St John First Aid Champion award recipients standing outside of Melbourne Town Hall in early August (photo credit: VICSES)

VICSES’ own Bradley Jew has been honoured with a St John First Aid Champions award for his lifesaving efforts earlier this year. 

In June, Bradley was working from home, just outside Ballarat, when he received a notification from the GoodSAM app - by Ambulance Victoria – of a suspected cardiac arrest just 100 metres from his location. 

The app uses geolocation technology to determine where qualified personnel are available to respond. Brad accepted the request and drove to the scene of the incident, at a nearby residence. 

Brad’s VICSES vehicle contained a defibrillator kit but, as the patient was in cardiac arrest when arrived, he was unable to deploy the kit as the patient’s heart had already stopped. 

Initially in a small hallway, adjoining a bathroom, Brad began to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until paramedics arrived on scene. Once on scene, the paramedics undertook compression while Brad ventilated the patient. Brad continued CPR while paramedics administered medication. After around ten minutes in full cardiac arrest, the patient recovered.

Brad attended a ceremony with his wife Torie, at Melbourne Town Hall earlier this month. Thank you to Brad, and to all of our volunteers who have signed up to help with the GoodSAM app.