A dental receptionist in Greater Manchester has brought a patient ‘back from the dead’ after he suffered a heart attack in the waiting room at the Maggie Jackson’s Independent Dental Hygiene Service, in Tameside. Charlotte Anderson-Hughes, 23, and dentist Chandra Metha managed to save patient Simon Walker, 53, by using a defibrillator to restart his heart, when they realised that the ambulance was not going to arrive in time.
Ms Anderson-Hughes said ‘He collapsed on the floor. Chandra shouted for me and put him in the recovery position but it wasn’t working – it was all so fast. I was looking at him and he was clinically dead. He was going blue and his eyes were open. It was awful.’ The team used the defibrillator twice and managed to get a pulse, then Mr Walker was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital by paramedics. He later sent a text to the staff saying he was ‘eternally grateful’ for their life-saving efforts.
Mr Walker spoke from his hospital bed, saying ‘How I can pay them back for what they did is impossible to say. I want to do something for them but I don’t know what yet – I’ll probably raise some money for more defibrillators around the town.’
Owner of the practice, Maggie Jackson, called the team ‘incredible’ and added that ‘He’s a friend of mine – so to have my staff save him was amazing.’