SINGAPORE – Alva Wong had just eaten lunch at Velocity @ Novena Square on March 10 and was on her way to school when she saw a small gathering of people outside Cedele bakery.
As the 15-year-old approached, she saw an elderly man lying unconscious on the ground and a distraught woman being consoled by onlookers.
Alva, a Secondary 4 student at Raffles Girls’ School (RGS)and Red Cross Youth cadet, had training in first aid, but she was not sure if she could save him.
She stepped forward anyway, overcame her self-doubt and applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). This kept him alive until the paramedics arrived.
Speaking at her school on April 15, she said she had hesitated to help as she was worried about not being the best person to render aid.
But as no one else was helping him, she stepped forward.
She quickly realised the man was in cardiac arrest as he had no pulse and was not breathing.
“I decided it was better that someone go up than no one at all,” said Alva. “I was a bit scared but when I started doing CPR, I was in a very focused state of mind. There was no panic.”
About seven to eight minutes later, paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived and took over.
She accompanied the couple in the ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Alva said: “It all sank in when I left the hospital. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.”
She was relieved to find out later that the man had survived.
His wife e-mailed the Ministry of Education (MOE) to thank Alva for her actions and said her husband was in stable condition. The couple have since returned home safely to China.
She identified Alva as wearing an RGS uniform and MOE notified the school.
On April 15, Alva was commended by the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) at her school as RGS commemorated World Red Cross Day.
SRC secretary-general and chief executive Benjamin William, 66, who was present, said: “I hope that her act of kindness will help motivate more of us to step forward towards building a kinder and resilient Singapore.”
RGS principal Ong Hong Peng said: “We are immensely proud of her for living out these values we hold dear at RGS. Her training and quick response helped save a life and that is truly commendable.”
Alva’s parents were at RGS to see her being commended.
Her mother, Mrs Alicia Lim, 45, said: “I’m very impressed by how she managed to stay calm and very proud of her for stepping forward and helping the man.”
On Feb 10, The Straits Times reported on how two girls – aged 13 and 16 – responded to a cardiac arrest incident involving an 82-year-old man.
In that case, the 13-year-old was the youngest uniformed group member to respond to a cardiac arrest incident. The two students were Community First Responders.
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