Paramedics have praised an 11-year-old boy’s bravery after he saved his fathers life, by performing CPR while on the phone to emergency services.
Picture Credit. EMAS
On the 2nd of November last year, whilst staying at his dad’s flat, Leicester boy Josh heard a series of noises coming from the living room. When investigating what had happened, he found his dad, Tommy Elverston, slumped and crumpled on the floor.
Without hesitation, he started to perform CPR on his dad whilst calling the emergency services, telling operators that his father looked dead.
When the ambulance crew arrived at the third floor flat in New Parks, they took over from Josh on the CPR and then shocked his dad twice with a defibrillator. His heart started to beat again, with the help of a LUCAS, a technologically advanced automatic chest compression machine.
“Josh was watching over as we worked on his dad and asked if there was anything he could do to help. He remained so calm and brave even though he had just saved his dads life,” discloses Rachael Cavill, Paramedic at East Midlands Ambulance Service.
“Once we had a confirmed pulse I told Josh that his dad’s heart was working but that he was still very poorly. Josh’s reply bought a tear to my eye. He just said “Thank you, I am not ready to lose my dad yet.”
“From arriving at the flat, to leaving with the patient, Josh did everything he could to help us” said Rachael. “The flat was a tight space and Josh used his initiative to move furniture around and hold doors open so we could easily get Tommy down the stairs and into our ambulance.”
Tommy was taken to Glenfield Hospital where he was joined by Josh and his mum Hayley.
“Despite the shock of what had happened Josh remained so calm and collected, at the hospital he shook all of our hands and said thank you for saving his dad. I told him he should be very proud of himself and he came over and gave me a hug,” reports paramedic Rachael.
“Josh should be an example to all children his age. By knowing about CPR he was able to give his dad the best fighting chance,” says Tim Hargraves, Team Leader at East Midlands Ambulance Service.
Today, Josh was presented with a bravery award to commemorate his incredibly brave behaviour in an alarming situation.
