Today’s edition, 30th June, of York’s The Press, pays tribute to the skilled action of ‘first response’ trained staff at Oban’s CalMac ferry terminal on 17th June, when a 70 year old man from York suffered a heart attack while preparing to board the ferry.
His wife ran into the terminal building for help.
While the ambulance was called, two members of the CalMac office staff – named as Morag Boyd and Jenna MacPhail, followed by Jenna’s father, Pier Supervisor Alan MacPhail. Alan and Morag, are both trained First Responders. Morag administered CPR while Alan did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep the oxygen going and get the casualty’s breathing restarted.
When the ambulance arrived and paramedics took over, and them transferred the man to the Oban hospital, from which he was taken to Glasgow. He is now described as making a good recovery.
Allison McDermott, the CalMac’s port manager in Oban [managing the ports owned by CMAL is one of the conditions of contract for the Clyde and Hebridean ferry operator], said: ‘First and foremost I and all my staff here are very pleased to know that the gentleman is making a good recovery.
‘I could not be more proud of how our amazing staff here reacted to this difficult event.
‘All of us here at Oban hope he is feeling much better soon and that he makes a full recovery; we have, today, received a letter of thanks from his wife along with a gift for the staff, which was very kind.’
