Close-knit Albany cyclists urge community to brush up on first aid after vital roadside action saves life

A regular Albany cycling group is urging Great Southern residents to learn basic first aid and have regular refresher courses after one of its members was saved by immediate roadside CPR earlier this year. John Slattery was on an early morning cycle with his wife and two friends along Nanarup Road in February when a sudden heart attack saw him fall to the ground. The group had stopped to wait at the intersection of Two People’s Bay Road for another rider to possibly join them for a 46km ride, but before they could set off Mr Slattery fell to the ground without warning. “We said ‘we better get going’ and we were about to leave then we heard a clatter and looked around to see John was on the ground,” Michael Liddiard said. The group, which had previously taken a St John basic first aid training course together, then sprung into action. Mr Liddiard started CPR while Pam Dolley, Mr Slattery’s wife, was on the phone to triple-0 and Denis Sawers prepared himself to take over CPR if required. Mr Liddiard ended up spending 20 minutes performing the compressions on Mr Slattery’s chest while they waited for a paramedic to arrive. Passers-by also stopped to help where they could, including one going 3km back along Nanarup Road to fetch a defibrillator from the Lower Kalgan Hall in case it was required. Ms Dolley said the person on the other end of the triple-0 call was “absolutely brilliant” throughout. “She didn’t go away and she gave us the instructions about the counting and everything else we were doing,” she said. “I’ve had friends say they could do first aid training, but then wouldn’t know how to use it. “I’ve told them that once you have the support of the person on triple-0 and you’ve done the first aid course you gain confidence and you just stay so focused — you surprise yourself.” Mr Liddiard and Mr Sawers agreed the “dead-set calm” instructions were very important. “We can’t say enough about how important the role she played was,” Mr Sawers said. Once the paramedics arrived, they took over CPR before whisking Mr Slattery to Albany Health Campus. Prior to the incident Mr Slattery, who continues to go to the gym and on “two or three” rides a week at the age of 82, had never had electrical issues with his heart. The first thing he knew about the incident was “waking up in emergency at the Albany hospital”. He said that just days before the incident he had gone for a solo ride out to Camp Quaranup. “I’m unbelievably thankful to these guys and what happened took a while to sink in,” he said. “It’s inconceivable to me because my father died of a heart attack — he was in a hospital when that happened and I was on the side of the road. “I’m still here to talk about it.” An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator now monitors Mr Slattery’s heart rate around the clock as well as acting as a pacemaker. After the incident in February, it took him four to six weeks to get back on the bike. “It was very gentle for a while but within three months I was back doing normal rides,” Mr Slattery said. Mr Sawers said he was amazed by how much he had remembered from the first aid course during the incident. “You do the course and the week after you think it’s gone, but when this happened I was amazed by how much I clearly remembered,” he said. Ms Dolley said her husband had recovered because of how quickly the group had started CPR because “there are only a certain amount of minutes before you don’t get enough oxygen to the brain”. “John is fully recovered because we were doing the CPR,” she said. “We started it straight away, we kept going and we did it properly for the whole 20 minutes with the encouragement of the woman on the phone.” Throughout the Great Southern, there are 491 registered defibrillator locations, 318 of which can be accessed by the community at any time. Visit the St John WA website to learn more about the variety of first aid training courses and refresher courses they can offer.