Volunteers from an Edinburgh charity have potentially saved a man’s life in the city centre after administering CPR and a defibrillator before the Scottish Ambulance Service arrived.
Street Assist, who are a charity organisation that looks to ensure the safety, dignity and health of night time economy users in the capital, had a busy evening on Friday, August 12 and into the wee hours of Saturday, August 13.
The incident is understood to have taken place on Blair Street at around 1am. Volunteers arrived at the scene to find a man initially conscious but 'rather intoxicated'.
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They said his health deteriorated quickly before he stopped breathing and then had no signs of a pulse. Luckily the quick-thinking team, who have had experience of administering CPR and a defibrillator, were able to help.
As well as caring for the man, the volunteers also contacted ambulance control in order for paramedics to attend the scene. Neil Logan, the director of Edinburgh Street Assist, said the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) were very quick to respond and transferred the man to hospital.
It is understood that the man recovered and was safe and well this morning.
Neil said: “It was quite an intense job for our volunteers but they handled it amazingly well. The individual had pretty much stopped breathing and had no pulse.
"He was found on Blair Street around 1am, he was rather intoxicated. He was ok when we arrived but deteriorated very quickly.
"The team dealt with this case admirably well under what was a very stressful situation. They liaised with the Ambulance Control Room and worked together to make sure the service user received the best possible car until such times as the ambulance arrived and we hope the service user makes a full recovery.”
It was an extremely busy night for the volunteer team who claim on Twitter that they responded to 20 call outs in total, including five referrals from Edinburgh Police. They also took three people to the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh.
The team will be back on Edinburgh’s streets from 6pm on Saturday, August 13.
Learn more about Street Assist and support their work by clicking here.
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