The kindness of strangers is the reason Paula Conlan is alive today.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
When the mother of three woke in Geelong hospital, she was told she had suffered a cardiac arrest while out for a Sunday run days earlier.
Ms Conlan now owes her life to the two off-duty police officers who performed CPR.
“I wouldn’t be here if they didn’t,” she said.
On Tuesday morning Ms Conlan met with her rescuers and the paramedics who had come to her aid four weeks earlier.
“For me, I’m just grateful they stopped,” she said.
“You don’t know what people are going to do and I’m most grateful that they stopped.”
If not for slight soreness, Ms Conlan said she wouldn’t have known an artery in her heart had split or that she now relied on a defibrillator device in her chest.
“I don’t remember anything from minutes before to a couple of days later,” Ms Conlan said. “The whole thing is a bit overwhelming.”
As Ms Conlan puts “the pieces of the puzzle together” she encouraged everyone to learn CPR and to stop if they saw someone in trouble.
“It can happen to anyone,” she said.
She said even just calling 000 could make all the difference.
“Anything is better than nothing,” Ms Conlan said.
Steve and Kelli Parkinson were driving along Harris Street when they saw Ms Conlan in distress and while Mr Parkinson performed CPR, his wife called for an ambulance.
Mr Parkinson said it was exciting to see a good outcome and not something he had experienced before while Mrs Parkinson said she couldn’t believe what had happened that day.
“It’s amazing,” she said.
MICA paramedic Troy Neal said it was rare to meet a survivor of cardiac arrest, which had an approximate 30 per cent survival rate.
“It’s very nice to see someone who we’ve helped doing so well,” he said.
“If you’re going to have a good outcome, you need a good set of circumstances with early CPR, early call for ambulance and early electricity to the heart moving quickly into hospital.”
Senior Sergeant Shane Keogh said knowing CPR could mean the difference between life and death.
Ms Conlan also had her emergency medical information on her phone, which Senior Sergeant Keogh said helped police to identify her and inform her husband.
“All communities need to take on training around CPR and using medical ID on phones to help emergency services,” he said.
“We had Paula’s husband with her in hospital in minutes when it can sometimes take hours.”
