With so many incredible entries for our #DentalNurseHero campaign, it was impossible to pick only one for special recognition this month. While we are proud of all our Nurses, Betti Illes based in Cheltenham deserves an extra round of applause for her heroic actions stepping in and saving a patient’s life when they went into cardiac arrest in the practice reception.

The patient, who showed no signs of illness before the incident, collapsed in the practice reception in August last year before stopping breathing completely. It was Betti who stepped in to provide life-saving first aid, using the defibrillator from the medical bag to shock the patient and doing chest compressions until paramedics arrived and could take over.

We spoke to Betti who said, “We all did what we had to. The paramedics were working on her for about 30 minutes with the compressions and defib before rushing her to hospital. We didn’t know anything for 2 hours, but one of the paramedics came back and told us she was alive and breathing and was going to be fine. We were told if it wasn’t for our quick action the outcome would have been very different.”

“I didn’t even think it was just an instant reaction, you never think it’s going to happen even with all your training. I was just thinking, ‘I have to do this right, I have to save this patient.’ I felt confident.”

Betti’s experience shows just how incredible our Nurses are and how vital the training they all undergo can be. We couldn’t be prouder.