2021 Royal Life Saving Bravery Awards

Outstanding acts of bravery have once again been recognised, in the 2021 Royal Life Saving Bravery Awards at the State Reception Centre in Kings Park.

56 heroic Western Australians have been honoured during a ceremony attended by The Honourable Kim Beazley AC, Governor of Western Australia. We also presented the Russell Medal, an international lifesaving award, to one recipient, Megan Larmour. Megan previously received a Royal Life Saving Bravery Award in 2019, for providing CPR and defibrillation to a man who had collapsed in a shopping centre car park, when she was just 16 years old. The Russell Medal is a Royal Life Saving Society Commonwealth Annual Award for the most outstanding resuscitation or attempted resuscitation performed during the previous calendar year by a person under 18 years of age. Megan was successfully nominated for this prestigious award this year.

Royal Life Saving WA accepts nominations for our annual Bravery Awards throughout the year, to identify and reward people in our community who have taken extraordinary actions to save, or attempt to save, another person’s life. This year we have acknowledged a wide variety of individuals, including children and adults, who have performed acts from in water rescues, through to performing lifesaving first aid on the roadside. We were honoured to recognise some very deserving awardees who’ve each been involved in outstanding acts of bravery and are worthy recipients of such an honour.

Royal Life Saving WA’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Leaversuch says each award recipient displayed exceptional courage, empathy ,and initiative by applying lifesaving skills in emergency situations and sometimes at risk to themselves. “These individuals are an excellent example to all Western Australians and show how vitally important it is to obtain lifesaving skills. They’ve applied their skills to save another’s life, showing bravery and commitment in doing so, and deserve our highest recognition.”

The recent Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report revealed that 57% of WA’s drowning deaths occurred in the warmer months of spring and summer during 2020/21. “As we enjoy the warmer weather at this time of the year, I encourage everyone to think about how they might, in their own way, contribute to drowning prevention, and saving lives. It may be to improve your own skills in CPR, first aid or rescue, to raise awareness amongst your family, friends, or workplace, or to help someone in need. Everyone can be a lifesaver” Mr Leaversuch said.

This year's award recipients and a brief synopsis of their stories is below.

