Cedar Girls' Secondary School students Elina Chua (left), 13, and Gracias Prasetyo, 16, rushed to a cardiac arrest case on Feb 4 in Potong Pasir. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

Elina Chua was studying in a hostel at St Andrew’s Village on Feb 4 at 7:40 pm. She received a notification on her myResponder app.

The message said someone was suffering a cardiac arrest nearby, and it had been three minutes since it happened.

Elina,13, a Secondary 2 student at Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, quickly contacted her friend and schoolmate Gracias Prasetyo, 16.

When they reached the flat, they found an unconscious Mr Rahmat Kayat, 82, lying on the bed.

Gracias, who is in Secondary 4, applied cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him while Elina ran down to find an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Although Mr Rahmat later died, his son said his family was very grateful to the girls for their attempts to save him.

Elina and Gracias are Indonesians on the Asean international scholarship and members of the Cedar Red Cross Youth co-curricular activity (CCA). They are also neighbours at their hostel, St Andrew’s Hall, which is part of St Andrew’s Village. On February 4, they ran to Block 119 Potong Pasir Avenue1, which is opposite their hostel.

A Singapore Red Cross (SRC) spokesperson said Elina is the youngest uniformed group member to respond to a cardiac arrest emergency and received standard first aid certification only seven days before the incident. Speaking to The Sunday Times on February 7 at her school, Elina said she was in her dormitory doing a Malay language practice paper when she received a notification from the myResponder app.

She said: “When I saw the message, I knew I needed to contact Gracias as she is my CCA senior, and she has experience. I told her we needed to go. And she asked, ‘Where, where, where?’”

Gracias was studying for a chemistry examination when she received a screenshot of the alert from Elina. At the flat, they found Mr Rahmat lying motionless on his bed. His wife and son and their helper were there.

Gracias Prasetyo (left) and Elina Chua showing how they performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator on a cardiac arrest patient. They managed to regain pulse, but Mr Rahmat Kayat later died in hospital. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

His son, Mr Muhamed Taufik Rahmat, 37, a security supervisor, had called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) when he noticed his father was not breathing, and it advised him on commencing CPR.

Gracias quickly took over and checked Mr Rahmat’s vitals before applying CPR.

Elina said: “All the CCA sessions kicked in. We were on autopilot mode; we just knew what had to be done.” As the bed was in the corner of a narrow room, Elina could not help with the CPR but rushed downstairs to locate an AED using the app.

She bumped into a man, who was also a responder and had already taken the AED, and they rushed back to the flat. He guided the girls on using the AED.

Gracias completed three to four cycles of CPR over eight minutes.

During this time, a fourth responder, Mr Kwan Yan Wei, 37, a teacher at Yangzheng Primary School, arrived.

SCDF paramedics later arrived and took over administering CPR. A spokesperson said they took a person to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Mr Taufik said his father died at the hospital that night. He told ST: “The efforts by the two girls did lead to my father regaining a pulse. Although it may not have saved him, their actions could motivate others and they might save another life.”

LOOK OUT FOR OTHERS

“What Gracias and Elina did, two young girls helping an elderly person, is something we can expect to see often in Singapore, as the population continues to age. We should not just stand and watch and think it’s other people’s business to take care of people. But we should all make it our business to take care of each other. We need to have a society that is resilient and kind.”

SINGAPORE RED CROSS CHIEF EXECUTIVE BENJAMIN WILLIAM

On February 7, the students were commended by their school and the SRC.

Cedar Girls’ principal Thong May Teng, 52, said: “The students are really inspired by their acts.”

SRC secretary-general and chief executive Benjamin William, 66, told ST: “What Gracias and Elina did, two young girls helping an elderly person, is something we can expect to see often in Singapore, as the population continues to age.”

He added: “We should not just stand and watch and think it’s other people’s business to take care of people. But we should all make it our business to take care of each other. We need to have a society that is resilient and kind.”

Source: The Sunday Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.