From
Stephen on mission to save lives by Judith Kerr, Bayside Bulletin/Redland Times (Australia), January 27, 2011
Birkdale's Stephen Dean has seen the face of death. As an officer with the Royal Australia Navy, his desperate attempts to resuscitate a man who had had a heart attack ended when the man died in his arms. But ever since that day, the 58-year-old father of two has made it his life's mission to save people.
For his dedication to that mission and his work in the field of resuscitation and first aid training, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on Wednesday. As the assistant CEO of St John Ambulance Australia's Queensland branch, it has been Stephen's job to teach and train people across the resuscitation industry.
..."It is important for people in the business of saving lives to be taught to follow a set of common rules, regulations and procedures to stop confusion."
In the US, they still advocate the Heimlich Manoeuvre for choking but in Australia, we believe the evidence shows it is dangerous and so our guidelines don't promote it," Stephen said.
