Hotel guest saves life of young girl in neighbouring room

When a young ambulance service trainer was woken by the sound of an alarm, little did he know that a few doors down from his hotel room, a twist of fate would save a life.

Rory Jones, 26, from Llanrwst, had travelled to Cardiff for a training course and was staying the night in a hotel.

Asleep in his room, he received an alert on his phone which, despite being off-duty, had been left on.

The alert was from GoodSam, the UK's cardiac arrest alerting system. All qualified responders can register to use the app, which alerts them to nearby cardiac emergencies.

Rory soon realised the alert was coming from a neighbouring hotel room, and he quickly went to help.

He said: “When I got to the room, I saw a little girl of about four or five years old lying on the floor and her parents were on the phone to the ambulance service.

"I assessed her and noticed she wasn’t breathing, so I immediately began CPR and started delivering rescue breaths. Thankfully, after one round of CPR she started breathing again.”

Rory stayed with the girl and her family until the ambulance arrived.

He said: “I completed the assessment with the emergency call handler and although I was confident in what I was doing, it was great to have that reassuring voice on the phone.”

Rory later found out the girl had returned home safely from the hospital.

Rory first joined St John Ambulance Cymru in March 2022 with no formal training but is now qualified to teach a range of first aid courses as a trainer.

He said: “It was the first time I’ve performed CPR on a child in a real-life scenario, but within a few days of the incident I was teaching other people how to do it.

“I would recommend this training for anyone who works with or volunteers with children, whether it’s a football club or similar group, as paediatric first aid is a bit different."

Rory is hoping to go to university in September to study paramedic science.

He also highlighted the importance of volunteering for the GoodSAM alerting system.

He said: “GoodSAM helps reduce pressure on the ambulance service and is a great first port of call as every minute counts, especially when it comes to cardiac or respiratory arrest. Every minute reduces a child’s chances of survival by 10%.

“You don’t have to have a PHD in CPR, anyone can learn and I’d encourage anyone that has the relevant training to sign-up to GoodSAM."

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