The 10-minute search for the device that saved a Sydney man's life
'I could see straight away that he wasn't breathing,' said Duggan, a police officer on parental leave with his five-month-old daughter, Audrene. 'I parked my daughter up about five metres away, put the brake on the pram ... and I just got down and started CPR.'
Dharm Singh Hooda, an otherwise healthy 66-year-old grandfather, had just finished his daily morning walk around Elara Sporting Fields in Marsden Park when he went into cardiac arrest.
Duggan's quick thinking, and an off-duty paramedic who raced to the scene after receiving an alert on the GoodSAM app, kept Hooda alive. He had performed CPR many times in 15 years as a cop, but this was the first time someone had pulled through.
'I feel pretty happy he's on the mend,' he said.
Hooda is now recovering in Westmead Hospital. He is in a rare club – only 10 per cent of people who suffer cardiac arrest survive.
His cardiologist, Dr Pramesh Kovoor, said Hooda's condition was improving, but he had suffered neurological damage because of a delay in defibrillation.
'He's expected to be in the hospital probably for two to three weeks in total, in contrast to somebody who would have required maybe a few days in the hospital if they received a shock within three minutes,' Kovoor said.
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The Age
02-07-2025
- The Age
The 10-minute search for the device that saved a Sydney man's life
Rob Duggan was on his morning coffee run two weeks ago when he saw a man collapse in the distance. 'I could see straight away that he wasn't breathing,' said Duggan, a police officer on parental leave with his five-month-old daughter, Audrene. 'I parked my daughter up about five metres away, put the brake on the pram ... and I just got down and started CPR.' Dharm Singh Hooda, an otherwise healthy 66-year-old grandfather, had just finished his daily morning walk around Elara Sporting Fields in Marsden Park when he went into cardiac arrest. Duggan's quick thinking, and an off-duty paramedic who raced to the scene after receiving an alert on the GoodSAM app, kept Hooda alive. He had performed CPR many times in 15 years as a cop, but this was the first time someone had pulled through. 'I feel pretty happy he's on the mend,' he said. Hooda is now recovering in Westmead Hospital. He is in a rare club – only 10 per cent of people who suffer cardiac arrest survive. His cardiologist, Dr Pramesh Kovoor, said Hooda's condition was improving, but he had suffered neurological damage because of a delay in defibrillation. 'He's expected to be in the hospital probably for two to three weeks in total, in contrast to somebody who would have required maybe a few days in the hospital if they received a shock within three minutes,' Kovoor said.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
The 10-minute search for the device that saved a Sydney man's life
Rob Duggan was on his morning coffee run two weeks ago when he saw a man collapse in the distance. 'I could see straight away that he wasn't breathing,' said Duggan, a police officer on parental leave with his five-month-old daughter, Audrene. 'I parked my daughter up about five metres away, put the brake on the pram ... and I just got down and started CPR.' Dharm Singh Hooda, an otherwise healthy 66-year-old grandfather, had just finished his daily morning walk around Elara Sporting Fields in Marsden Park when he went into cardiac arrest. Duggan's quick thinking, and an off-duty paramedic who raced to the scene after receiving an alert on the GoodSAM app, kept Hooda alive. He had performed CPR many times in 15 years as a cop, but this was the first time someone had pulled through. 'I feel pretty happy he's on the mend,' he said. Hooda is now recovering in Westmead Hospital. He is in a rare club – only 10 per cent of people who suffer cardiac arrest survive. His cardiologist, Dr Pramesh Kovoor, said Hooda's condition was improving, but he had suffered neurological damage because of a delay in defibrillation. 'He's expected to be in the hospital probably for two to three weeks in total, in contrast to somebody who would have required maybe a few days in the hospital if they received a shock within three minutes,' Kovoor said.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- ABC News
GoodSam app volunteer Ashlin Fisher saves neighbour in cardiac arrest
When Geoff Percival collapsed in cardiac arrest and his partner called triple-0, it was not a paramedic who was the first responder; it was neighbour Ashlin Fisher. A few months earlier, the young mum from Broulee on the New South Wales south coast had downloaded NSW Ambulance's GoodSam responder application to her phone. The time had come to put it to the test. "It's a very loud, alarming alert … and I realised what it was and I had to run out the door," Ms Fisher said. When she arrived that fateful day in March last year, the 63-year-old was unconscious, and his partner was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). "I explained as best I could who I was and what I was … I asked her to put the phone on loudspeaker … and very quickly I didn't have to make any real decisions, triple-0 was just giving me instructions on what to do," she said. The frantic triple-0 call recorded the moment Ms Fisher arrived, with the operator responding: "We've got a GoodSam here? OK, alright … we're up to 300 compressions, I need you to keep going until that ambulance arrives." As Ms Fisher counted the compression alongside the operator, ambulance sirens blared in the background, and within two minutes a paramedic was in the room. Then the operator said, "Is that the paramedic on scene with you? OK, I'll leave you with them, you've all done a really good job, all the best now." Mr Percival recently got the chance to thank his good Samaritan. "I just think it was so lucky that she was able to respond. [My partner] was doing CPR on me … and Ashlin came along and I think you said, 'Can I take over?' and she said, 'Yes, please,'" he said. "It was good to have a third person come in and have some idea what to do until the paramedics arrived. According to NSW Ambulance, it takes a paramedic an average of nine to 10 minutes to reach a heart attack case. The GoodSam app aims to bridge that gap and is available to anyone 18 or older and able to perform CPR. When needed, an alarm on the responder's phone rings, and the person is asked if they can help. If they can, they receive the patient's address along with the location of any nearby defibrillator. GoodSam began in NSW in 2023, and so far about 9,600 volunteers have registered. NSW Ambulance GoodSam project officer Monika Sitkowski said volunteers had given CPR to 54 patients who had survived. "They're not getting oxygen into their vital organs, especially their brain, so we need to get volunteers who are nearby to start that CPR process and keep them alive until paramedics arrive. "[GoodSam] is about saving your neighbours. It's about saving your friends and family. There's a huge increase in survival when you've got early CPR to that person in need." NSW Ambulance said it was aiming for 50,000 registered volunteers across the state. "That would probably mean that there's a GoodSam responder nearby to every person who goes into cardiac arrest," Ms Sitkowski said. Versions of the GoodSam app are also used in South Australia and Victoria, while Western Australia's St John Ambulance has a similar app.
