Geraldton nurse, volunteer ambo Jeannie Poletti saves her grandfather’s life during heart attack

Geraldton’s Jeannie Poletti never expected to help save the life of someone she knew, let alone her own grandfather, when she started her career as a nurse and St John WA volunteer ambulance officer. Ms Poletti’s heroic efforts using her emergency skills, training and knowledge brought her 79-year-old grandfather, Jim Webb, back from the brink of death during a heart attack in January. A normal day turned into a nightmare when Ms Poletti was at her mother’s house and she received a call from her grandmother, Sue Webb, frantic after her husband, Ms Poletti’s grandfather, had collapsed and had likely gone into cardiac arrest. As a St John WA volunteer since 2014 and having spent the last nine years working as a nurse, Ms Poletti, 30, immediately called an ambulance before racing to her grandparents’ house. “When we got there, he was just sitting up in his chair. He didn’t have very good colour, and had a really poor respiratory effort,” Ms Poletti said. “I just got him onto the floor and started CPR straight away. He was on oxygen at home, so we put that on, and then kept doing chest compressions until the ambulance arrived.” Ms Poletti’s triple-0 call was answered by Tracy Kim, who talked her through the situation before the St John WA paramedic team made it to Mr Webb. Crews reached the Webb household in 10 minutes after receiving the emergency call, with paramedics Stacey Burton, Lorna Teakle and Dan Jocelyn and volunteer Karen Yardley arriving at the scene. Ms Burton said the team worked tirelessly on Mr Webb for more than 30 minutes, applying CPR and delivering multiple shocks with a defibrillator. “When we arrived, Jeannie was doing very good compressions, and he was lying flat in a nice open space, which made life easier for us,” Ms Burton said. “Amazingly, we shocked him 14 times between on scene and the hospital, because we kept losing his pulse. By the time we got to hospital, we finally got him back.” According to St John WA, Ms Poletti played a vital role in helping to save her grandfather’s life with early CPR, a crucial step to survival and recovery. Ms Poletti said it was surreal to see her grandfather again after witnessing and playing a part in such a distressing emergency. “It was amazing to see him again after witnessing his cardiac arrest the day before and thinking, ‘he can’t come back from this’,” she said. With an implantable defibrillator in his chest, life is now slowly returning to normal for Mr Webb who is back to feeding his chickens on the family farm and spending time with his wife, children, 11 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. “It is a magnificent thought that I am still here,” Mr Webb said. “I just want to say thank you and that doesn’t come lightly, it comes from deep down. They all obviously went above and beyond to bring me back and keep me here.” St John WA paramedics said the reunion with Jeannie and her grandparents following the accident was an emotional one and highlighted the importance of first-aid training, courses and skills. Mr Webb’s survival was dubbed an “incredible moment” for St John WA, its community, staff and of course, Mr Webb’s family. For playing such a vital role in her grandfather’s survival and helping crews at the scene, Ms Poletti was awarded a certificate of recognition from St John WA.