Source : Perth Now news
After watching a friend lose a leg in a near-fatal shark attack, surfer Danny Schouten learnt first-hand how crucial immediate first aid could be in the fight to save a life.
His friend Kai McKenzie was 23 years old when he was surfing the waves of North Shore Beach in Port Macquarie when a three-metre shark severed his right leg two years ago.
The surfer managed to “fight off” the shark before catching a wave back to shore, where a retired police officer used his dog’s lead as a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
Since the attack, Mr Schouten has been on a crusade to install shark bite kits at beaches across Australia to save lives.
He started an initiative called Community Shark Bite Kits to equip every beach in Australia with gear for anyone to use when an emergency struck.
Almost 250 of the lifesaving devices have been installed at beaches across NSW and Western Australia.
“It’s really s**t feeling finding out that someone else has been attacked,” he said.
“If there’s a beach or a location that they want a kit, please contact me and let’s get one there, because the more kits we have and more beaches we can cover, potentially the more lives we can save.
“As seen in Coogee, that quick response and having good people who were willing to act fast and help, and having things like our kits as close as possible can just really make that difference.”
One of the shark bite kits was installed at Coogee Beach just months ago to improve safety when lifeguards weren’t on patrol.
It was used by emergency physician Ian Ferguson on Saturday when Sydney mum Leah Stewart was mauled by a 3.5m white shark.
Dr Ferguson saw the horrific scene unfold from the promenade and grabbed the kit and a defribrilator to help.
“(Kai) lost his leg and survived purely on luck and chance that someone was there and had the training and knew how to make a makeshift tourniquet,” Mr Schouten said.
“It just seemed like one of those situations … we had shark bite kits, they just weren’t installed for anyone to use.
“It was just one of those moments where it was like, well, let’s get them on every beach and let’s make them readily available so that anyone can use it and anyone can save a life because you don’t have long.
“You only get a few minutes before you’ve lost too much blood.”
