Elsenham residents receive Royal Humane Society awards for saving the life of a cardiac arrest victim while they waited 90 minutes for an ambulance

Two Elsenham residents who fought to save the life of a cardiac arrest victim during a 90-minute wait for an ambulance have been honoured with national awards.

Rachel Stewart, 40, and Bruce Boxall-Hunt, 46, cared for a delivery driver who collapsed at the village’s Gold Nursery Business Park on the morning of July 6 last year, restarting his heart when he went into arrest and liaising with emergency services as they monitored his condition.

Unbeknown to them, the victim was “riddled with blood clots”, one of which had blocked his heart. Their actions to begin CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) – pushing on his chest to restart the heart – forced out the clot and saved his life. The man, in his 50s, has since made a full recovery.

Having received accolades from the Royal Humane Society (RHS), which promotes and honours life-saving intervention, Rachel and Bruce spoke to the Indie to stress the importance of learning first aid.

“If you call an ambulance it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re coming, so get yourself on a first aid course,” said Bruce.

“The heart attack was caused by a blockage, so starting CPR pushed the blood clot out so his heart could restart. Knowing the basics of first aid and getting yourself on a course is so important. There’s not much you can do wrong. The doctors said afterwards he would have been dead if we hadn’t been there.”

Bruce, who is married to Jo with two children, said his medical experience from a previous job and from working with the London Ambulance Service meant he knew what to do.

It was lucky he was in between jobs that day and still had medical equipment, including oxygen, at home, while Rachel, who was working at Guy Autos, asked bystanders to fetch the nearest defibrillator as she sensed the man was very unwell.

Bruce praised Rachel’s initial response in caring for the man and staying with him throughout his ordeal.

“For Rachel to be on her way to work and get stuck in was amazing. She put him in the right position, took his pulse, just commonsense stuff. Rachel did really well, and although we both got an award, she deserves a bit more.”

Rachel, who lives in Oziers with her partner and two children, said that after learning that the ambulance was unlikely to be on scene for an hour and a half, they sourced a defibrillator from a nearby office which had been delivered just days earlier.

“It was just a normal Monday morning and I was walking into work when I saw the man lying on the floor with a lady standing over him. She asked me if I knew first aid and I said ‘yes’, and after asking him a few questions, as he was conscious at the time, I could see he was clutching his chest. He looked like he was having a heart attack.

“I asked about his medical history and any medication he might be on and was asking people around to go and get things and get a defibrillator, which had only arrived on the Friday, so it was really lucky.”

Rachel kept monitoring the man’s pulse and breathing and checked his blood sugar levels after establishing that he was diabetic, while a friend who knew Bruce called for his assistance.

“By this stage he was getting considerably worse. Bruce went home to get oxygen and we put that on him and kept him breathing, and then he just completely passed out and we lost him.

“Bruce started CPR and gave a big compression and he burst back into life. We’d put the defib pads on him as it continued to monitor his heart rhythm, but it was Bruce’s compression that brought him back.”

They stayed with the patient until an ambulance crew eventually arrived.

Bruce said they had since met up with the man, who was “really grateful”. He added: “I went to meet him and we had a coffee together and a hug.”

Rachel described the RHS award as a “lovely surprise” and said: “I was really shocked because I wasn’t aware we’d been put forward.

“I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to what we’d experienced in terms of training. It was just a shock it happened on the industrial estate with no official first aider around – it was certainly a wake-up call.

“First aid doesn’t have to be about making instant decisions, it’s preparing yourself and just being able to call the right people and to know that when someone doesn’t look well you need to get them help.”

Rachel was a lifeguard when she was younger and had kept up first aid training ever since, even teaching her children the importance of it.

Andrew Chapman, secretary of the RHS, said: “Without their rapid response the man would almost certainly not have survived.

“He owes his life to their swift action and they richly deserve the awards they are to receive.

““This is yet another case which emphasises the value and effectiveness of CPR and the importance of as many people as possible, not just members of the emergency services, leaning how to administer it. It can, as it did here, make the difference between life and death.”