Community hero: How a Tafelsig resident saved a life with emergency training
A dedicated member of the Tafelsig Neighbourhood Watch, used her emergency training to save an elderly woman’s life.
Image: File
A Tafelsig Neighbourhood Watch member used her emergency medical training to keep an elderly woman alive after she was found unresponsive in her wheelchair on Friday morning.
Petronella Sauls said that when she received a call from her Neighbourhood Watch chairperson, she knew she had to do everything possible to save the woman’s life.
Sauls said: “I was called by my chairperson to the scene, and the lady was unresponsive since 5am, according to the other people who were staying in the house with her.
“Just before 7am, we were called to the scene. When I arrived along with my partner, we found her unconscious, but still breathing, and she was sitting in a wheelchair, and as I tried to wake her up.”
At that moment, Sauls said her only focus was to keep the elderly woman alive until emergency services arrived.
Sauls added: “I had to keep her alive until emergency services arrived, and I did so with the skills that I have and what I received from the City of Cape Town’s Emergency First Aid Responder (EFAR) training.
“There were times that I thought I lost her, but with the emergency training, I got her back. I literally kept her alive till emergency services came.”
She explained that it was a long process as the patient’s airway was blocked and she had to clear it, while also checking the woman’s sugar levels after learning she was diabetic.
Sauls explained: “There were times when I called her name, but she didn’t answer, but she was still breathing, and that was a win for me. She was totally cold from head to toe, but we slowly got her back.”
Emergency services later arrived at the scene and transported the woman to a nearby medical facility.
Reflecting on the ordeal, Sauls said: “God opened my mind to allow me to do what I needed to do.
“We as NHW are more than crime fighters, and this is what it is all about, it's about what we can do for the community, and I hope people will see the positive side to what we do because we are also trained in other things.”