Teaching Olivia to help granddad

By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News

Olivia kept calm after Bryan collapsed

When Olivia Lewis's granddad collapsed while she was alone with him, the seven year old did not panic.

She calmly checked his vital signs, got him back to bed and then called for help.

Luckily the schoolgirl had received emergency life support skills training at school and knew exactly what to do.

"We learnt from our teacher how to check their breathing and their pulse, how to wake them and we practised on our friends," she said.

Getting help

"Before we went to bed granddad had been complaining of pains behind his neck.

"Then at about 5am I heard this bang in the other room. Granddad was in the bathroom with the light on and was just lying on the floor.

I was very proud of her how she managed to do this without panicking Steve Lewis

"I checked his breathing and pulse before trying to wake him."

Her father Steve said granddad Bryan Morris, a 64-year-old window cleaner, had been looking after Olivia while her parents were away.

Olivia said she was relieved to find her granddad breathing and with a pulse.

"I tried to wake him up though, but he would not. I checked his breathing again and then tried to wake him up again and luckily he did," she said.

"The first thing he said was 'where am I?'

"I said 'you are on the bathroom floor, what happened?' and he said 'I don't know. I went into the bathroom to go to the toilet, but it all went black and I felt really dizzy and the next thing I knew you were waking me up'.

"He said 'please can you get me a wet cold cloth and help me back into bed' , which I did.

"I got a cold flannel and got him up, but said he was scared of falling so he held onto my shoulders. I got him water and telephoned dad and unlocked the door and waited for him. He then called the doctor."

Brave and calm

Steve, from Powys, Wales, said he had been very impressed with his daughter.

"I was very proud of her how she managed to do this without panicking," he said.

"She was very brave and sensible. The doctor came and checked him over and thought his blackout had been because of the change in medication for his arthritis.

"We were aware Olivia was doing this course but did not realise how advanced it was."

Colin Elding, the BHF's chest pain programme manager and former paramedic, said they had 2,867 schools affiliated to Heartstart UK, and learning essential life skills.

Mr Elding, said teaching basic life supports is proving very rewarding.

"Most incidents happen in the home so that is a practical reason, learning emergency life support skills can be quite daunting as an adult, but if you teach them as kids we find they quite enjoy it," he said.

"It helps them mature.

"They have the confidence and that is more people trained."

He added that skills taught were dependent on the child's age.

"Five to six year olds are taught how to recognise that something has gone wrong and how to call 999.

"As they get older they learn about turning somebody into the recovery position and how to recognise and deal with problems and then they learn the more physical skills of CPR when they get to about nine to 10 years old."