Taxi driver and barmaid save collapsed pensioner's life at Oswestry pub
A man’s life was saved by the quick-thinking actions of a taxi driver and a barmaid in Oswestry, as well as a heart-starting defibrillator.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has praised the actions of a barmaid and taxi driver, who jumped to the aid of a pub regular, who was enjoying an evening out in the Oswestrian pub, when he fell ill.
The 79-year-old collapsed suddenly at about 8pm last Thursday, when barmaid Tracey Griffiths and taxi-driver Noel Jones jumped to his aid.
It is believed he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Jamie Arrowsmith, a spokesman for the ambulance service, said: “We were called at 8.01pm on Thursday to the Oswestrian pub to reports of a man, aged in his 70s, who was unconscious.
“We know from what we were told by people at the scene that CPR and a defibrillator had been used, and that his heart had been successfully restarted, before he was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
“The ambulance service would like to praise bystanders for their quick-thinking, in starting CPR and using a defibrillator, by doing so they have given this patient the very best chance of survival.
“We would encourage as many people as possible to learn how to do CPR or find out whether their nearest defibrillators are as early intervention when a patient is in cardiac arrest is essential in trying to ensure their survival.”
Pub landlord Syd Hallam said: “Tracey and Noel were magnificent, they knew exactly what to do. They massaged his chest and with the help of someone from the West Midlands Ambulance Service were able to use the defibrillator that’s located at the back of the Memorial Hall.
“They saved his life, along with that fantastic piece of equipment. That defibrillator managed to get his heart started again, I don’t know what would’ve happened without it.”
At midday yesterday Mr Hallam said he had been told that the man had come off life support and was in a “critical condition”.
Mr Hallam said he would now be looking into the pub funding its own defibrillator on site.
In 2013, the Shropshire Star’s sister paper The Oswestry and Border Chronicle launched the “Keeping Oswestry Alive” campaign, which resulted in five defibrillators being strategically positioned around the town, in a bid to ensure that anyone suffering a cardiac arrest in the town centre would be in walking distance of a defibrillator.
