Shortly after Lisa Kendall set off for an afternoon walk on June 7, she received a life-changing call.
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The call was from her husband Grant, who was experiencing chest pain.
"I got home as quickly as possible and he was still conscious so I sat next to him and had a chat with him for three to four minutes and after that, something wasn't right," Lisa said.
Lisa then dialed triple-0 and was put through to ESTA call-taker Emma Wright.
"Grant was sitting in a chair and speaking to me when he had just stopped breathing," Lisa said.
Grant had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.
"By that time, Emma was talking me through everything to do and she was amazing... she kept me calm and I did what she was telling me to do," Lisa said.
"I had never done CPR before, so Emma was very calm and talked me through it, made me focus and I knew I couldn't panic.
"I got him on the floor the best I could and I was counting with Emma as I was doing CPR and she was reassuring me what to do."
Lisa had no training in first-aid or CPR and relied heavily on Emma's instructions to help during the situation.
Emma said it wasn't uncommon for people to not have first-aid training.
She said, however, due to Lisa's calm thinking and actions, she had saved her husband's life.
"Lisa didn't have any first-aid training which isn't uncommon, it can be really daunting but I just reassured her as ESTA call-takers that's what we were trained for," she said.
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"We provide those step-by-step instructions to ensure we can provide that care.
"Lisa was really good at following along without hesitation and that is very important during those situations."
From dialing triple-0, it took paramedics 11 minutes to arrive.
"It felt like forever but it felt like an instant," Lisa said.
"I had no concept of time but after a couple of days, I looked back on my phone and it turns out I was on the call for just over 10 minutes.
"The paramedics got there in such a quick time but it was very surreal and once the paramedics got there, they used the defib machine two or three times."
For 20 minutes, Grant had no heart rhythm.
"Grant had a blockage somewhere, the paramedics took him to hospital and they had the cardiology team ready. He was in surgery that night and had a heart stent inserted," Lisa said.
Grant was in intensive care for five days and two more in the ward. Within a week he was home.
"It was amazing that he had very little effects...and he wasn't expected to survive the night," Lisa said.
"A week from hell really."
Lisa and Grant wanted to share their story to help get out the message of the importance of not clogging up the triple-0 hotline.
Grant, an emergency services worker, said it was all too often that people call triple-0 during non-emergencies.
"We want to create awareness for people not to clog up the triple-0 hotline because if the paramedics weren't able to get here within 10 minutes, then we might have had a completely different outcome," he said.
The married couple also wanted to share their gratitude for Emma's hard work as an ESTA call-taker.
"We are so thankful for the assistance of the paramedics and call-taker and we want to make it aware that it can happen to you," Lisa said.
"Grant is fit, healthy, non-smoker, doesn't really drink and is an emergency services worker, so this was just very unlucky.
"We are so thankful for Emma and the paramedics that assisted, I have reached out and I have tried to meet them but due to COVID that hasn't been able to happen.
"ESTA does an amazing job and we can't thank them enough for their assistance and what they have done."
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