Lifesaving Angela

When a customer arrived to collect a parcel from Swaffham Delivery Office, little did they know what was about to happen. Fortunately, however, postwoman and workplace coach Angela Zoller was on hand to save the day.

When the customer was asked to show his ID, he collapsed, his heart stopped and he went into cardiac arrest. Despite never having received any formal training, Angela immediately started CPR and continued her efforts to revive him until the ambulance crew arrived.

Delivery office manager Matthew Lomax, said: ‘When I was on the phone to the ambulance service, the customer’s body went cold and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Thankfully it didn’t take the paramedics too long and when they took over from Angie, she kept talking to the customer to try and keep him awake and calm him down.

‘When he came around, he started getting a little aggressive due to not knowing what had happened or where he was or why he had wires and a mask on. Angie was amazing throughout, though. The paramedics confirmed at the time that her quick thinking and actions saved the man’s life.’

Following the incident, Carl Smith, a senior critical care paramedic from East of England Ambulance Service, who attended the scene after the normal ambulance crew arrived, got in touch and said: ‘It is well evidenced that a person in cardiac arrest loses 10% of their chance of survival every minute they’re in cardiac arrest if CPR is not started and a defibrillator isn’t used to shock the patient’s heart back into a normal rhythm.

‘Luckily, there was a paramedic crew in Swaffham at the time of the call and following a successful shock to the patient’s heart, they were able to bring him back to life. I’m on call from home as a senior paramedic and so I’m sent to serious calls. When I arrived, there was some great work going on by the ambulance crew, all of which was possible because Angela had started resuscitation prior to them arriving. If we arrive after 15 minutes and resuscitation hasn’t been started, then the patient will be brain dead.

‘It’s without doubt that the actions of Angela saved this gentleman’s life. He is only in his 50s so he has many years ahead of him.’

Operations manager Matt Boden, said: ‘Angie is a cracking girl, so her actions aren’t a surprise and even though she’s not trained on CPR, I’m aware that she would have given it her best shot to ensure the customer had the greatest chance of survival.

‘It’s great news that her prompt actions resulted in the customer surviving. We’re all very proud of her actions.’