Two London councillors who saved a man’s life by performing CPR on him and fetching a defibrillator say they were compelled to intervene because others didn’t.
Westminster City councillors Geoff Barraclough and Ed Pitt Ford told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they had been out campaigning when they noticed a man “white as a sheet” lying unconscious in the middle of Tachbrook Market in Pimlico on February 27.
Westminster City councillors Geoff Barraclough and Ed Pitt Ford told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they had been out campaigning when they noticed a man “white as a sheet” lying unconscious in the middle of Tachbrook Market in Pimlico on February 27.
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00:30and I discovered a man lying face down, ridging, eyes open, wipes the sheets. Clearly he wasn't
00:39drunk or stoned, something could happen much worse than that. I asked whether anybody had
00:45called in 999, nobody had, so I called the emergency services. They said turn him over,
00:52is he breathing? No he's not breathing. Can you get a defibrillator? I know he won't want
00:58to, he was just around the corner from the GP. So I looked up and there's Ed. Yeah, so I asked
01:04is there anything I can do to help because I'd just arrived at the scene and Geoff was saying
01:09he needed a defibrillator from the GP surgery just down there. So I went off to get the defibrillator
01:15and thought while I was there I would get a doctor as well. So then came back with defibrillator and
01:21doctor back to the scene. So I was meanwhile doing very amateur CPR as directed by the 999
01:28hospital, never done that before but hopefully we might have some good. Fortunately the GP then
01:34came along with the defibrillator and the GP began doing CPR in a more professional manner
01:39but she couldn't find the pulse, the man was clearly dead or bordering on it. Then the ambulance
01:45arrived and they did their wonders with injections and defibrillators and they brought him round.
01:53And this is, I checked, 15 minutes after I called in the emergency call for the first time from 999
01:59and brought the guy round. So that's very impressive work from the ambulance.
02:15It was quite clear from a cursory examination that something more serious had gone on and clearly
02:28that you've got to do something about it. I was slightly unnerved by the fact that nobody in
02:35the area had done that already and would urge anybody watching this if you do see someone
02:41looks like they're in trouble. Call 999, it's much better to be safe than sorry.