An eight-year-old Altona North boy is being praised after using first aid training learnt at school to save a four-year-old boy from drowning.
Judd Greenham was playing in a Port Douglas resort pool while on a family holiday when he saw Matthew Sagar slip on a step, hit his head and fall unconscious to the bottom of the pool.
Although there were five adults watching over the shallow pool about noon on September 30, it happened so quickly that Judd was the only person to see the incident.
“The little boy slipped over on a step and hit his head and then I scooped him up,” Judd said. “His eyes were rolling back.”
St John Ambulance had visited Judd’s grade 2 class at Sacred Heart Primary School in Newport as part of its first aid in schools program in May.
Judd said his pool safety training kicked in and he began to practise what he’d been taught.
“I pulled his head up from the water,” he said. “I [put] my hand under his nose to see if he was breathing and he wasn’t breathing.”
Judd then called his mother, Natasha, who phoned an ambulance as Matthew’s father jumped in the pool.
Paramedics arrived and Matthew slowly regained consciousness
The first aid program’s manager, Martin Wells, said the training had given Judd the confidence to act quickly to save Matthew’s life.
“He was five seconds away from being dead,” he said. “It’s another testament to the proof that first aid training saves lives and you’re never too young or too old to learn what to do when in an emergency.”
Mr Wells said that once water entered a child’s lungs, there was a 90 per cent chance of death at the poolside.
“We’re talking about a couple of seconds between life and death,” he said.
Matthew’s father, Peter Sagar, said the Strathmore family was “very fortunate” no water had entered the boy’s lungs.
“Judd was great,” he said. “He was onto him so quickly.”
Ms Greenham said she was “completely overwhelmed” and planned to take her son to Sea World to swim with dolphins as a reward. Judd remained humble about his actions but said he was “very proud” of his efforts and wanted to learn more first aid.
“I kept giving him cuddles [afterwards] because I was scared of anything happening to him,” he said.
Chloe Booker/The Age
