Nurse who saved bus driver’s life after heart attack nominated for bravery award

The nurse who administered first aid to a bus driver after a heart attack at the wheel is to be nominated for a National Bravery Award.

Aoife McGiveney was on the no. 16 bus on the way to work at the Mater Hospital yesterday when the man collapsed. Her quick thinking saved his life. The young nurse, who was sitting downstairs on the bus, said that she first noticed what had happened when they rolled through a red light and she heard fellow passengers screaming. "Cars were beeping at us and we went over a bike. We thought we hit a cyclist at first," she told The Star. "Everyone was panicking and screaming because we could feel the bike under the bus." Thankfully, there was no cyclist on the bike. Aoife made her way to the front of the bus and found the driver had collapsed. She managed to get his foot off the accelerator, stopping the bus. She and some fellow passengers carried the man off the bus and onto the footpath outside, where he went into cardiac arrest. Aoife, who works in the ears, nose and throat department, started to perform CPR and called for someone to ring for an ambulance. She kept up compressions until help arrived. Speaking this morning, Aoife said that everyone should know what to do in an emergency. "That's the main reason I want to talk about all of this, I want to promote first aid and to encourage people to get their training, to actively recognise when it is time to intervene," she told Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio One. Dublin Lord Mayor Nial Ring said today that he would be nominating Aoife for a National Bravery Award, calling her actions "astounding". "These are given to people from all walks of life and all sections of society who carried out a deed of bravery with an effort to save human life involving personal risk," he told the Irish Independent. "Aoife certainly fits that criteria."