Andrew Buck found himself in the middle of a rescue drama on Australia Day.By Tania Martin
A PAKENHAM man was recently asked to join the Edithvale Surf Life Saving Club after rescuing a man from drowning on Australia Day.
Emerald State Emergency Service (SES) volunteer Andrew Buck was spending the day with his daughter at a beach in Edithvale when the incident happened.
Mr Buck said he was in about a foot of water about to take a swim when he glanced to his left and saw a man facedown in the water about 20 or 30 metres away.
He said four or five people where standing around the man just wondering what to do, but not taking any actions to help.
Mr Buck said this was because they didn’t know what to do in an emergency situation.
“I just went straight into SES mode, ran to the man’s side and pulled his head out of the water and he vomited,” Mr Buck said.
Mr Buck said he then pulled the man up onto the beach and put him on his side and waited for him to stop vomiting.
He said by that time a surf lifesaver had come to see what was happening and asked Andrew if he could do anything to help.
Mr Buck asked the lifesaver get some oxygen as the man’s pulse was slow.
He said an ambulance was called soon after and the man was taken to hospital for further examination.
Mr Buck said although the whole incident took 1520 minutes, it felt more like an hour and a half.
He said it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and also knowing what to do in an emergency situation.
He said it took him a couple of day to get over the shock of the incident, not because he had rescued someone from drowning but because all those people where standing around and didn’t know what to do.
Mr Buck said more people need to learn the basic skills in firstaid so they could help someone who had been in a car accident or was drowning.
“You have to think quick because you don’t have time to stand around and wonder what to do, you just do it,” he said.
Mr Buck said the surf life saving club asked him to become a member, but he declined as he didn’t live in the area.
