Dunman High Students Save Man’s Life With CPR, Won Awards From SCDF

It’s 9 October 2019, and you know what that means;

It’s time for Touching Story of the week Wednesday!

And so, I bet you’re wondering:

“What sob story do you have in mind for us today, ol’ writer?”

In response, I simply point to the following article headline:

Dunman High Students Save Man’s Life With CPR, Won Awards From SCDF

It might be no sob story, but it sure as hell will make you feel touched.

Dunman High Students Save Man’s Life With CPR, Won Awards From SCDF

According to a Straits Times report, Mr Koh Aik Koon had been playing basketball at Dunman High School when he suddenly collapsed.

On his way back to the court from a restroom break, he had suffered from a cardiac arrest and fell to the ground. He reportedly stopped breathing and had no pulse by the time help arrived.

Alarmed, his teammates dialled 995 for help and brought an automated external defibrillator (AED) over. However, they needed someone who could perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Shouting for help, they successfully alerted 18-year-old Ng Wen Ming, who was studying for her A-Levels at the canteen nearby. She rushed over to assist, and using the CPR skills she had acquired from St John’s Brigade, accessed Mr Koh’s condition and carried out chest compression.

Meanwhile, her schoolmates Qi Yang and Valerie, who were nearby and equipped with first-aid skills, helped to set up the automated external defibrillator (AED).

Another student who was nearby, Yiying, helped to guide the ambulance to the victim.

An SCDF full-time national servicemen, Daniel Wong, who was having his dinner nearby when he was notified of the incident on the myResponder app, also rushed over to help by performing CPR on the victim.

They might not be familiar with each other. They might’ve never seen each other before. Yet nevertheless, they put aside all emotions, banded together, and helped to save a man’s life.

Faith in humanity restored?

Definitely.

Gratefulness

The cardiac arrest victim, Mr Koh, who works as a building management staff member, has since expressed his gratitude to his ‘angels’, saying he was very thankful to all the people who helped him.

“I don’t know how to repay my angels,” he said.

Four of them – Wen Min and her schoolmates Lim Qi Yang, 18, and Liau Xuan Xuan Valerie, 17, as well as Dunman High School teacher Ang Eng Choon, 60 – attained the SCDF Community Lifesaver Award. The award recognises members of the public who have helped to salvage lives and whose actions included an element of self-risk.

The other two – student, Zhang Yi Ying, 17, and Dunman High School alumnus Ken Teo Rong Jye, 54 – received the SCDF Community First Responder Award. This award merits members of the public who have lent assistance to others in distress, saved property or both.

SCDF full-time national serviceman Daniel Wong will receive the Service Excellence Award.

Speaking at an awards ceremony in Tampines, Colonel Alan Toh, Commander of the 2nd SCDF Division, said: “The collective effort of everyone stepping forward to render assistance led to a life being saved.

“This act of public-spiritedness exemplifies SCDF’s vision of ‘a nation of lifesavers’, where anyone can learn important lifesaving skills and make a critical difference to someone in need of help.”