Staff and customers at a Huddersfield town centre cafe sprang into action when an elderly man suffered a suspected heart attack.
The man, who is a regular client at Cafe Venecia in Market Street, was given CPR by cafe owner Tony Singh and another customer while cafe worker Nathan Doble was on the phone relaying instructions from medics, having rung for an ambulance.
Paramedics arrived within minutes to continue resuscitating the man before taking him to hospital.
It is understood he was taken to Leeds General Infirmary and was later transferred to Calderdale Royal Hospital where he is in intensive care.
The alarm had been raised by Ian Morrison, a security guard at NU House next door, who was in the cafe and noticed the man sitting motionless in his seat.
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Ian, a former policeman who has also served in the RAF, said he was waiting at the cafe counter to order a bacon sandwich when he noticed the man sitting at the back of the cafe.
“His skin was yellow and waxy-looking,” said Ian.
“I told the staff that he didn’t look right. We went over to him and the lady checked his pulse. He didn’t seem to be breathing. We tried shaking him a little to rouse him, but got nothing.”
While the female customer and Tony attended to the man, Ian went outside to await paramedics. Within minutes, two paramedics arrived in their cars to be quickly followed by the ambulance.
Tony said: “The customer is a regular and is a very quiet man in his early 80s. He was sitting in his seat and wasn’t moving.
“I had just come in from the bank to see another customer taking his pulse. Nathan got onto the phone for the paramedics and we were told to get the man onto his back on the floor.
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“I’m a first aider and so was the customer, so we started giving the man chest compressions. When the ambulance crew arrived, they took over and used a defibrillator and gave him oxygen before taking him to hospital in the ambulance.”
Tony said he got a phone call from the hospital later that day to say the man was recovering. The customer who helped give CPR left the cafe before Tony could get her name.
Tony praised Ian for spotting there was something wrong, adding: “If he hadn’t, it could have been even more serious.”
WATCH how a defibrillator works below
