Recovered patient returns to thank local firefighters for saving his life
By Aideen O’Flaherty
A MAN who was brought back to life after suffering cardiac arrest in Marlay Park on St Stephen’s Day went to Rathfarnham Fire Station this weekend to thank the crew that saved his life.
Noel Tobin was jogging in Marlay Park when he suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest, his heart had stopped beating and he had stopped breathing.
A Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance was dispatched to Marlay Park and St Stephen’s Day, and the crew administered live-saving CPR and advanced medication and revived Mr Tobin.
Colm Kershaw, who is the station manager for Rathfarnham Fire Station and who also treated Mr Tobin that day, told The Echo: “It’s not very common to have people come back and visit the fire station, you normally meet people at their worst whether it’s a house fire or a car crash.”
Mr Kershaw added that in his 20 years of working for the fire service, this is only the second or third time this has happened to him.
When Mr Tobin visited the fire station on Saturday morning, firefighter and paramedic John Nolan got the opportunity to apologise to the patient for breaking his ribs during CPR chest compressions, according to Mr Kershaw.
This follows ongoing concerns about the Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance services running over capacity, with Labour Dublin City councillor Alison Gilliland calling on Dublin City Council to fund four additional fully crewed ambulances for Dublin Fire Brigade.
Last month SIPTU announced plans to ballot Dublin Fire Brigade members for strike action over the ambulance shortage.
There only 12 ambulances operating in Dublin Fire Service at present.
This week The Echo spoke with members of Dublin Fire Brigade.
One local firefighter, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that there are concerns among fire fighters that there may be plans to remove Dublin Fire Brigade dispatch services from the city centre, and then amalgamate them with the National Ambulance Service call centre in Tallaght.
The source added that “a lot of the work we do is ambulance-related”, and that the amalgamation of the two phone services could have a dire effect on patient outcomes.
A Dublin City Council spokesman told The Echo: “In response to the HIQA review of pre-hospital emergency care services (December 2014), it was proposed by senior management in the four Dublin Local Authorities and the Health Services Executive that the National Ambulance Service Control Centre, Tallaght assume responsibility for call taking in respect of all emergency ambulance calls in the Dublin region.
“This has since been the subject matter of a consultative forum made up of senior management from DFB, DCC and the Trade Unions that had been in operation since March 2015.
The forum’s ongoing role has been to try and get agreement on this important issue, thus far this has not happened.”
