A VIDEO reconstructing how a man was saved by a heart-starting defibrillator will be used to encourage more organisations to install the life-saving machines.
Ian Hough features in the video, called Pulled Through, produced by drp Video for West Midlands Ambulance Service. The film shows what happened to him when he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Mr Hough is a rower but his heart stopped during a regatta at Stourport Boat Club on August 13, 2011.
The club had no defibrillator but luckily there was medical cover on site for the event and the medics leapt into action, using their own machine to re-start his heart in the vital few minutes before paramedics arrived.
Mr Hough, 59, made a full recovery and continues to row – but he says without the defibrillator he firmly believes he would not have lived to see his daughter or granddaughter again.
He said: “I was dead for seven minutes.
“Had this happened on a normal day I would be dead.
“A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time and in any place. I was lucky it happened during the regatta when a defibrillator was on site.”
Stourport Boat Club has since installed a machine, as have a number of organisations across the country, including many in Stafford, Stone and Rugeley. The public access defibrillators provide instructions on what to do in an emergency and can save lives.
Ambulance bosses hope the video will encourage even more organisations to do the same.
Cliff Medlicott, from the service, said: “I would encourage as many people as possible to see the film. It is a compelling reconstruction of what happened.”
Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk
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