A NURSE who stopped a runaway bus after the driver had a heart attack and resuscitated him said she was only on board because she was running late for work.
Aoife McGivney, who works in the ENT department at Dublin's Mater Hospital, was listening to music yesterday morning when she realised the bus had broken a red light and was rolling towards O'Connell Bridge.
"We crashed into a cyclist and we could feel the bus going over the bike. We thought there was someone under the bus so everyone started screaming," she told reporters.
Ms McGivney said she realised the bus driver was unconscious when she saw him making jerking movements and it was clear he was not breathing properly.
"In that situation, there was no-one else, it was like 'Oh My God' this is it."
Watch: @Irishheart_ie show me how to do CPR after nurse Aoife McGivney saved the life of a bus driver having a heart attack. @SeanMoncrieff from 2pm @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/ud3l7BL9JK
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) March 5, 2019
She reached through the driver's door inside the bus and shook his legs to ensure they weren't on the pedals, before the engine cut out and the bus stopped moving.
Passengers manoeuvred him off the bus and Ms McGivney put him in the recovery position and began to administer CPR.
Other people with CPR training helped her until an ambulance and Dublin Fire Brigade arrived.
The driver was conscious by the time he got to the hospital.
Ms McGivney said she now wants to talk about how important it is to get CPR training and to be able to actively recognise when someone needs intervention.
"This was just one lucky moment that I got to be there and do this for him," she told RTÉ.
