Paramedic twins whose dad died of a cardiac arrest 21 years ago saved a man suffering the same condition—in a tag-team effort, only a day after the anniversary of his death.
Angie Mills and her brother Steve Mills were only working together by chance during a rare joint shift as part of the same ambulance crew when they resuscitated the patient, whose heart had stopped beating for five minutes.
Steve works for the London Ambulance Service as an Emergency Medical Technician, but Angie is a 999 call handler, so the pair are not part of the same team.
But they were out in the same ambulance earlier this month when Angie decided to shadow a frontline crew for the day.
The twins, from south east London, were initially called to a man who had fallen, but soon after arriving both had to jump into action to save his life.
Angie—who had previously only instructed callers to do chest compressions over the phone—started CPR, while Steve and his crewmate, Paul, focused on giving the patient oxygen.
Thanks to their quick-thinking, the man was revived and began talking again, despite having no heart beat for five minutes.
“I had never needed to resuscitate someone myself,” said Angie. “It wasn’t until we were driving to hospital that I reflected on what I’d just done.
“I started thinking about how things can change so quickly, and in a matter of minutes you can switch between life, death—and again, life.”
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The incident felt particularly close to home for the twins, who lost their dad Hugh Mills to a cardiac arrest when he was just 61, a similar age to the man they brought back to life together.
“Because he was of similar age to our dad when he passed away, it brought back some powerful memories,” Angie added. “I thought about the fact that my dad didn’t get to enjoy retirement.”
Hugh Mills passed away in 2002, before Angie and Steve had both joined the Ambulance Service. At the time, Angie was working in a bank and Steve was a builder.
The 51-year-old brother recalls, “When the paramedics were with my dad, I was there the whole time and I couldn’t help him.
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“He received by-stander CPR from a police officer who lived nearby, but unfortunately, he still didn’t make it.
“When I first started my job I always dreaded getting sent to a cardiac arrest. I didn’t know how I would cope with that type of job because of the way my dad had died.
Angie and Steve both said that saving a life together was an extraordinary achievement which would make their dad proud.
“It feels even more special because I was doing it with Steve. My CPR was effective also because I felt so comfortable doing it next to my brother, and we are so close.
“Steve kept saying to me ‘you’re doing a great job, the timing is perfect, the depth of the compressions is great’.”
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All call handlers like Angie get training in how to do CPR and use a defibrillator and regularly instruct members of the public in these life-saving skills.
Mark Faulkner, who works with them as a consultant paramedic, said of the team’s achievement: “Less than ten percent of people who go into cardiac arrest outside of hospital survive.
“The fact that this patient woke up and started talking after five minutes is all down to the quick intervention of the team.
“As chest compression were provided immediately, the patient could keep his brain supplied with blood and that proved vital in him recovering so quickly once his heart had started to beat again.”
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Angie pondered her own future after the meaningful event. “It made me think about how precious life is and how I should enjoy it more. Take every opportunity that you’ve got, don’t put things off.”
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