Geoffrey Roberts
Geoffrey Roberts is very lucky to be alive. He suffered a cardiac arrest while at home asleep in rural Norfolk. His wife heard him gasping for air in the early hours of the morning and called 999 and started CPR, but they were 20 minutes from the nearest ambulance station.
His wife heard him gasping for air in the early hours of the morning and called 999 and started CPR. Ryan Warrick, a NARS (Norfolk Accident Rescue Service) Critical Care Paramedic was just minutes away, returning from an earlier job, when the call came in and was first on scene to start delivering critical care.
It was a long time before Ryan, helped by the East of England ambulance team and the EAAA Anglia One team of Doctor Zoe Smeed, Critical Care Paramedic Chris Neil and Paramedic Dave Killingback, was able to get Geoffrey’s heart started again.
They needed to use the LUCAS mechanical chest compression device (pictured) and more than 20 shocks from a defibrillator before Geoffrey was stable enough to be anaesthetised in order to get him safely to hospital. Geoffrey later had a Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) fitted, to hopefully prevent his heart from stopping again.
Less than six months later, Geoffrey and his extended family visited the EAAA Norwich base to meet Ryan Warrick and Chris Neil who helped to save his life. The whole family is extremely grateful that Geoffrey is back to his normal self, and to the two charities who provided the life-saving care he needed for saving his life.