By Jenny Noyes
Greg Page might not have survived a cardiac arrest he suffered at The Wiggles' reunion show on Friday if it wasn't for Castle Hill RSL's public access defibrillator and an off-duty nurse in the audience willing to give it a go.
The original Yellow Wiggle's "extraordinary" survival story has prompted the NSW Ambulance Commissioner to urge proprietors of large venues across the state to invest in publicly accessible defibrillators.
CPR and a public-access defibrillator used by off-duty nurse Grace Jones, seen here with ICU paramedic Brian Parcell, saved Greg Page's life. Credit: AAP
Page remains in a serious but stable condition in Westmead Hospital after he collapsed as he was walking off the stage during the bushfire relief concert on Friday night.
Before his collapse, Page had complained of feeling unwell after performing on stage for an hour.
Off-duty nurse Grace Jones, who was in the audience, has been credited with saving Page's life along with The Wiggles' drummer Steve Pace and band staff member Kimmy Antonelli.
The trio performed CPR and Ms Jones used a defibrillator three times to keep Page's heart going for about 20 minutes until paramedics arrived.
He underwent surgery to have a stent inserted into his heart.
Paramedic Brian Parcell, who worked on Page as he was taken to hospital, said it was "an extraordinary story of survival" and Page was alive thanks to the bystanders' quick actions.
"We found Greg was unconscious at that point but he had cardiac output, his heart was actually beating," Mr Parcell said.
Ms Jones said she had never saved someone's life outside the hospital before.
A 2006 file photo of The Wiggles, featuring Murray Cook (Red Wiggle), Greg Page (Yellow Wiggle), Jeff Fatt (Purple Wiggle), and Anthony Field (Blue Wiggle).Credit: AP
"It's a bit surreal. I do things like that every day at work, I didn't expect to do that without equipment and everything like that."
While Ms Jones was able to draw on her medical experience to use the defibrillator, NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said people should know the lifesaving equipment is "absolutely not" just for medically trained people to use.
"They are there for anyone to use, they are totally safe, they will not defibrillate the patient unless the machine recognises it," he said.
"You just have to have a go, and you may just save a life as we saw when Grace got up and had a go."
Dr Morgan said it was sadly "uncommon" for paramedics to arrive at the scene of a cardiac arrest to find a defibrillator on site, and he would like to see more venues invest in one.
"When combined with CPR, they are absolutely lifesaving equipment and can be purchased for as little as $1500-$2500."
When it comes to treating cardiac arrests, "time is of the essence", he said. "Every minute that your heart is stopped the chances of surviving the event reduce by 7-10 per cent.
"So what that means in practice is if we’re 10 minutes away there’s a very, very low likelihood of people surviving."
He said the survival rate for cardiac arrests outside hospital was about 12 per cent in NSW, a figure that could be greatly improved if more defibrillators were available, along with people willing to jump in and try CPR.
While he would always recommend people do a CPR course, Dr Morgan said people don't need any experience to give it a go.
"[It is] just as important to make the phone call to triple zero and be talked through it by an emergency medical call taker," he said.
Bushfire relief show goes on
The band carried on with its planned second show at Castle Hill RSL on Saturday night with Emma Watkins, the current Yellow Wiggle, taking Page's place.
"Let's raise the roof tonight and do it for Greg whilst raising funds for the Australian Red Cross and WIRES," the group said in a social media post on Saturday.
Page left the children's band in 2006 due to poor health and returned for a second stint in 2012.
In 2006 he revealed he was suffering from orthostatic intolerance, which caused problems with the function of his heart when he was standing.
With AAP