Aviemore man helps save the life of his new boss
An Aviemore man has recalled how he helped to save the life of his new boss after she collapsed at work with a heart attack.
Mr Peter Dennis administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to Melanie Smith, his line manager at Inverness College UHI, until the 999 services arrived at the scene
She publicly thanked Peter (41), other college workers who came to her aid, and the emergency service workers, earlier this week for still being here today.
Melanie suffered the heart attack on November 12 last year, at the Longman site of the college, and was discovered on the ground by a visitor not far from Peter’s office.
He was beckoned by colleague Sasha Railton who told him someone had fallen outside.
Peter said: "Initially I thought she meant someone had slipped and sprained an ankle, as the weather was drizzly, but it was soon obvious that there was something very, very wrong.
"I did not even recognise that it was Melanie at first."
Peter tried to get a response from her whilst Sasha called for an ambulance and another college colleague, Professor Eric Verspoor, ran to fetch help from the nearby fire station on the city’s Harbour Road around 200 metres away.
"I was not sure if Melanie was still breathing but clearly her breathing was not right, so I started CPR on her," said Peter.
"Thankfully, very soon after, Eric arrived with four firefighters, and they started to work on Melanie.
"They had oxygen with them, and from memory I think that the paramedics were on the scene very soon afterwards and they got on with their job."
She was resuscitated at the third attempt using a defribillator.
He added: "I’m very pleased that she survived and has come out at the other end with no long-term effects."
