived, the man started slowly breathing again, and as the paramedics started their checks, he woke up.

The only regret Mr De Souza has is that he didn’t stick around to get so more detail. Thinking absolutely nothing of saving a mans life, he jumped back in the car, and headed back to his mum’s house to have dinner.

“It didn’t seem like anything at the time. To me it was just like, this guy needs assistance, and now the ambos are here, I’ll let you go.”

“It’s just something I thought, as a vollie ambo, that you just do. I don’t think of myself as a hero or a legend or anything, as some people have been saying. I think I was just lucky to be there at the right time for that fella.”

“He did thank me. When I left the ambos said thanks, and the guy just looked at me and said ‘oh, thanks mate’. I don’t think he realised how lucky he was, and what I actually did.”

Mr De Souza said CPR is very easy to learn and do for most people. Even without that skill, he said anyone can be of service in a situation just like he found himself in by downloading the St John First Responder app.

“It gives you all the detail on where the AED’s are, and there’s a bit of training on there as well.”

The app has detailed guides for a wide range of first aid situations – from Asthma attacks, to stroke – as well as CPR guidance, and a map of every Automatic External Defibrillator in the state. With that information, just by stopping, you could potentially save a life.

“I said to my wife the other day, if I didn’t stop, there’s a good chance that kid wouldn’t be here,” Mr De Souza said.