By Abbey Cannan
It was a night four paramedics won’t forget, working 17 hours straight on a cargo ship out to sea where they managed to bring a man back from the dead multiple times.
It was a crisis scenario beyond a worst nightmare when a patient went into cardiac arrest multiple times out on an international vessel.
They were wet, cold, hungry and had no water, but that was the least of the worries of the team of four Queensland Ambulance Service workers – Brad Stokes, Joshua Lee, Prudence Snedden, and Anthony Crompton, who have been named as finalists in the prestigious state-wide 2022 QBANK Everyday Heroes Awards.
Prudence Snedden said this was definitely a once in career kind of case.
“It’s not often that you get sent off shore for 16 plus hours on a container ship with a non-English speaking crew and a very critically unwell patient,” she said.
“It definitely will go down in the memory banks as a crazy job that was really well executed.”
After reaching the ship by boat initially, deteriorating weather conditions made it too unsafe to airlift the patient off the ship and forced the chopper to leave the hanger.
This left the team of four to continually resuscitated the man and spent the entire night manually ventilating him for four to five-hour periods.
“We were called to a vessel that was about 5km off Point Cartwright,” Brad Stokes said.
“We arrived on the vessel by police launch to essentially climb up a ladder made out of little timber steps about eight to 10 metres up the side, in through a little cargo hole. (We were) directed to a gentlemen that was gravely ill. He was septic. Essentially I believe he was what we call time critical. So he didn’t have a lot of time to live if we didn’t act on things quickly, and if we didn’t try to get him off that vessel as quick as we could. Unfortunately things didn’t fall into plan.”
The combination of a language barrier, incompatible and depleting resources, the Defib almost completely running out of battery, exhausted oxygen supply and awful weather conditions contributed to a scenario that was literally life or death.
“We had to try and make all this work,” Mr Stokes said.
“We had to improvise a lot of the time. We had to work together. We had to use resources back on land. There was lots of communication happening between doctors, hospitals. It was one challenge after the next, and one hurdle after the next.
“It was quite bizarre in some ways. We had water fountains flying off the side of the boat. We were drenched, we were cold, we were hungry, we had no water. It just never stopped.”
Against all odds, the patient survived.
“It’s an amazing experience to be involved with and it’s even more amazing that this gentlemen survived his experience,” Mr Stokes said.
“It’s very humbling that I now know that he’s back with his family at home.
“I hope he has some fond memories of what transpired that night and I hope he can look at Australia as a pretty cool place.”
With the return of the eighth annual QBANK Everyday Heroes Awards, Brad Stokes, Joshua Lee, Prudence Snedden, and Anthony Crompton will be recognised for their heroic action during this fateful incident.
“To be named as a finalist in the QBANK Everyday Heroes Awards is a very humbling experience,” Mr Stokes said.
“I’ve been doing this role now for 19 years. We don’t go out looking for these accolades obviously. It’s nice to be recognised and it’s nice to be able to show the public what we do, and how we go about it, and to show them that it’s not as easy as it appears. We do have these challenges.”
Fellow paramedic Joshua Lee was thrown into the deep end during the crisis, having only been in the job for three weeks at the time.
“It is very early in my career to be awarded anything like this,” Mr Lee said.
“It’s the job that I signed up to do, it’s the job I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. To be awarded for a job that I come to do everyday is humbling.”
Ms Snedden said being nominated for the award was unexpected.
“A lot of paramedics don’t do it for the recognition, they do it because they really love the job and looking after the community,” she said.
“I think for me… it’s kind of just a nice notification that they do appreciate you. It’s not just for me it’s for the whole team. From the guys who first responded, the communication operators that take the phone calls, the dispatchers who look after us, all the guys who work behind the scenes in the offices who actually keep our education going, and all those people that sometimes don’t know how much they mean to improving critical care.
“I really love looking after people and looking after the community and I’ve had some great mentors who have been passionate and they kind of energise you with that passion.”
In its eighth year, the QBANK Everyday Heroes Awards recognise and celebrate the hard work, dedication and exceptional service of our Queensland Frontline and Public Service workers across the past 12 months.
QBANK chief executive officer Mike Currie noted the high-calibre of nominations for the 2022 Everyday Heroes Awards showcases the selfless service of our frontline, first responders and public services workers, day-in and day-out.
“After a year that delivered once-in-100-year floods, uncertainty and state disasters, our frontline, first responders and public service workers have continued to shine in their commitment to the community,” Mr Currie said.
Finalists will attend an awards ceremony at W Brisbane on Wednesday 12 October 2022 where winners will be announced. Each winner will receive a $1000 cash deposited into a QBANK account and $1000 donated to their charity of choice.
For further information head to qbank.com.au/everydayheroes.
