Mr Sianidis was a recipient of Ambulance Victoria’s Community Hero Award on Friday for saving the life of his stepfather Patrick Minehan, who had suffered a heart attack. Mr Sianidis followed instructions and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 10 minutes on Mr Minehan until paramedics arrived.

The triple-zero call taker undoubtedly helped keep Mr Minehan alive long enough for paramedics to arrive. However, Mr Sianidis said having the background knowledge from doing a course may have also contributed.

“I am originally from Queensland and I had done a course with St John Ambulance and with Ambulance Queensland,” he explained. “We were told the basic skills and we were also told when you are in a very stressful situation to listen carefully to instructions and it will be OK. When there is an emergency, you go into ‘game mode’ . You aren’t necessarily thinking about the next step, but you are listening to the instructions.”

Mr Sianidis was visiting his mother Denice Minehan and Mr Minehan in Avoca in January this year when Mr Minehan started feeling unwell and then blacked out. 

After calling 000, Mr Sianidis performed compressions for 10 minutes to revive Mr Minehan. Mr Minehan’s heart had to be defibrillated back into a normal rhythm again when the paramedics arrived before he could be transported to hospital.

Mr Sianidis said he would treasure the honour from Ambulance Victoria but was not the type to blow his own trumpet.

But Mr Minehan was more than happy praise his stepson on Friday. “It is a big day. It recognises Matthew, but it also recognises that I’m still here, and why I am still here,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Matt on that day I could be six foot under.

“Denise and I have been married for four years, but I think this has made us closer.”

The Community Hero Awards have been in existence since 1999. They were presented on Friday at Victoria’s Parliament House by Ambulance Victoria’s interim chief executive officer Andrew Way and Ambulance Victoria general manager regional services Tony Walker.

Professor Walker said the Community Hero Awards represented a sample of the heroic actions by members of the community who were not Ambulance Victoria staff members. They were also intended to encourage others to respond in emergency situations.

“We sort through more than 100 commendations from our members to identify a representative sample. We

encourage our staff to give commendations to com-

munity members,” he said.

“But it’s also to encourage others. Hopefully, someone reading the paper or watching the news will realise these people are just like them and that they could do it, too, in an emergency.”

Mr Sianidis was nominated for the award by Ambulance Victoria’s team manager Avoca Grampians Karl Mainka.

Other recipients this year included:

• Gary Jenkins and Darren Kay, who revived TV actor Dennis Coard at a soccer match in Eltham North in 2013. They borrowed a defibrillator from a nearby cricket club to shock Mr Coard’s heart back into a normal rhythm. Mr Jenkins and Mr Kay were nominated again – along with Malcolm Wiley – when they saved father-of-five Barnaby Stevenson on May 16 this year at the same soccer venue using the same defibrillator.

• Chris and Maria Hogan, Chloe Collins, Tara Smith and Jack West saved the life of new mother Samantha Jobe, who collapsed in cardiac arrest while warming up for a gym workout in Cheltenham.  

• Bruce Mongan saved the life of neighbour Bruce Rudd by performing CPR for 13 minutes.

• Adrian Pouao, whose grand-

mother Erminija Tomas started

bleeding while recovering from leg surgery. Mr Pouao helped control the bleeding.

gavin.mcgrath@fairfaxmedia.com.au