by Sahar Foladi
A man who had collapsed in Noble Park has been reunited with the heroic first-responders who saved his life.
The 84-year-old, Ralph Di Scala was gardening along with his daughter Gina in August when he suffered a cardiac arrest without warning under a tree.
Terrified, Gina dialled triple-zero, conducting CPR in an effort to revive her father.
She says the incident was a shock as he’s very healthy as a retired concreter, a “hands-on” person with no prior heart issues.
“It’s just unfortunate that day that he collapsed and he didn’t scream. He didn’t say anything.
“I hadn’t seen him work so well that day, he was very excited. I actually had to say to dad look slow down. It’s time to stop, we have to go home.
“You’ve done a lot for the day but he refused and he kept going.”
Following instructions from the triple-zero operator Karah, Gina worked for seven minutes on her father before Fire Rescue Victoria arrived at the scene and took over.
“I was just completely in shock because my dad was always strong and fit. To see him collapsed and unwell was very scary.”
On Tuesday 19 November, Ralph together with his daughter stood laughing with the first responders for the first time since he gave everyone a fright.
FRV leading fire-fighter, Chris Binaisse said he’s “really humbled” to see Ralph.
“It’s just amazing. We don’t normally get to see the outcome of everyone’s hard work.”
Seeing Ralph again was like a delight for the first responders, whose eyes glistened with happiness and lips curved with big smiles.
One of the paramedics on the scene, Izzy from Ambulance Victoria says they had to defibrillate him twice before Ralph started to wake up.
“We had to put him back to sleep, keep him nice and safe and take him up to hospital, but it’s probably one of the most efficient sort of cardiac arrest that I’ve been to in my career.
“I had really, really high hopes that he would survive this so it’s amazing to see him walking around.
“It did feel so calm and I think that’s all attributed to his daughter Gina doing the right thing, grabbing her phone and her willingness to work on her dad, which would have been one of the most horrendous things to do, I reckon.”
Izzy has been a paramedic for five years saying it’s a “rarity” to see an event like this “go so well.”
“To actually see a patient who’s been through this survive, not only survive it but walk out of hospital and be able to be relatively back to their normal self – it’s amazing.”
Ralph himself doesn’t remember when or how he collapsed, but just when he woke up the next day in the hospital.
He surprised everyone at the same time after he woke up despite the doctors saying he may not survive.
Gina considers it a “miracle” after she had to make the “tough phone call” to her family members to let them know of his initial prognosis.
“I had to ring my dad’s sister that lives overseas in Italy, I was very reluctant to, but I thought I better do the right thing and let them know just in case.
“I was very scared and that was a really hard phone call to make.”
Ralph is left with ongoing appointments due to straining a leg muscle during his fall, which has affected his foot movement.
“We’re doing some lot of rehabilitation now – we’re going to the podiatrist and we’re also going to be doing a cardiac rehab program through Monash,” says Gina.
“So Dad still has a few medical appointments and he has to do some special exercises to help him.”
The family are relieved there was no brain damage.
The first responders applaud Gina for playing her part very well, conducting the CPR especially when she last had training at primary school in the 1970’s.
“I remember at school we all got little books that we could take home, read and all that information stuck with me.
“When I rang triple zero, they were talking me through to make sure that I had everything in my hands positioned in the right spot for dad to have effective CPR.”
She says she hasn’t had a refresher course but it’s a good idea for everyone to be familiar with doing CPR.
“You might be somewhere and if you can help someone to survive, give them the best opportunity to survive, I think that’s really important.”
Ralph lives independently with his wife and laughs at being told he has to look after himself more than ever now.
