Nine-year-old Wyndham Vale boy Ethan Duggan has been named a Junior Triple Zero Hero for calling an ambulance when his mother had a stroke last year.
The annual Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) awards recognise children who remain calm and brave during emergencies.
Along with 30 other young Victorians, Ethan was presented with an ESTA medal during a ceremony at Parliament House last week.
Ethan said he was “surprised” and “proud” to receive the award.
Ethan was aged eight when he called triple-0 in July last year.
“My mum fell asleep and I tried to wake her up, but she didn’t respond,” he said.
“I was scared because my mum wasn’t breathing and I was worried she would die.”
Ethan called his stepfather and then triple-0, telling the ESTA operator he needed an ambulance and his address.
The operator asked Ethan to ask his mother – who had since woken up – to smile.
Ethan told the operator his mother could smile, but only with one half of her face.
He also told the operator to call his grandmother and looked her number up in his mother’s mobile.
Ethan said the paramedics arrived soon afterwards, along with his stepfather and grandmother. The paramedics took his mother, who was suffering a stroke, to hospital as a code one emergency.
The first time Ethan visited his mother in the hospital, she bought him a toy monkey and balloon as a “thank you” for saving her life.
Ethan said he hoped to become a scientist specialising in chemistry when he grew up, so he could make medicines to help people.
