A Cork city homeless volunteer has said she is still in shock after coming to the rescue of a young woman who had been subjected to a vicious assault over the weekend.
Rosalyn Barrett, who works with the Kindness Krew on Patrick Street administered CPR to the 36-year-old woman who was lying on the ground outside the former Savoy cinema on St Patrick’s Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, at around 8pm on Sunday night.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News At One, she said: “There was a bit of commotion just a small bit away from our table, and I saw a girl on the floor, and somebody had put her in the recovery position.
“Somebody shouted ‘get an ambulance’, so I went up to check and see what was going on, and next I saw the girl had a pulse, but was kind of turning blue.”
Ms Barrett described how she kept calling to the woman but received no response, at which point, her pulse stopped, and she started to give her chest compressions.
She said that another worker in the soup kitchen rang the ambulance, and she continued administering CPR for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived and took over.
“I never thought I’d have to use CPR, but I did on Sunday night, and I hope I never have to use it again.”
She said the incident was “very traumatic” for everyone involved.
It is understood that the injured woman is from Cork city and is a homeless service user. She is still fighting for her life in Cork University Hospital.
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Ms Barrett said she went into overdrive and was relieved when paramedics arrived, as she had not been certain that she was applying the chest compressions correctly.
“I’m in a bit in shock, because I did a first aid course with the other girls in the Kindness Krew which we paid for ourselves just in case.
“We were taught how to do CPR on the course, and I’ll be honest with you, I hope I never have to use it again, but I suppose if I do come across somebody, you just go into overdrive and just get on with it.”
Ms Barrett said that this type of incident is not a common occurrence in Cork, but she added that the situation has gotten “very rough” in the city over the past fortnight.
“There is no garda presence around the city, very little, only if there’s trouble over the road or in the town, you would hear the guards passing by.
“But we would never have a garda presence around Patrick Street to be honest with you.”
