Woman, 71, pulled from water in Boxing Day drama on Capricorn Coast beach

Woman survives near drowning with the help of a Good Samaritan, lifesaver, reserve firey and ED nurse after being found face down in the ocean off a Central Qld beach on Boxing Day.

Members of Emu Park Surf Lifesaving Club's Patrol Group H (from left) Matilda Phelan, Isabelle Hawtin, Hayley Beer, Brooke Goodwin and Kurt Goodwin were involved in a dramatic Boxing Day rescue.

He’s been CPR certified for 25 years but Kurt Goodwin had to use the life-saving technique for the first time when a woman was pulled unresponsive from the water at a popular Capricorn Coast beach on Boxing Day.

Kurt and nine fellow members of Emu Park Surf Lifesaving Club’s Patrol Group H had just started their shift at the township’s Main Beach about 8.30am on December 26.

A club member for eight years, Kurt was on the water’s edge helping with a stinger drag when he heard a desperate cry for help.

He turned to see a man carrying a 71-year-old woman onto the beach. She was not breathing and had changed colour.

“He (the rescuer) told me that she was found face down in the water,” Kurt recalls.

“We got her onto the beach and I commenced CPR.

“I was joined by a reserve firefighter and an emergency department nurse and we did CPR for a number of rounds on the beach and then attached a defib machine.”

Emu Park’s Main Beach where the incident unfolded on Boxing Day.

Patrol captain Matilda Phelan and Kurt’s wife Brooke were also directly involved in the life-saving mission.

Kurt said the woman was moved to dry land so the defibrillator could be used if she failed to respond to the first aid technique being employed by the trio.

“I recommenced CPR and she sort of spluttered and made a noise so we rolled her onto her side and she started to breathe,” Kurt said.

“We then applied oxygen and maintained her on her side until the ambulance arrived.”

Kurt said the ambulance arrived within 10 to 15 minutes and, by that stage, the woman had started to “come to” and was talking a little bit.

She was transported to the intensive care unit at Rockhampton Hospital and understood to have been released several days later.

A post from her sister-in-law on the EPSLC Facebook page said she was “recovering well”.

Emu Park Surf Lifesaving Club member Kurt Goodwin swung into action when the woman was brought onto the beach.

It remains unclear exactly what happened but the woman said as she was being loaded into the ambulance that she had lost her footing.

The conditions were perfect; the water was calm and flat and there were no waves.

Kurt said it was the first time he used CPR in a real-life scenario.

He praised the efforts of all involved, particularly the man who brought the woman to shore, and said their rapid response was critical.

“The reality that it was a positive outcome means it’s been a lot easier to process,” he said of the incident.

“Knowing the training that we do annually and the work we do while on patrol has contributed to someone still being alive today that possibly wouldn’t have been is certainly something that I no longer take for granted as much as maybe I used to.”

He said the rescue highlighted the importance of knowing CPR, the vital service that lifesavers provided and the quality training that his club gave to its members.

Originally published as Woman, 71, pulled from water in Boxing Day drama on Capricorn Coast beach