Surf club heroes recognised after saving tourist’s life

TWO Byron Bay surf lifesavers have been honoured with a St John’s Community Outstanding Clinical Care Award for their role in saving a tourist’s life at Belongil Beach last year.

Michael Berti and Michael Gudgeon resuscitated a 59-year-old New Zealand man who had been tipped by a wave, knocked unconscious and gone into cardiac arrest last April.

The pair had been at the surf club preparing for their beach patrol shift when a member of the public reported an incident at The Wreck.

They jumped on the ATV and headed straight to the scene.

When they arrived, a coach from a local surf school was already performing compressions.

The lifesavers immediately joined in, using their equipment to assist.

After the man regained vital signs, they continued to monitor and care for him until paramedics arrived.

He was later airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital and eventually returned home to Queenstown with his family.

The two lifesavers were nominated for the award by officers from the Tweed-Byron Police District, who had also been on scene and worked alongside them during the rescue.

Gudgeon, 65, said he would never forget the gratitude and joy shown by the patient’s partner but felt humbled by the award recognition.

“There are many amazing club members that have done rescues and preventatives over the years,” he said.

The Ray White real estate agent joined the club around 20 years ago when his daughter started nippers.

He earned his Bronze Medallion before beginning patrols.

He said the rescue was just one of around 50 call-outs initiated by Triple Zero last year.

“A lot of the work the Byron Bay Surf Club does slips under the radar,” he said.

“The best result is getting to someone before they need first aid. Our patrols consistently perform preventatives, rescues and first aid.

Junior members saved a person drowning around four weeks ago.”

Gudgeon said effective and timely CPR saves lives.

“The more people that learn it the better,” he said.

“We had an incident a few years back where two of my patrol members successfully performed CPR on an unconscious person in a rescue boat.”

Venezuelan-born Berti, 50, also joined the club when his daughter began nippers in 2015.

He now lives at the clubhouse as its caretaker.

He said the award represents only a small part of the effort required behind the scenes for an incident like this to have a positive outcome.

“We were the ones who happened to be there but I’m sure any other member of our club would have delivered the same high standard of care,” he said.

“Countless hours of maintenance, administration and training are performed by our volunteers off the beach.”

Berti said he strongly believed nippers represented the future of the club and urged families to consider signing up.

“Councils and organisations looking for ways to help the community should also think about investing in their local nippers club, as it goes a long way,” he said.