• Sam Redfern (Gold Cross) - Sam was with friends on a rock shelf at Cape Keraudren in the Pilbara, about 500m offshore at low tide. As they began to wade back to shore another woman who was on the rock shelf at the time, Tania, experienced a brain aneurysm and collapsed into the water. As the tide rose Sam carried and swam Tania back to shore, in the dark over a rocky reef. With no phone reception at the location,Tania received further first aid onshore before being drivento hospital at Port Hedland.
• Trevor Parminter and Glenn Schepis (Gold Cross) - Trevor and Glenn were driving when they came across a car that had left the road, hit a tree and caught fire near Wickepin.They risked their own lives, and sustained injuries themselves, to rescue a woman from the burning vehicle and provided first aid until an ambulance arrived.
• Justin Murdock & Dylan Lavender (Gold Cross) and Pippin Murdock (Gold Star) - Justin, Dylan and Pippin were the first responders to the scene of a car crash involving two adults and two children near Williams. They performed CPR on a young girl until ambulance arrived, removed passengers from the vehicle and provided other first aid alongside volunteer and professional emergency services.
• Richard O’Brien, Kieron Hayter, Vance Bryan, Peter Towndrow (Gold Medallion)– Cameron Wrathall was attacked by a shark while swimming in the Swan River. Friend Richard and 3 kayakers/paddleboarders brought him out of the water, performed first aid and carried him up a steep riverside path to the road to await an ambulance.
• Ryan Ebeling and Karol Sokolowski (Gold Medallion) - Jennifer Kelly stepped on a bee while walking at Leighton Beach and went into anaphylaxis resulting in a cardiac arrest. Ryan and Karol performed CPR and provided first aid for 20 minutes until paramedics arrived.
• Toby Emmett and Geoff Tozer (Gold Medallion) - 16-year-olds Toby and Geoff were on a boat at Horrock's Beach with Geoff’s father, Michael, when the boat was hit by a large wave and the dad sustained a severe injury, breaking his leg in 11 places! The 2 boys managed to drive the boat back to shore in severe weather and worked together to remove him from the boat, transport him up the beach and get help from bystanders.
• Jackson Byrne, Amanda Bradley, Annabelle Little and Jason Gore (Gold Medallion) - Amanda was hiking on a trail near Karratha when she came across another walker, Noel, who had collapsed. She waved down Noel’s friend, Annabelle, who commended CPR along with another walker, Jason. The nearby Karratha Leisureplex was alerted, and Lifeguard Jackson ran 1km uphill to take a defibrillator and first aid kit to the scene. He joined in to lead the CPR efforts and manage the scene until paramedics arrived.
• Damian Franzmann, Philip Green & Elaine McLennan (Gold Medallion) - When golfer, Jim, collapsed due to an apparent heart attack on the golf course at Hartfield Country Club, Elaine saw what happened and immediately headed to the scene to begin CPR. Course Manager Damian grabbed the defibrillator and then assisted Elaine with CPR and defibrillation. They were then joined by Dr Philip Green, who took over the CPR and managed Jim’s condition until an ambulance arrived.
• David Lang (Gold Medallion) - David was working at Yagan Square when he found two men in some distress. One was unresponsive, with only sporadic breathing and a weak pulse, while the other was semi-conscious. David immediately called for an ambulance and commenced compressions on the unconscious man for approximately 15 minutes until paramedics arrived.
• Probationary Constable Dominic Webb and Constable Rodney Willoughby (Gold Medallion) - These Police Constables responded to an alert of a missing person in bushland at Westdale. The man was found with his arm trapped by a fallen tree. The officers provided first aid and called for assistance from the ambulance and fire brigade. The patient suffered a cardiac arrest enroute to hospital and Dominic and Rodney performed CPR on him for a total of approximately 60 minutes.
• Probationary Constable Ryan Groombridge (Gold Medallion), and Senior Constable Jason Taylor and Sergeant Terry Townsend (Gold Star) - Ryan was conducting police patrols in Boulder when he came upon an unresponsive man. He performed CPR for approximately 10 minutes while also managing a large group of intoxicated and highly emotional bystanders. Additional support was provided by police officers Jason Taylor and Terry Townsend.
• Constable Harry Beecher, First Class Constable Nikita Bergant, Sergeant Paul Burke, Constable Eddie McMenamin, First Class Constable Steven Millar, Constable Jessica Smith (Gold Medallion) - The six police officers attended a house in Kenwick where a man was bleeding profusely. They provided first aid and began performing CPR when he became unresponsive. The group performed CPR for around 30 minutes. The scene was highly traumatic and the officers also had to manage/support family members (children and adults) who were on the scene and extremely distraught.
• First Class Constable Philip Geach (Gold Medallion), Detective Sergeant Michael Bowers, Detective First Class Constable Thomas Fryer and Senior Constable Jarren Ganzer (Gold Star) - These police officers were responding to an incident at Greenmount when a man jumped through a window and severed an artery in his arm. He was losing a large amount of blood and was frantic. Philip Geach applied two tourniquets to the injured arm while the other officers provided additional assistance (000 call, applied pressure, bandaged the wound etc.).
• Serena MacPherson, Halima Olakareem and Christina Gardiner (Gold Medallion), Robbie McNeill, Maddison Earnshaw and Georgia Radley-Kohrs (Gold Star) Caitlin Anthony and Ryan Humphries (Bravery Commendation) - Five staff and three patrons performed CPR and first aid for a patron who collapsed and sustained a head injury at the Craigie Leisure Centre.. Between the staff and patrons, they provided CPR and maintained the patron’s airway. 7 shocks were provided from the defibrillator during the 20-minute resuscitation. Robbie, Maddison and Georgia led the lifeguard response, while Ryan and Caitlin provided a supporting role. Patrons Christina, Halima and Serena also assisted with CPR and maintaining the patient’s airway.
• Gregg Tidboald and Brandon Murray (Gold Medallion), Gordon Tidboald, Grace Barratt and Briony Barratt (Bravery Commendation) - During last year’s Rottnest Swim, solo swimmer Stephen was nearing the island when he began experiencing the effects of hypothermia. Gregg, Brandon, Gordon, Grace and Briony were in a boat nearby and went to assist. Brandon swam over to support Stephen who was now unconscious and sinking. Gregg also swam over to assist. Grace, Briony and Gordon radioed for assistance, communicated with the crew on Stephen’s support boat and flagged down the emergency vessels. Stephen was picked up by Marine Rescue and airlifted to Fiona Stanley Hospital where he made a full recovery.
• Niall Killalea (Gold Star) - Niall rescued a toddler who had fallen into Tomato Lake. The child was unconscious, limp and appeared not to be breathing when Niall removed her from the water. Niall performed back blows and the child went on to recover.T
• Georgia Day (Gold Star) - A newborn baby was choking at Woolworths Ellenbrook and Georgia, a 16-year-old staff member, performed first aid to remove the obstruction from the baby's throat.
• Tahlia Fitch (15 years old), Anzel Jansen (17 years old), Misha Stolp (16 years old) (Bravery Commendation) - Tahlia, Anzel and Misha were competing in a school football match in Ellenbrook when an opposing player, after being tackled, dropped to the ground and was motionless. The three girls immediately went to the player’s aid, checking her breathing, placing her in the recovery position and maintaining her airway until staff arrived.
• Jayden van Boheemen (Bravery Commendation) - 10-year-old Jayden jumped into a home swimming pool in Woodvale and pulled out his 5-year-old cousin, Grace, who had fallen into the water out of sight of adults. He pushed her to the side to remove her from the water.
• Megan Larmour (Russell Medal) - Megan, just 16 years old at the time, was having breakfast at a café in Mandurah when a man suffered a heart attack in the shopping centre carpark and collapsed. Trained in first aid due to her job as a lifeguard, Megan immediately ran to the carpark and began performing CPR on the victim. A staff member from a nearby business returned with a defibrillator and Megan cut the man’s clothing and applied the defibrillator, shocking him twice while continuing to perform compressions with the help of another bystander.

If you know someone who's saved, or attempted to save, someone's life you can nominate them for next year's Bravery Awards at the link below.