June 24th 2013 will be a day Philip Dunkley will remember. It was the day he almost died of a Cardiac Arrest.
Philip was visiting his golf club for a match, and was approaching the 16th green. It ran along side the 17th fairway seperated by a small bank. He hit his shot and it skewed to the right, over the bank onto the 17th fairway. His teammates continued with their shots to the 16th, when out of concern, they realised Philip was not with them. He had taken his battery operated cart up the bank to the 17th, and had not returned. Philip was found lying in the long grass, unconcious.
His colleague, Alan, had recently undertaken a CPR course as part of his work, he immediately started CPR whilst the green keeper rang 999 and went for help. The manager of the golf club knew there was a community public access defibrillator (cPAD) in the village and went to fetch it, bringing it back to the unconcious Philip. The defibrillator was applied and gave two schocks whilst CPR continued. Shortly afterwards the paramedics and air ambulance arrived to take Philip to Coventry Hospital, where after 2 days in intensive care, he made a full recovery.
The community defibrillator had been placed into the village the previous Novemeber in memory of Claire Squiress from North Kilworth who died on a London Marathon run. This was the first time it had been used in earnest. Working with the Community Heartbeat Trust, members of the village positioned the defibrillator at the petrol station on the main road in the village, for easy access.
"You can be prepared for many things in life" said Jackie, Philips wife. "The fact someone was there to do CPR and then fetch the defibrillator - well it's just fantastic! Philip is here as a testament to the fast action of his friends."