Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Four gym staff – including Olympian – praised after coming to aid of heart attack victim

Four men standing next to an ambulance holding a certificate,
The four men from Banchory was awared for their actions. Image: Scottish Ambulance Service.

Four men, including an Olympian, from a north-east gym have been given awards after saving a man’s life earlier this year.

Staff at the Unit, a gym in Banchory, were given certificates from the ambulance service for their help in saving a man’s life, who collapsed with after suffering a heart attack, last March

Snowboarder Ben Kilner, who represented Team GB at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, rushed to the aid of the man along with his father Stephen, Richie Batho and Craig Scott after the man took ill.

The Unit staff with Aberdeen Ambulance Stadion clinical team leader standing next to an ambulance
The Unit staff with Aberdeen Ambulance Stadion clinical team leader, Alan McGee. Supplied by Scottish Ambulance Service.

The men all work for the gym and fitness centre owned by Stephen and Ben Kilner and their family.

The Unit is based within the grounds of the Tor-Na-Coille Hotel in Banchory.

The men were alerted by a gardener who had witnessed his colleague – believed to be in his 30s – collapse.

Realising that the patient was unconscious and in cardiac arrest they commenced CPR by taking turns and gave four shocks with the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED).

They continued until emergency services, a paramedic car and an emergency ambulance, arrived.

‘Asked if we had a defib on site’

Mr Scott said: “Once we got in contact with the call handler for the situation, once they realised that the time between breaths was a lot more extensive than it should be they asked if we had a defib on site.

“So at that point Steve started CPR.

“I ran back over to the gym to get a defib machine.

“Between the two of us at that point, I started doing the CPR, whilst the defib was also kind-of doing its job as well.”

The man has since recovered at home.

The ambulance service said that the efforts of the men, along with staff saved his life.

A couple of weeks after the incident took place, the man’s family came into the gym to thank them for their efforts.

All four men were awarded certificates, which were presented by Alan McGee, clinical team leader at Aberdeen Ambulance Station.

Conversation