Club staff save woman's life

9:23am Thursday 29th March 2007

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THREE members of staff at Salisbury's Chapel nightclub have been hailed as heroes after their swift actions saved a woman from certain death.

Carla Wong, from Salisbury, collapsed on the club's dance floor during a night out with her friends, forcing more than 900 other clubbers to be evacuated from the Milford Street nightspot in the early hours of Sunday morning, March 17.

As the Journal reported last week, Mrs Wong had stopped breathing and was starting to turn blue.

The exact cause of her collapse remains unknown, but it is believed she may have had a pre-existing medical condition which was somehow aggravated, causing her body to go into shock.

Fortunately, though, staff at the nightclub were quickly on the scene, with nightclub doorman Shaun Whatley, Andy Collingwood, and Brendan Jeynes taking it in turns to perform emergency resuscitation.

Mr Collingwood said: "I had a call come through saying a lady had collapsed on the main dance floor, and so I immediately went to attend.

"One of our doormen had already put her into the recovery position and, when Shaun arrived on the scene, he started to evaluate her situation.

"Brendan and I arrived soon after and we could see immediately she was not conscious and, as we were carrying out our primary assessments, we knew something was seriously wrong.

"The head doorman, Mike Lambert, had already called for an ambulance, so we moved her to a quiet area to begin CPR because while we were watching over her, I noticed she had started to turn blue."

The door staff at the Chapel are all trained in first aid procedure, with Brendan Jeynes in particular trained to a level where he now teaches first aid techniques to others.

But Mrs Wong's collapse was to prove a real test of their skill.

This was because although the police arrived very soon after the 999 call was made, the arrival of an ambulance was delayed and so the doorman had to continue resuscitation procedures for more than 20 minutes.

Mr Jeynes explained: "The training we have ensures that when something like this comes about, we are prepared for it.

"But the incident last week was particularly frightening because the ambulance took so long to arrive.

"The police were there in no time and they quickly radioed through again for an ambulance to come. But it just took an age to get here and every minute is vital in a situation like that.

"So we just had to keep going with her and tried as hard as we possibly could to keep her alive."

Eventually, though, the paramedics did arrive and, with the continued assistance of Mr Jeynes, they immediately took Mrs Wong to Salisbury District Hospital, where she was placed on a life support machine.

At the time she was admitted, Mrs Wong's condition was so critical doctors doubted whether she would survive.

However, the actions of the three doormen ensured she had not slipped too far into a coma, and she eventually came round.

Now, more than week after she collapsed, Mrs Wong's condition is still described as "critical" but she has stabilised and is now conscious and talking again.

Her father, Robin Gair, said: "Carla is making a good recovery and I want to say we are very grateful for all the support we have received from our family, friends, and the excellent hospital staff in this trying time.

"We are especially grateful to the three doormen at the Chapel - there is no doubt in my mind Carla owes her life to their prompt actions."