‘I just did what had to be done’

Kim McArthur had just arrived at her new bridal boutique, Heartland Brides in Wagga Wagga NSW, and was putting on the finishing touches in preparation for its official opening, when she heard a sudden commotion. She turned to see one of the painters had collapsed just metres away. While others froze, Kim sprang into action.

Survival starts with recognition

She called out, “Has anyone called an ambulance?” When no one answered, she dialled 000 herself. Rushing to the man’s side, she found him lying on the floor with another witness who thought he was still breathing. But Kim could see something wasn’t right. His skin was pale. His breathing was slow and gasping.

‘I knew he wasn’t getting enough oxygen,’ Kim said.

Following the ambulance operator’s instructions, Kim rolled the man onto his back and put her hand on his chest to check his breathing. After a long pause, there was a loud snort. Then 20 seconds later, another. The operator recognised the signs of agonal breathing, a reflex that signals the heart has stopped, and said just one thing - ‘start CPR’.

‘I didn’t think. I just did it,’ Kim recalls. ‘I put my palm in the middle of his chest, wrapped my other hand around my wrist, and just started compressions. One, two, three, four - over and over. I couldn’t hear anything else - not sirens, not people talking. Just the counting and compressions.’

‘That instinct came from doing CPR and first aid training four or five times over the past 20 years,’ she said.

Kim continued CPR without pause for eight long minutes until a man ran in with a defibrillator. That was Rory McKenzie, a local man who runs Wagga Wagga First Aid and Training. He had answered an alert on the GoodSAM App, which connects Emergency Medical Services with volunteer responders to nearby suspected cardiac arrests.

‘I had the CellAED^® in the back of my car and brought it straight over,’ Rory explains. ‘I told Kim to keep going with compressions while I got the defib ready. On its first heart analysis it detected a shockable rhythm and delivered a shock’.

Kim continued CPR, with paramedics arriving before the next heart rhythm analysis could be performed. They took over treatment, deactivating and replacing CellAED^® with their defibrillator, which allowed for greater control and monitoring.

Deactivated CellAED^® after being used by Rory

Several additional shocks were delivered before the man was transported to hospital, where he remained in a coma for 24 hours. He was later brought out of the coma and, at last report, is in a stable condition.

‘I wasn’t optimistic when I saw him. He looked very hypoxic and pale,” Rory says. ‘But when the CellAED^® picked up that shockable rhythm, I knew we had a real chance because he still had a cardiac output’.

The paramedics later told Kim she had done everything perfectly and that the man would have died without Kim and Rory’s immediate action.

‘CellAED^® gave me assurance that this guy still had a chance to live. It delivered a shock when it needed to. That’s why I use it. That’s why I have two of them. I just wish they were more readily available - and that more people carried them with them’.

Despite several AED’s being nearby, no one knew the location of one. One staff member of Heartland Brides took a guess and ran down to the nearby insurance company yelling for a defibrillator, but they did not have one. It was the fact that Rory had his own CellAED^® on hand, ready to use, that made all the difference.

‘It all worked because everything lined up perfectly — the 000 call, starting CPR immediately, the GoodSAM response, and the defibrillator,’ Kim reflects. ‘But that only happens if people know what to do. I was trained. I acted. Rory had a CellAED^® in his car. If even one of those things hadn’t happened, it would be a very different outcome for that man’.

Despite her heroic efforts, Kim doesn’t see herself as a hero. She acted because someone’s life was at stake. She simply did what needed to be done, and now she’s determined to spread the message: ‘You don’t need to be a hero. You just need to do something. That’s what saves lives’.

The critical importance of CPR training and being prepared

Kim and Rory’s story is a powerful reminder that sudden cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time - and that being prepared, with both training and equipment, can be the difference between life and death.

‘CPR training is for everyone,’ says Rory. ‘Anyone can learn this lifesaving skill. The more people who know how to perform CPR correctly, the better chance there is of saving lives in the community. Immediate CPR keeps blood and oxygen flowing to the brain, buying crucial time until professional help arrives’.

There’s no doubt Kim helped save that man’s life because she knew what to do and did it without hesitation.

But the story could have ended very differently.

There was no defibrillator on site, and no one knew where to find one. If Rory hadn’t responded to the GoodSAM alert — and if he hadn’t had his CellAED^® with him — this likely would have been a tragic outcome.

Every business needs to be ready

This case is a wake-up call for business owners. Would you know what to do in a sudden cardiac arrest? Would your staff? Where is your nearest defibrillator?

When emergencies happen, it’s not about being a hero — it’s about being ready. Every business should have a defibrillator on site.

Pictures supplied by Marguerite McKinnon