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‘I SAVED A DOG’S LIFE BY GIVING IT CPR’

I saved a dog's life by giving it CPR

I SAVED A DOG’S LIFE BY GIVING IT CPR

When Wells lifeboat crew launched to a family cut off by the tide, they found a dog in desperate need of help. Crew Member Simon retells the dramatic story.

Simon Parkes, Wells Lifeboat Crew MemberThis will be my seventh year as a volunteer crew member at Wells Lifeboat Station. My family have been in Wells for many generations and, like most seaside towns, the people here are really proud of their lifeboat station.

I’m a nurse practitioner in the ambulance service. One day, I walked into the lifeboat station and said to the crew there: ‘I know nothing about the sea, but I do know how to look after people.’

Chris, the Lifeboat Operations Manager, said: ‘Don’t worry, we can teach you everything you need to know about the sea.’ I’m now a navigator on the Shannon class and recently passed out as helm on the inshore lifeboat.

Part of the art of good casualty care is being able to reassure your patients and their relatives, while keeping yourself calm. The key part of our casualty care training is to try to prepare us crews for something that you never know is going to happen.

The shout

Every year, we have a training exercise at Wells between Christmas and New Year. That Sunday 29 December, we had been out in our D class Peter Wilcox and our all-weather Shannon class lifeboat Duke of Edinburgh. We had arrived back at the station, had a cup of tea and were about to head home when the pagers went off.

The report came in that there was a family cut off by the tide. On Wells Beach, there’s a sandbar where it’s difficult to see the tide coming in behind you. It’s a known trouble spot and we’d been out there the day before. Our water safety officer is always trying to publicise the information that, 4 hours before high tide, you need to head back to land. But many visitors don’t know about the tides here.

We launched the D class and quickly made our way to the casualties. Onboard the lifeboat were Richard Brazier and Gary Yarham, who was at the helm. Gary and I had completed our helm training together, so I knew I was in good hands.

All we could see initially was a dot on the horizon. As we got closer, it became obvious there was a dog lying on its side, motionless, at the water’s edge. It was relatively shallow and we were able to make our way in with the D class. The dog’s owner was understandably very upset.

They were a family visiting Wells for a holiday. They had gone out for a walk when the tide cut them off. The mum, two children and another dog had been able to make their way back to the shore. But the other dog, Olive, had not been able to swim back. She wasn’t a particularly strong swimmer, and she had got cold, tired and exhausted. The owner said she just sank beneath the water.

We brought the lifeboat in close and were quickly able to scoop Olive up and put her in the D class. At that point, she was limp, cold and lifeless. Her eyes were waxy and she wasn’t breathing.

Acting on instincts

Automatic instincts kicked in. Because the dog wasn’t breathing, we started resuscitating. As a nurse and crew member I’ve resuscitated people, but never a dog before. I worked on the principle of doing the same thing that we would do for a child.

The D class doesn’t provide an awful lot of room, but it is a hard surface to push down on, so just did it as if it were a child. As I was doing the chest compressions, Gary the helm was ensuring the dog’s airway was open so, if there was any sea water inside, it could come out. He did a great job at keeping everyone calm and focused.

We were doing chest compressions for about 90 seconds until OIive started to respond. Initially she was breathing very slowly but it was so gratifying there were small signs of life. It was an anxious 4-5-minute journey back to the boathouse with Olive and the owner.

The shore crew were standing by with the softtrak (launch tractor) to get Olive up the beach and into the warmth of the boathouse. As Olive got warmer, she was gradually becoming more aware of what was going on around her. Simon Gilbert is a relatively new member of the crew and also a vet. He had not been long home from the practice launch when we gave him a call. He was kind enough to come down and look Olive over.

What was lovely was when the other dog that this family had came into the station. Olive’s eyes opened up and her tail started wagging.

It was only afterwards when Olive and her young family were able to walk out of the lifeboat station, that the crew had a cup of tea and realised what we had just done. It wasn’t what we expected to do that morning. It was a fantastic team effort.

The return

Later in their holiday, the family came back to say thank you and look around the lifeboat station. They were very grateful for what we had done. They told us that Olive spent a night in the vet hospital for observation, but she had made a full recovery.

It was really satisfying that these two young children have got their dog back . It would have been a terrible end to their holiday if one of their family had not made it home. We were all happy that it was a job well done.

We have a great beach here in Wells and so many people enjoy a dog walk along the miles and miles of sand. Lots of the crew here are dog owners themselves too. We all treat our dogs like they are a part of the family. It doesn’t matter that they are a dog – we just want them to survive.