A community first responder has been praised for “definitely saving his life” after attending a 999 call about chest pains from a village man near the end of his shift.

Volunteer Phil Fuller had been on rounds to assess Robert McWilliams, 75, after the patient suffered cardiac arrest at home in Holbridge, near South Woodham Ferrers.

Mr. Fuller began a round of CPR and shocked the patient with a defibrillator before back-up arrived, after which Mr. McWilliams made a full recovery.

Mr McWilliams, who recently met Mr Fuller and the ambulance team that helped him, said: “I remember Phil well, but not a lot and I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t been there.”

“Thankfully, he was and they worked amazingly well together to save my life.”

“I can’t praise the team enough for saving my life and it was great to meet them all.”

Mr Fuller, who is an emergency care assistant at the East of England Ambulance Service, was due to finish his volunteer shift at midnight on 17 October when the 999 call came in at 23:45 BST.

He contacted the dispatcher to say he would attend as it was only a short distance from his home – a decision which “almost certainly saved Mr McWilliams’s life”, the ambulance service said.

The patient was experiencing chest discomfort and pain, which became more intense and woke him up the night of the call.

Within 10 minutes, he was being evaluated by Mr. Fuller, and 15 minutes later he went into cardiac arrest.

Two ambulances and an ambulance officer vehicle attended, Mr McWilliams was taken to the Essex Cardiothoracic Center at Basildon Hospital for treatment.

Mr Fuller said he was “very grateful” he was able to be there and put his training to use when Mr McWilliams went into cardiac arrest.

He added, “It’s quite an emotional and wonderful feeling to know that you’ve saved someone’s life.”

“I was a community first responder before joining the ambulance service, and I love every minute of working and volunteering for my community.”

Claire Ruddy, who manages community response in Essex, said the service was under “enormous pressure” at the time, and Mr McWilliams would not have intervened in time if Mr Fuller had not become involved.

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