He may not have been on lifeguard duty, but when Gavin Williams helped resuscitate a neighbour on a driveway in Forster early this month, it was his lifeguard training that kicked in to do it.
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“Us clubbies we live in the same street as people, we’re walking in the same shopping centre, driving behind you on the same road. Our training, we take it with us wherever we go,” he reflected gratefully.
Now he’s urging everyone to get, and keep, their first aid training up to date.
“I went outside to load up the surfboards to go to the beach when I glanced over and saw his son working on him in front of the house. I immediately ran over and offered assistance. They had already called 000 and started CPR… [the son] looked at me and I took over when it was time to give him two breaths,” recalled Gavin.
“It’s just a natural instinct. I've been trained to be calm, I know what I’m doing… The 000 officers were great, their instructions were slightly different to what I had been trained with. I just did what I knew and it was enough to keep the blood flowing to keep him alive. When the ambos got there I helped hold their gear, they put the defibrillator on him and got the heart rate closer to where it should be and loaded him up.”
Within five days the neighbour was home. It was the first time Gavin had ever used his resuscitation training, having undertaken his first ‘first aid’ course more than 20 years ago. Then he joined Forster Surf Life Saving Club when his children joined nippers. The club keeps his first aid up to date every year and he hasn’t looked back, today acting as lifeguard trainer, patrol captain and general dogsbody for the club.
“My main contract is through community resources… the bulk of my clients are between 60 to 101 years old, so I take these skills with me every day to work. But it was my first resuscitation and it was successful 100 per cent!”
He said he didn’t notice the adrenalin rush until later and the club’s support services which call in on members after events to check they are OK, helped.
“It feels pretty good, and reassures me that all the training we do is for a strong reason and what we’re learning is right… It’s not just saving his life, we’ve preserved his life, he’s come home, he can walk, talk, go fishing, he’s still functioning in the community, just that in itself is great.”
Gavin urges anyone to join up with the surf club; freshen up your first aid skills.
“We update our training all the time at the club,” he said, casually referring to a resuscitation session he led with four junior members only days after the event.
