Wolverton Station’s Emma Jackson recognised with the RFDS Queensland Hero award
When Peter Dolan delivered his wife’s unresponsive body to Emma Jackson’s doorstep at Wolverton Station screaming “get the defib”, she had no time to think. What happened next is truly inspiring.
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When Peter Dolan delivered his wife’s lifeless body to Emma Jackson’s doorstep at Wolverton Station, screaming “get the defib”, Ms Jackson had no time to think.
She just began performing CPR: jolting Karryn Dolan’s still heart with a defibrillator until it sparked back to life, and delivering compressions for an hour until paramedics arrived.
“She was incredible,” Mr Dolan said.
“To keep CPR up for that long is just remarkable.”
Peter and Karryn Dolan, owners of Great Northern Diesel Service in Cairns, were holidaying on Wolverton Station, located between Coen and Weipa in Cape York, on December 30 last year.
Ms Dolan collapsed after suffering a widow-maker heart attack about 8pm while hunting with her husband.
Mr Dolan found her lying about 20m from their quad bike.
“I remembered Emma told me six months beforehand that they had a full RFDS defibrillator kit at their home, so I dragged Karryn’s body onto the tray of the quad bike and took off toward the house,” Mr Dolan said.
Ms Jackson and her family heard Mr Dolan’s cries and met him outside their home’s doorway with the defibrillator.
“I put it on her and started CPR. It took three shocks to get her heartbeat back,” Ms Jackson said.
“RFDS provided the defib about three years ago. I’d done some training but otherwise never used it before. I just hoped to Christ that it worked.”
Ms Jackson said 20 years on a remote cattle station had taught her there was never time to hesitate in such a situation; one just needs to get on with the job.
“You just do it. You don’t have a choice. When you live remotely on a cattle station it’s never about confidence, you’ve just got to give it your best go,” she said.
“That becomes embedded in you with everything. You might not know what you’re doing but you’ve just got to work it out.
“Karryn wouldn’t have survived without a defib. They (health staff) were saying if Karryn had been in Cairns she wouldn’t have survived because it would have been too late by the time an ambulance had of got to her.
“About 45 minutes in she started to groan and move her eyes. We slowly brought her back from a place that was lifeless. I just kept saying ‘you’re not dying, not today, not on my watch.”
Ms Jackson’s sheer determination kept Ms Dolan alive until an ambulance arrived from Coen.
“My husband had to drive the ambulance back to Coen so the nurse and ambo could work on Karryn.
“The RFDS was flying into Coen as we arrived. The nurse an the doctor set up a mini ICU on the airstrip.”
The RFDS transported Karryn to Cairns.
Her cardiovascular health has since made a “remarkable recovery”, according to Mr Dolan.
For her lifesaving actions, as well as her continued devotion to rural mental health and suicide prevention causes, Ms Jackson was recently announced as the RFDS Queensland Hero for 2022 and was awarded a $20,000 grant to put towards a health or wellbeing initiative.
She is hoping to use the money to fund an equine-assisted learning program that she has constructed to help communities in Cape York.
“There’s a lot of research behind animal-assisted learning. It allows people to be present and strips down the layers of life – all the stress going on at home and school,” Ms Jackson said.
“Saving someone’s life: you’re not asked to do it, you’re not paid to do it, you don’t do it for any self gain, you do it because you care.
“But it’s nice that the RFDS have recognised and valued these efforts.
“Without the RFDS it would be difficult to live in remote Australia. They really are a lifeline. They’re always there for us.”
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Originally published as Wolverton Station’s Emma Jackson recognised with the RFDS Queensland Hero award
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