A mom from Jeffreys Bay has thanked a local armed response officer, who came to her aid when her 8-year-old son was experiencing a medical emergency recently.
Ingrid du Plessis was at home with her son, Bradley, when she realised to her shock that he was busy choking on a sweet he had in his mouth. She pressed her home security system’s panic button to summon help.
“Our monitoring centre team received the panic alarm signal and immediately dispatched armed response officer David Mintoor to the address. The team also spoke to Ingrid, who explained that she needed an ambulance to also be dispatched to help her son,” says Ryan Britz, Fidelity ADT’s branch manager for Jeffreys Bay.
Officer Mintoor arrived at the address within minutes. He realised that urgent intervention was needed, and asked permission from the mom to go ahead and administer the Heimlich manoeuver on Bradley.
“Thankfully this proved successful in dislodging the sweet, and Bradley was soon able to breathe normally again. The ambulance arrived shortly after and confirmed that all appeared to be in order with Bradley, but he was transported to hospital for a thorough check-up just to be sure,” says Britz.
He says Bradley’s mom was filled with gratitude for Officer Mintoor’s action.
“I cannot thank him enough for his help in assisting my son, I’m not sure what we would have done had he not arrived in time. Even after he managed to dislodge the sweet he remained with us to make sure my son was okay and waited until the ambulance arrived. Our family will forever be grateful to him and commend him for going the extra mile.”
Britz says he was also incredibly proud of how Officer Mintoor performed.
“We have confidence in our officers’ abilities to deal with any kind of emergency situation, even a medical one. Well done to him and the Fidelity ADT team for handling this particular emergency with such professionalism.”
