On a warm August morning in Beecroft, New South Wales, Australia, Kent Ross left his house to meet a friend at Pennant Hills Golf Club. Once there, he greeted his friend, placed his golf clubs on their cart, then walked up six steps towards the pro shop and suddenly blacked out.
“That’s where my memory ends,” Ross said. “I woke up in the emergency department at Westmead Hospital with a man explaining that they were inserting a stent in my arm, and I felt like I’d been sat on by an elephant.”
A few weeks prior, on the day before his 50th birthday, Ross had checked himself into the hospital for a mild chest pain that he had been experiencing for several weeks.
I had my cardiac arrest about 10 meters from the pro shop, and on the wall of the pro shop is a ZOLL® AED. And I was very lucky that a nearby gentleman knew how to use it.”
— Kent Ross, SCA survivor
After performing an electrocardiogram (ECG) and a chest X-ray and taking blood tests, the doctors chalked Ross’ pain up to indigestion.
However, following his collapse, the Westmead Hospital emergency department staff informed Ross that the cause of his chest pain was a 90% blocked left anterior descending (LAD) artery, which resulted in a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) at the golf club. Fortunately for Ross, his SCA was in a public space near a ZOLL® automated external defibrillator (AED).
“I somehow didn’t have a heart attack on the way [to the golf club] or five minutes later, which would’ve been two kilometers away from the pro shop,” Ross said. “I had my cardiac arrest about 10 meters from the pro shop, and on the wall of the pro shop is a ZOLL AED. And I was very lucky that a nearby gentleman knew how to use it.”
The nearby gentleman whose training and quick thinking would play a crucial role in Ross’ survival was Paul Toohey, a fellow golf club member and high school PE teacher with first aid training. Toohey came upon Ross’ friend struggling to lift him up and soon realized that Ross was experiencing SCA. He ran into the pro shop to grab the ZOLL AED and alert the staff to call for an ambulance. He affixed the AED pads onto Ross and administered a shock as per the AED’s recommendation. Ross remained unresponsive, and Toohey began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
“The person that had the biggest influence on me would say, ‘Look, if you do nothing, one thing’s for sure—you’re going to a funeral, and so you can’t make matters worse,’” Toohey said. “So I did compressions for as long as I could. I felt I’d done it forever, but it was only a matter of a few minutes, then one of Kent’s friends came and took over. The ambulance arrived about a minute later.”
Ross, who had three prior near-death experiences, later recalled this one being particularly life changing. “This one’s really rocked me to the core,” he stated.
“I was a long-term smoker with a family history of bad cholesterol and turning bad cholesterol into calcification and stenosis. But I’m still here and seemingly will make a better recovery than I started with. I obviously stopped smoking. I haven’t had a cigarette since, and I’ll be very surprised if I ever do.”
A week after Ross’ SCA, 60 people enrolled to learn CPR and how to use the AED at the Pennant Hills Golf Club, and another 60 people enrolled the following week. Both Ross and Toohey stress the value of learning these skills and making AEDs more accessible in all public locations.
“You need to know where AEDs are and you need to be prepared to use them,” Toohey advised. “When I go golfing, I know there’s an AED outside the chemist. When I go to the restaurant, I know there’s an AED on the wall. At school, I tell everyone to take a photo of the AED in your area so you have an understanding of where those are.”