By Roman Kulkewycz
Paul Miles, from Nilma, was on the first tee with three others at the Garfield Golf Course earlier this year when severe chest pain felled him … he’d suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and in his own words “dropped dead”.
But Paul considers himself lucky because he says that he was in the right place at the right time.
His brother John was there and acted quickly by tearing open his shirt and commencing CPR. One of the others, Kevin, called triple-zero on his mobile and the fourth member of the group, Peter, ran to get the defibrillator from the club house.
Peter returned huffing and puffing with defibrillator in hand and quickly applied it to Paul’s chest, followed the audio instructions of the heart machine and kickstarted Paul’s heart again.
When the ambulance arrived, Paul had a heart rhythm and was transported to hospital. The Garfield Golf Club has been engaged for a long time with the Bendigo Community Bank in Bunyip; and it was the Community Bank that had donated the defibrillator that saved Paul’s life.
He considers himself extremely lucky as had he teed off much earlier the clubhouse would still have been locked and if he was further along the course, then it would have taken too long to get the defibrillator to him. Thirdly he was lucky to have been playing with those who acted quickly and appropriately to save his life.
An emotional Paul related his story at last week’s Bunyip Community Bank annual general meeting held in Garfield where he was the guest speaker.
Following the AGM, the Bunyip Community Bank distributed grants to community groups for projects.
Paul was delighted to present on behalf of the bank a cheque to Rose Biddell from the Nar Nar Goon Progress Association for the purchase of a defibrillator.
