When Jayson Field decided to spend a couple hours at the pub with his mates, he could have never known that decision would result in saving a person’s life, and that the flow on effects of that day would potentially save many more lives in the future.

Jayson is the Fire Officer at Centennial’s Myuna Colliery and one Saturday back in May he was enjoying a couple of drinks with a group of mates at Wangi Pub.

“We’d been there for about an hour when this punter came in from the beer garden calling out for anyone who knew first aid,” said Jayson.

“Me and my mate Jed Fatches went out into the beer garden to find a guy lying on the ground. He’d fallen and hit his head and there was a lot of blood, I could see he was already starting to turn blue. Jed checked his wrist for a pulse, and I checked his neck for a pulse, but we couldn’t find one. I looked at Jed and said, ‘we’re on here’.”

Jayson and Jed proceeded to start CPR, taking turns 2 mins on 2 mins off, then after two or three cycles the publican came out with an AED (automated external defibrillator).

“We got the defibrillator on him and continued CPR. It instructed us to administer a shock and then continue CPR and after a few more cycles each we gave him a second shock. Not long after the second shock the man started to breathe on his own, so I rolled him into the recovery position and started asking him questions. He told me he couldn’t breathe, and I said, ‘sorry mate, but I think we’ve cracked a couple of your ribs and your sternum doing compressions’. He was a bit panicky about not being able to breathe so I got him to do slow deep breaths until the ambos arrived.

When the paramedics arrived and took over, they were full of praise for Jayson and Jed. They said the chances of surviving the type of heart attack the man had, which led to the cardiac arrest, was two percent and he would have died without their intervention.

A few weeks later, Jayson and Jed met the man for a celebratory drink back at the pub. Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper also came along to congratulate Jason and Jed on their willingness to jump into action to save Geoff’s life, as well as Hotel Wangi’s publican Peter Coyne for having the foresight to have a defibrillator.

“Geoff thanked us for saving him, but really, he was lucky,” said Jayson.

“He said he’d been feeling a bit crook that day, but his mate convinced him to go to the pub otherwise he would have been home alone when he collapsed. So many things lined up for Geoff that day – him going to the pub, us being there and the publican having recently purchased an AED.

“Both Jed and I talked about it afterwards and we both realised that at the time we didn’t even think, we just did it. I’ve spent 12 years in Mines Rescue, only retiring from the team this year. Jed is a navy clearance diver. We were both confident we knew what to do, though neither of us had ever had to use our training for real. It just kicked in.”

Jayson said the AED made an enormous difference. Initially he had been singing ‘staying alive’ in his head to keep the timing of the chest compressions correct. The AED was invaluable for keeping them on track, telling them to push deeper or slower or quicker, and of course, administering the lifesaving shocks.

“It gave us the confidence that we were doing everything correctly. I can’t highlight enough how important AEDs are in these situations.”

Since the event, Jayson said there has been a flow-on effect in the community, with people talking about what happened and recognising the value in having first aid training, as well as the need for more AEDs in the community.

Back at Jayson’s work the positive outcomes continue, with the Myuna HST Department conducting AED training for the whole workforce and giving Jayson the opportunity to share his story with every person on site. Myuna’s Training Officer Peter McCluskey said that the training has been well received, with many workers expressing increased confidence in their ability to respond to emergencies.

But Jayson’s lifesaving work isn’t done. Later this year he will appear in a nationwide ad awareness campaign for CPR and AEDs, encouraging every person not to be a bystander, but to educate and train themselves so they too can be a lifesaver.

Not bad work for a day at the pub!