Staff at the Stirling Leisure Inglewood gym launched a coordinated emergency response when a man suffered a cardiac arrest while warming up on an exercise machine during a regular workout.

“I was personal training a client at the time,” recalls Thang Nguyen. “We both heard some groaning noises from across the gym. I looked over to the cardio section and noticed the member wedged between two bikes with his legs still trapped in the pedals.”

Fellow staff member Matt Smith, who had also been alerted to the incident, ran over with Thang and they lifted the man off the equipment to lay him down. Matt radioed for help and called an ambulance before helping to move exercise machines to make room to lay the man flat on his back.

Duty Officer Jason Morgan was speaking with team member Emma Guest when he received Matt’s call for help.

“I was with Emma at reception when Matt came over the radio and advised us of the first aid situation in the gym,” said Jason. “I grabbed the oxy and first aid kit and Emma grabbed the incident report sheet.”

Gym patron Richelle Finselbach, who works as a nurse, had just arrived for her own workout when she saw the incident unfold and immediately went to assist. The collapsed patron was convulsing and foaming at the mouth, his body tensed up.

“Initially we were under the impression that the casualty was having a seizure,” says Thang. “As we were clearing the bikes and the surrounding area…we noticed the casualty turning blue. That was when Richelle mentioned we needed the defibrillator.”

While Thang retrieved the gym’s defib, Richelle commenced CPR and was assisted by another patron, Aida Hodzic, who was relaying information from 000. Jason and Emma had also arrived on scene. Jason provided rescue breaths and Richelle continued chest compressions as the defib was prepared.

“I tried to move some of the gym equipment back so that they had more room to work on the patient,” said Emma. “Once the man had been given a shock he started to come around, so I got the oxygen ready and he was placed in the recovery position whilst we waited for the ambulance to arrive.”

Paramedics were able to stabilise the man before transporting him to hospital where he went on to make a full recovery. Matt, Thang, Aida and Emma were awarded Bravery Commendations while Jason and Richelle received Gold Medallion bravery awards for their lifesaving actions that day.

Jason says he is very proud of his team and everyone involved.

“It’s a good feeling to see the team getting recognised for saving someone’s life,” he said. “The team worked so incredible together for such a major first aid. The handover was done for the paramedics and I distinctly remember them all saying ‘what a fantastic job, well done’ to the team. A big shout out to Richelle for her quick thinking and quick response.”

“It means such a lot to be recognised,” said Richelle. “I am so glad everyone who was involved is being recognised; it was definitely a team effort. I have never had to resuscitate someone in over 20 years and have never used a defib except in my yearly training, and that is the reason I knew what do to. I will never complain again about having to complete the yearly updates!”

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Congratulations to everyone involved in the incident, and for achieving such a successful outcome. If you’d like to have the skills to save someone’s life, make the decision to enrol in a CPR or first aid course.

“I believe we should all have first aid and CPR training,” says Jason. “You just never know when you might need it.”