Dedicated staff at 1Leisure Medina have been honoured for their heroic actions in saving the life of a swimmer who suffered a cardiac arrest.
Duty manager Terry Hardy and leisure attendant Sean Joyce acted swiftly when they spotted Louise Harris face down in shallow end of the main pool.
40 minutes
The quick-thinking pair pulled her from the water and brought her poolside where they fought for more than 40 minutes to restart her heart and keep her alive.
Luckily, Nicola Nuttall, a midwife and resuscitation specialist from St Mary’s Hospital, happened to be in the pool at the time and joined them in performing CPR and using the on-site defibrillator.
Eventually Louise regained consciousness and was airlifted to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, where she underwent surgery.
“I’m just incredibly grateful for everything they did”
Louise, a regular swimmer at Medina, said,
“If it wasn’t for their quick actions, I wouldn’t be here today. If this had happened anywhere else I may not have been so lucky. I’m just incredibly grateful for everything they did.”
Last Friday, she returned to the pool to thank staff personally for all they did and to congratulate them on receiving a special recognition award from Wendy Perera, chief executive of the Isle of Wight Council.
“I couldn’t have picked a better place to have a cardiac arrest!”
Addressing her rescuers, Louise said,
“It sounds weird to be even saying it, but six weeks ago I had a cardiac arrest in this pool.
“You are all so skilled — all that training and theory you put into practice and you saved my life, all of you. Then I was airlifted to Portsmouth, had surgery — honestly, all the things that went right for me that day, just amazing. I owe it all to you guys.
“I couldn’t have picked a better place to have a cardiac arrest!”
“Our heartfelt thanks from both of us to you all”
Graham, Louise’s husband, also expressed his heartfelt gratitude, saying,
“The quick thinking and reactions of the 1Leisure staff without doubt saved Louise’s life.
“They gave my wife 40 minutes of CPR on the poolside when I’m sure a less committed or less professional team would have given up with the obvious result.
“We would like a special mention for the immediate resuscitation team of Terry, Sean and honorary team member Nicola, who had her Friday swim rudely interrupted but didn’t hesitate to help.
“Our heartfelt thanks from both of us to you all for your brilliant and lifesaving assistance.”
Terry and Sean received support from leisure attendants Jade Mclaughlin, Craig Warren, and Ash House, who were on poolside standby, ready to assist with CPR and promptly contacted emergency services.
“It was a really good team effort”
Asked what was going through his mind at the time, Terry, who has worked for 1Leisure for over 25 years, said,
“The training just kicked in. Initially it was hard to recognise what Lou was going through but fortunately I had the support of Nicola who was brilliant, and we worked together as a team really well.
“All the other 1Leisure team members did what they had to do — got the ambulance here and the defib — supported us all the way. It was a really good team effort.”
Nicola said,
“We worked really well as a team. There was that communication without having to communicate and that’s what you need in those situations. Terry was absolutely phenomenal. Good team work.”
Jones Evans: Their swift action was crucial in saving a customer’s life
Councillor Julie Jones Evans, Cabinet member responsible for leisure centres, added,
“Our staff acted quickly and professionally to administer first aid until the air ambulance took the swimmer to hospital.
“Incidents like this don’t happen very often but when they do, our highly-trained 1Leisure staff know exactly what to do.
“On this occasion, their swift action was crucial in saving a customer’s life.”
News shared by Isle of Wight council press office, in their own words. Ed
