Robert meets ambulance crew who re-started his heart

Robert Penn has met up with the EEAST crew that saved his life when he went into cardiac arrest.

On 15 June, Mr Penn (61) was at home in Coggeshall when he began to experience breathing problems and chest pain.

“I said to my wife, ‘you’d better get an ambulance’ and she called 999.” he said.

“An ambulance arrived about 10 minutes later. “They made me comfortable, but said that they would take me to Basildon and Thurrock Hospital for further assessment.

“It was while I was in the ambulance on the A12 that I went into cardiac arrest.

“They pulled into a garage and gave me Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). More ambulance crews arrived, including the air ambulance.

“The gave me a number of shocks and were able to get my heart beating again.

“I was taken to Basildon with a doctor from the Air Ambulance with me, and at the hospital they fitted me with a stent immediately.

“After three or four days, I was able to leave."

Mr Penn is now making a good recovery, receiving treatment for high blood pressure and is taking regular exercise.

This week he met up with the EEAST crew that helped save his life: Ambulance Technician Alison Long and Pre-Hospital Practitioner, Jennifer Armstrong.

“I would just like to thank everyone involved. I was dead for two minutes, and they were able to bring me back,” said Mr Penn.

Jemma Cracknell, EEAST Local Area Manager for Mid Essex said:

“It’s great to see Mr Penn make such a good recovery.

“Recovering from cardiac arrest needs a lot of different elements to be in place, and the most important of those is receiving good quality CPR immediately.

“This shows the importance of calling 999 at the first sign of serious symptoms. Because they did that, Mr Penn was in our care when he went into cardiac arrest and our crew was able to successfully restart his heart.”