Paramedic students save fellow student

By Kim Saulse
28 July 2009

Paramedic students from a university in the Western Cape saved a fellow student after he went into cardiac arrest while exercising on the campus this morning.

“It is alleged that the nineteen year old engineering student was running on the track at the campus when he went into cardiac arrest. Two paramedic students who had witnessed the events ran over and assessed the patient.

“The patient was not breathing and did not have the a pulse when the paramedic students got to him, they initiated CPR and phoned ER24,” said Tristan Wadeley, ER24 Medi-Clinic spokesperson.

Upon arrival, the ER24 crew carried out advanced life support resuscitation with the assistance of the paramedic students.

“After around fifteen minutes of advanced life support resuscitation, the paramedics got a pulse back on the patient and he started to breathe spontaneously, “said Wadeley.

The student was then rushed to Louis Leipoldt Medi-Clinic where he was stabilized and admitted to the intensive care unit.

Doctors are now carrying out tests to determine what caused the cardiac arrest.