Veteran volunteer ambo Michael Napier reunited with paramedics who saved his life after heart attack

As a volunteer ambulance officer with two decades under his belt in the remote Pilbara, Michael “Tiny” Napier has done his fair share of helping to save lives. But there was a moment about six weeks ago when he realised he needed to call on his colleagues to save his. Mr Napier, 60, was 1400km away from his Tom Price home in a Perth hotel room when he curled over with chest pain. When aspirin did not help, he grew cold and clammy and he realised he could be having a heart attack, he called triple-0. “I thought, ‘I better ring the ambulance’,” he said. When St John WA paramedic Rick Candy and ambulance officer Jack Doxey arrived a few minutes later, an electrocardiogram confirmed he needed to go to hospital immediately. More comfortable being the one tending to the patient, Mr Napier found himself on the bed with the lights and sirens above him roaring as they rushed to Royal Perth Hospital. “It was a bit different, sitting in the bed instead of in the seat,” he said. But he said he knew he was in safe hands. On the way to the hospital, Mr Candy twigged Mr Napier’s name sounded familiar and realised he recognised it from a recent awards ceremony where Mr Napier, an emergency medical technician, was crowned St John WA country volunteer of the year. He said while he treated Mr Napier the same as any other patient, he admitted he did get “a little bit more emotionally invested” in his welfare and checked in on his recovery. “He’s spent 20 years helping other people, I felt the least I can do is to give that same care back,” he said, adding after a reunion between the trio last week that it was good to see Mr Napier looking better. The importance of heart health in men has recently been thrust into the spotlight, particularly after the death of cricket legend Shane Warne from a heart attack last year. A heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest where the heart’s electrical pulse stops and the patient falls unconscious and stops breathing normally. In WA, St John responded to almost 8000 life-threatening heart problems in men over the past 12 months. Only 21 per cent of cardiac arrest patients make it to hospital with a pulse and only 10 per cent survive for 30 days after being discharged from hospital. Asked what his message was for someone who experienced chest pain, Mr Napier had a simple response. “Ring them (an ambulance), don’t worry about if you look like an idiot or anything like that,” he said. “As I said to a mate a couple of weeks before, I’d rather call you a silly old bugger than rock up to your funeral.” Call Triple-0 immediately if you experience these symptoms: