Leisure Boss Turns Lifesaver In Thailand

[khall64au]

Leisure boss turns lifesaver in Thailand

23 September 2007

PAUL GEATER

SENIOR borough manager Billy Brennan was thrown into a life-or-death struggle for a young woman's life during a recent holiday in Thailand.

And today the head of leisure at Ipswich council is urging everyone to learn basic first aid - which could help save a life.

Mr Brennan was on holiday in the Thai resort of Phuket earlier this month when he found himself caught up in the drama.

He said: “It was the day before we returned home and I had gone for a walk on my own just in my trunks and sunglasses - I didn't even have flip-flops on.

“As I walked along the beach I saw this child very distressed and I thought someone might have been hurt by a jetski.

“Then I saw a jetski come to the beach very slowly with a body on the back - it was a woman who was very limp and she flopped on to the beach.”

The crowd that gathered were not able to help the woman so Mr Brennan, who has had some basic first-aid training, and another British holidaymaker stepped forward.

He said: “We started doing CPR heart massage and I was giving her the kiss of life.

“Then some lifeguards came up and were indicating us to stop because she was dead - they could not speak English. But I said we had to continue.”

Mr Brennan and the British woman - a teacher from Shropshire - continued their lifesaving as the woman was placed on the back of a flat-backed lorry and taken to a nearby hospital.

“The other woman fell off the back of the lorry at one stage and had to run along and get back on as I kept up with the CPR,” Mr Brennan said.

Once the woman arrived at the hospital a medical team eventually took over the CPR and Mr Brennan has now heard she is well on her way to recovery.

He said: “I have been in contact with someone who knows her in South Korea and I understand she is back at home but is still be treated for damage to her lungs from the water that got in.

“She is a 37-year-old Thai woman called Poom, I don't know her surname, and had recently married an American.

“But she is a very lucky woman - lucky that the young girl, her niece, was able to raise the alarm, lucky that the jetski was able to bring her in, and lucky that we were able to give first aid on the beach.”

Mr Brennan said the incident showed just how vital it was to have some first aid knowledge.

He said: “I was given some basic training many years ago because of my involvement in sport, but I had never used it on a real person before.

“I was thinking: 'you've got to get this right' all the time we were giving her heart massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

“But apart from the two of us there was a crowd of people standing around, including the lifeguards, who didn't have any idea what to do.”

He said anyone who had the chance of learning first aid should do so - you never know when you could save a life.

After the drama Mr Brennan was left stranded near the hospital wearing only his swimming trunks and sunglasses.

He said: “I'd only gone for a short walk, so I'd left everything in the hotel room with my wife - I didn't even have anything on my feet.

“But at least I had been able to help in saving a life, and it is good to know that we helped ensure there is someone alive now who would be dead had we not been there.”

http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveni...3A48%3A49%3A440

[Scott]

In this case I guess it's good that some foreign men can't keep their hands of Thai women!

[Briggsy]

Leisure boss turns lifesaver in Thailand

23 September 2007

PAUL GEATER

...

“But apart from the two of us there was a crowd of people standing around, including the lifeguards, who didn't have any idea what to do.”

...

http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveni...3A48%3A49%3A440

That'd be about right. But they had cool uniforms though.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Maestro
Reduced quoted text. No need to quote the entire, lenghty OP.

[Aussietraveller]

You must be mistaken.

Phuket lifeguards are trained to keep us all safe.

Phuket Gazette story 15 May 2007

PHUKET: Phuket’s hazardous low-season beaches will be guarded by 100 lifeguards who are being trained at Phuket Community College this week.

The lifeguards are being trained as part of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) lifeguard project. The training program was developed with the help of the Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Command.

The project aims to reduce the number of drownings in rough surf at Phuket beaches during the rainy season.

OrBorJor Vice-President Suthin Uthaithamrong hailed the project a success, and added that the OrBorJor spends about 15 million baht a year on training and equipping its lifeguards.

Hmmmmm, I wonder whee that 15 Million went...

[lazeeboy]

You must be mistaken.

Phuket lifeguards are trained to keep us all safe.

Phuket Gazette story 15 May 2007

PHUKET: Phuket's hazardous low-season beaches will be guarded by 100 lifeguards who are being trained at Phuket Community College this week.

The lifeguards are being trained as part of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) lifeguard project. The training program was developed with the help of the Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Command.

The project aims to reduce the number of drownings in rough surf at Phuket beaches during the rainy season.

