A bin lorry driver and his crew have been praised after carrying out lifesaving resuscitation on a woman who had collapsed.
Cityclean driver Billy Lee was driving with colleagues, Phil Buss and Ryan Bones, when he spotted a woman having a seizure on Findon Road, Whitehawk.
The three men jumped out of the cab to help and performed chest compressions until an ambulance arrived for the woman.
The council said it would look into first aid training for other drivers and crews, after Billy learned what to do having attended a council-run training course.
Billy said: “We ran to her and I put her in the recovery position and felt her pulse.
“I could see she was suffering from a seizure so I carried out CPR to help resuscitate her.
“Part of CPR is making sure someone is breathing properly, so I made sure her airways were clear with her head back and my colleagues Phil and Ryan contacted the ambulance service who arrived in three or four minutes.
“The woman said thank you as we helped her into the ambulance. We just wanted to help.
“I think it would be good for all drivers and crews to have training as we’re on the road and streets all day and can help in these situations.”
CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is an emergency procedure used for those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing.
After calling an ambulance, hands-only CPR involves kneeling beside the patient and using your body weight to press straight down by 5 to 6cm (2 to 2.5 inches) on the patient’s chest and then releasing, at a rate of 100 to 120 times a minute – or to the beat of “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees.
Rachael Chasseaud, the council’s assistant director of city environment, said: “What Billy, Phil and Ryan did was amazing and really helped the woman until the ambulance arrived.
“I and everyone at Cityclean plus the council’s leadership and senior managers are very proud of them.
“It shows how important our first aid training is and we’ll now be looking into more training for other drivers and crews and make sure Billy is involved.”
The lads are to be commended.
They saved the ladies life, no doubt..Just ordinary blokes , doing their jobs and a bit extra,,
Well done. They deserve the freedom of the City!.
was it on double time bank holiday?
The article above is technically misleading and could be dangerous. CPR as it says is chest compression and respiratory assistance and is a potentially lifesaving thing IF the patient is not breathing and has no pulse. However this would be dangerous if the patient is still breathing and with a pulse,
What Billy did was correct for someone fitting or having a seizure by ensuring the patient airway is clear ( it is possible to swallow you own toung) and place the patient in the recovery position on their side.
Where the story goes wrong is calling putting a patient into the recovery position CPR. And this compounded by the author’s lack of knowledge who has quoted the internet definition of CPR.
Anyway well done Billy. You did the right thing. And yes everyone should undertake first aid training as part of a society we should be able to look after each other. And who knows, be able to write better articles..
I don’t think anyone reading this article without cor training is going to refer back to this article if they thought about applying it for real.