GoodSAM Cardiac Responder: Samantha Sharp

Samantha Sharp had gone to visit her father on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Her father worked in the healthcare sector and knew Samantha and her husband Pete were GoodSAM cardiac responders. He had an old defibrillator, but it was rescue ready and he gave it to Samantha should she need it. Samantha didn’t know then that she would be using it three days later to help save a life.

On a Tuesday morning Samantha’s phone pinged – it was an alert from the Ambulance Services, via the GoodSAM app to alert her to a nearby cardiac arrest. Samantha’s child was at Nursery and her husband Pete was at work, so she packed up her defibrillator and went to the location, which was a couple of minutes away.

As Samantha approached the address, there was no one there, so she wasn’t sure if it was the right place. She grabbed her defibrillator and banged on the door. A woman opened the door and she was hesitant at first, as Samantha was in a hoody and didn’t look like a medic. Samantha quickly explained she was a GoodSAM cardiac responder, told the woman to tell the Ambulance Service she was there, as the woman was on the phone to them,  and asked to be taken to the person having a cardiac arrest.

Samantha was taken through to where the woman had collapsed and could see a family member doing CPR on her. Samantha told them to keep going while she set the defibrillator up.  When it was ready, she put the pads on the woman, at which point the family member left. The defibrillator gave a shock, and Samantha continued CPR after the shock. 

As the defibrillator was doing another analysis as to whether another shock was needed, the double Ambulance crew walked in, and told her to keep going, whilst they set up. The defibrillator gave another shock and Samantha went back to CPR. Sam, an on duty police officer and a GoodSAM cardiac responder then walked in. He took over from Samantha to give her a rest. Then two paramedics arrived shortly after Sam.

Samantha says: “The Ambulance crew were so good at keeping everyone calm and kept checking in on me. Once everything was in place, I left the room and  went to talk to the family. I told them I was registered on an app that alerted me to a cardiac arrest nearby.

“After speaking to the family, I returned to the room and the paramedics told me that I had managed to restart her heart."

Every heart needs GoodSAM neighbours.

We’ve teamed up with GoodSAM to take your friendly neighbourhood watch to the next level. Now, when you complete all 4 scenarios of Lifesaver, you can sign up to be a GoodSAM volunteer cardiac arrest responder and help to save lives in your community.

Sign up to be a GoodSAM responder