OrBorJor Vice-President Suthin Uthaithamrong hailed the project a success, and added that the OrBorJor spends about 15 million baht a year on training and equipping its lifeguards.

Hmmmmm, I wonder whee that 15 Million went...

for this women she could be the only person who is happy there are jet ski's on the beach ,without them she would be dead.

[naka]

OrBorJor Vice-President Suthin Uthaithamrong hailed the project a success, and added that the OrBorJor spends about 15 million baht a year on training and equipping its lifeguards.

Perhaps someone should ask this person to comment !

Naka.

[Sunderland]

Well done to the hero. Good on you matey!

[londonthai]

firstly - where were the lifeguards when the woman was drowning?

why some passer by had to bring her back to the shore on the jetski and why the lifebout was not despatched to pick her up?

[kankaroo]

"Mai pen rai, kin khow reu yang ?"

[AlexLah]

firstly - where were the lifeguards when the woman was drowning?

why some passer by had to bring her back to the shore on the jetski and why the lifebout was not despatched to pick her up?

Why questions in the why fred please.

Never ask why in Thailand, OK?

[seonai]

Not a particularly smart (or accurate) response Kankaroo

[khall64au]

Then some lifeguards came up and were indicating us to stop because she was dead - they could not speak English. But I said we had to continue.”

THE ABOVE QUOTE is what scares me most about the level of lifeguard training on Phuket.

I did observe - a day after a drowning on a main Phuket beach - the lifeguards were surfing and playing volleyball - when perhaps, they should have been surveying the water (during monsoon) for tourists who were swimming in the danger zones!?

[geriatrickid]

This article does more damage to the tourist image in Phuket than any natural disaster could do.

Disinterested lifeguards, no first responder response, a good samiritan abandoned, oh yea, this is going to play well to the demographics that the Phuket tourist industry covets.

[donna]

i dare say the 15m baht went towards a couple of jetskis to rent out on the beach and a big old slap up party at the karaoke bar.

probably also made a nice bit of padding between some officials ass and his cushy office chair.

[jumnien]

This article does more damage to the tourist image in Phuket than any natural disaster could do.

Disinterested lifeguards, no first responder response, a good samiritan abandoned, oh yea, this is going to play well to the demographics that the Phuket tourist industry covets.

I agree. Most tourists come to Thailand because of the exceedingly high safety standards exhibited in daily life. If stories like this leak out it will damage Thailand's reputation and folks back home will think Thailand is dangerous.

[khall64au]

This article does more damage to the tourist image in Phuket than any natural disaster could do.

Disinterested lifeguards, no first responder response, a good samiritan abandoned, oh yea, this is going to play well to the demographics that the Phuket tourist industry covets.

I agree. Most tourists come to Thailand because of the exceedingly high safety standards exhibited in daily life. If stories like this leak out it will damage Thailand's reputation and folks back home will think Thailand is dangerous.

Most tourists come to Thailand because of the pretty pictures in the brochures and websites - not to mention the nice stories about the smiles - which is all I heard about last night from a half dozen of my family members who just arrived on Phuket...

Just as well they are Ozzies or I'd bar them from the beach!

[TAWP]

This article does more damage to the tourist image in Phuket than any natural disaster could do.

Disinterested lifeguards, no first responder response, a good samiritan abandoned, oh yea, this is going to play well to the demographics that the Phuket tourist industry covets.

I agree. Most tourists come to Thailand because of the exceedingly high safety standards exhibited in daily life. If stories like this leak out it will damage Thailand's reputation and folks back home will think Thailand is dangerous.

You have to realize that people are ignorant to a large extent regarding how other countries function or their standards are. Everything is 'like home' until being showed without a doubt that it is not. Like during summery in the aftermath of an event.

Most people don't do safety-analysis of the vacation locations they head to - or very few people would be going here. Just the traffic-numbers alone would make some people to choke on their morning coffee.

So any story that points these things out hurt the image a lot.

I'm sorry you cannot grasp this fact.

[jomtienbob]

Yep the 15 million baht in training might indeed be found in the ledger under the CEO's cousin's training company which just started business right after he got in the chair. It's a bit like local politicians, the first things they do once they get into office is to have their brother or cousin or whatever start up a road and building construction company... Need we say any more???

Just the same, the good Samaritan/hero there may well have been left without a lift back because his actions possibly made the lifeguards lose face and rightly so. That indeed highlights another hypocrisy on this whole (Non Buddhist) "Face" thing.