A Bridlington garden centre employee saved a customer’s life using CPR skills from a course she very nearly didn’t attend.
Diane Jackman, 61 ran to the car park at Bridlington Eastfield Garden Centre when Anne Hadfield, 66, collapsed on her way to the centre with husband Paul to buy some date and walnut cake.
Thanks to skills she had learnt on a first aid training course she attended to “make up the numbers”, Diane was able to perform CPR aided by Paul for 15 minutes and help to save Anne’s life.
Now Anne and Diane, both from Bridlington, are backing the British Heart Foundation’s campaign for Heart Month to encourage as many people as possible to learn CPR using the BHF’s innovative training tool RevivR.
There are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests every year in the UK, but less than one in 10 people survive. Immediate CPR and defibrillation can more than double the chances of survival in some cases.
RevivR teaches you how to recognise a cardiac arrest, gives feedback on chest compressions and outlines the correct steps of defibrillator use, giving anyone the confidence to step in and save a life in the event of the ultimate medical emergency.
Describing what happened on that day in November 2021, Diane said as soon as she heard that someone had collapsed in the car park, she grabbed a first aid box and ran outside.
This was despite the fact that initially Diane was worried about doing the course where she learned the lifesaving skills she used to help save Anne’s life.
“I was a reluctant first aider because I don’t like blood,” she said. “Management asked me as they needed one more to make up the training session.
“When I got outside, the lady was laid on the floor, she was non-responsive and her husband was already on the phone to 999.”
They were told ambulances were on their way but in the meantime the emergency call handler started talking her through CPR.
“Instinct just took over. It was tiring but something kicked in that I had to do it, I had to keep it up.
“Unbelievably after fifteen minutes or so she started saying: ‘You’re hurting me! Get off!’ and she was back with us.”
Anne, who along with husband Paul, is a volunteer at the local Bridlington British Heart Foundation shop, said the last thing she remembered before waking up in the car park was getting out of her car.
“We had been to York and on the way back my husband said ‘let’s call in to the garden centre, they do some wonderful cakes there’.
“We apparently parked, I remember opening the door and then I don’t remember much else until there was a first responder, two ambulances and a helicopter in the field at the side of us.”
Anne was taken to Castle Hill hospital where she had another cardiac arrest. Thankfully, she made a good recovery and was sent home a week later and remains under the care of a cardiologist.
Since the incident, Anne, Paul and Diane have become friends. “I don’t think we’ll ever lose contact with Diane,” said Anne. “Without her, I literally wouldn’t be here.”
And Diane added: “I might have been a reluctant first aider originally, but I am so glad I did learn CPR – it was definitely worth it to have been able to help save Anne’s life”.
Both Anne and Diane are backing the call for people to learn CPR in 15 minutes using the BHF’s online tool, RevivR. The tool means anyone can learn lifesaving CPR skills, anywhere, anytime – and all that is needed is a mobile phone and a cushion.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Every second counts when someone has a cardiac arrest, and knowing CPR could be the difference between life and death.
“It only takes 15 minutes to learn with RevivR – that’s a coffee break, half time in the football or the time you might spend scrolling through social media. I urge you do it today, as it could be the most important lesson you ever learn.”
To support the British Heart Foundation this Heart Month and find out more about RevivR, visit bhf.org.uk/heartmonth
