Paramedics and first aid administers are often the unsung heroes when it comes to a life and death situation.
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But Bathurst resident Geoff Winkley has made sure to honour the passers-by and paramedics who saved his life from a massive heart attack last month.
Mr Winkley suffered a heart attack on his regular afternoon jog along Hereford Street, with selfless passers-by, including a man named John who administered CPR, keeping him alive until paramedics arrived.
After recovering from heart bypass surgery in Strathfield Private Hospital, Mr Winkley made it his mission to express his heartfelt gratitude to those who ensured his survival.
He visited Bathurst Ambulance Station last Friday to personally thank the paramedics who ensured his stable arrival to hospital.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the great work of those who stopped to help and our local paramedics; I'm damn lucky," he said.
Mr Winkley, a regular parkrun Bathurst participant, said he's on the road to recovery, and hopes to be back 'walking' [running may take a bit longer] around the Macquarie River in six months time.
"It's going to be a slow road to recovery, no matter how healthy I was," he said.
"I'm back to walking about 50 metres at a time until I need to rest again, so I'll be taking things easy for now."
Bathurst paramedic Phil Livingstone, who was the first professional to respond to Mr Winkley, said it felt gratifying to be personally thanked for doing their job.
"We don't get a lot of public feedback from these sort of outcomes, so we appreciate Geoff's gratitude and it's good to see him on his feet," Mr Livingstone said.
"The fact one of the people who first tended to Geoff knew CPR proved the difference; if there's no good CPR for the first five to six minutes, the outlook isn't great."
According to NSW Health, over 8500 people experience an out of hospital cardiac arrest statewide each year, of which only 12 per cent survive.
NSW Ambulance Central West zone manager Superintendent Brad Porter said Geoff's situation highlights the importance of having up-to-date first aid and CPR training.
"We need to reiterate the importance of the public learning CPR, because early CPR and defibrillation saves lives," Supt Porter said.
"People who are immediately able to administer CPR have the ability to stabilise a patient undergoing cardiac arrest until an ambulance arrives."
First aid and CPR courses are readily offered in Bathurst by a range of trained facilitators, including St John Ambulance, Industry Training and Assessment Services, Bathurst TAFE and Tailored First Aid.
For a more extensive list of providers, type 'first aid and CPR courses in Bathurst' into Google or similar search engines.
In an emergency, call 000.
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