With first aid training part of his skill set as a policeman, and married to a nurse and former paramedic, Sgt Nicoll registered to be a GoodSAM responder in 2018, when the program was first launched.
The app alerts responders when someone nearby needs CPR in the first crucial minutes after a cardiac arrest, and they can choose whether to accept or reject the request.
“Often the ambulance is there before you and you do CPR, pumping the chest, while the paramedics do all the technical things,” Sgt Nicoll said.
He said the initiative was particularly important in rural areas such as Echuca, as ambulances could be some distance away on another job and the nearest one could be coming from a nearby town.
“One day it could be me or someone I know and I’d want someone to come help,” he said.
“It’s also being community minded; in my job as a policeman, preservation of life is the number one priority.
“Sometimes when I’ve been out patrolling in the police car I’ve had an alert come up and my partner’s come along to help with me.”
Among many alerts Sgt Nicoll has responded to, one that was successful was for an elderly man in Echuca whom he helped work on for 45 minutes.
They were able to get a pulse back and the man was flown to hospital in Melbourne.
But Sgt Nicoll said often they were unable to get people back – in line with the statistics of only one in 10 people surviving cardiac arrest.
“It’s hard when it’s someone you know, which is often the case in rural areas,” he said.
“But if you help save one life, it’s well worth the effort.”
These survival rates are something the Shocktober campaign aims to improve.
“This month, we want as many people as possible to learn basic CPR and to become one of our amazing GoodSAM responders,” Ambulance Victoria chief executive Professor Tony Walker said.
More than 50 people are alive today after receiving early CPR from GoodSAM responders.
For information about the GoodSAM app and how to sign up, visit heartrestarter.com.au
To learn how to do CPR and use an automated external defibrillator, visit ambulance.vic.gov.au
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