Boy crushed by barbecue on Yorke Peninsula, rescued by paramedic
An off-duty paramedic has saved a boy’s life using a life-saving app after a barbecue fell on top of him at an Adelaide home.
Two-year-old Grayson Garrad was blue in the face when his mother saw him crushed under the weight of the barbecue smoker in their Yorke Peninsula backyard on June 1.
The barbecue had fallen into the boy’s airway and when his mother found it, he was unresponsive.
She immediately called triple-0, but her son’s chances of survival decreased by the second.
Robert Davis was waiting in line for an ice cream cone when he received a notification from the GoodSAM app alerting him that someone in the area needed urgent resuscitation.
Two-year-old Grayson Garrad (pictured) was rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital after a barbecue fell on him while he was in the backyard of his family home on the Yorke Peninsula.
The family was confused when a stranger burst into the backyard and offered his help.
“This man came in his street clothes, and I didn’t know who he was or where he came from,” Ashleigh Garrad told 7 News on Tuesday.
The volunteer paramedic went to work to resuscitate the two-year-old.
“The toddler just felt lifeless and I tried to perform effective CPR,” Mr Davis told 7 News.
Ms Garrad said she could not be more grateful to the paramedic and the app for helping to save Grayson’s life.
“I thought he would be gone… we couldn’t thank him enough for what he did,” she said.
Grayson spent a week in the Royal Adelaide Hospital before returning to his parents.
More than 540 employees of the SA ambulance service had registered for this GoodSAM More than 10 percent had already responded to cardiac arrest warnings, according to state government data.
Robert Davis (pictured left) received an alert via the GoodSAM app on his phone that the young boy (pictured center) needed medical attention, while the off-duty paramedic stood in line waiting for an ice cream cone
Emergency responders are alerted when cardiac arrest occurs in their area and are instructed to perform CPR while an ambulance is sent to the scene.
The app is used in South Australia, Victoria and NSW and is available to anyone with first aid training, registered healthcare providers, ambulance crews and volunteers and some university students.