Even after signing off from his duties as a volunteer ambulance officer, Jason Mountstephen would donate his time to help train his former station's new recruits.
His sister Mel says that was just how he was: passionate, selfless and community-minded.
Dedicating more than 10 years to the volunteer-run Goolwa ambulance station, Jason was popular among his peers and known for his "cool, calm and collected" persona.
After being diagnosed with a condition known as pulmonary arterial hypertension — a type of high blood pressure that affects the arteries in the lungs — he stopped going out on the vehicles but continued volunteering in admin before retiring completely.
Even then, he was still passionate about helping.
"When I had students to train, he would come down because he had funny blood pressure. He had a funny heart rate … and he would make the perfect patient," Mel says, who was also a volunteer and worked for the SAAS rostering team.
"He had a lot of humour in it, but he'd make that humour a teaching point."
'I had no idea what to do'
Jason passed away in July 2019, aged 34, after collapsing at home. His parents John and Felisa performed CPR on him with guidance from a triple-0 operator.
They say it took about 20 minutes for an ambulance crew to reach them.
"The night Jason died, out of the three units available between Victor Harbor and Goolwa, one was on a job and the other two were ramped up in Adelaide," John says.
"It's always in the back of your mind, 'if I knew CPR better, would the outcome have been different?'."
In a statement to the ABC, SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) said their records indicate a Goolwa crew arrived on scene first, alongside an intensive care paramedic (ICP), "earlier than indicated".
"We do not intend to provide any further detail about this case."
The spokesperson extended their "deepest condolences to the patient's family for their loss".
"The death of a relative so young is deeply distressing," they said.
'Ambos did the best they could'
Mel says she is still in contact with local crews.
"The ambo who attended with Jason said that job, to now, still quite destroys him because he feels even though we're not in SAAS … they say 'you're family, you're SAAS family'," she said.
The family does not blame the local crews, saying they were "very pleased they did the best they could".
"It's very hard, dirty [work] … Mel and Jason would come home very stressed on some of the nights they had been out," John said.
Advocating for public education
The family are now channelling their loss into speaking up for ambulance crews.
The family say there needs to be more community first aid and CPR training, public defibrillators installed, and education on when to call triple-0.
It is an idea SAAS agrees with.
"We are very grateful to all community members who assist during any response and actively encourage use of publicly accessible AEDs and training in CPR," the spokesperson said.
That education is one thing the Mountstephens will continue to push for.
"If us speaking up can help to change the public mindset, great," Mr Mountstephen said.
"If we can save somebody else going through this grief, great."
