Two generations of medical staff gathered at West Gippsland Hospital recently to return a family heirloom resuscitation kit to the original makers.

WGHG Registered Nurse and Resuscitation Educator Wendy Tilling uncovered the Ambu International Ruben Resuscitator belonging to her grandfather, Stanley (Stan) Peterson, while helping her parents move house. Recognising the equipment due to her own career, she contacted the maker Ambu International, confirming that it was among the first commercial Ambu bags produced since the product was launched in Australia in 1956.

Ambu Australia Corporate Business Manager Alvina Leung made a special trip to West Gippsland Hospital to collect the equipment, ensuring it would not be damaged in transit. It will be put into a custom-made display box with a plaque dedicated to Stan and shown at the company’s Annual Sales Conference and at celebrations marking 15 years in Australia. 

“It was a great opportunity to get the family together and hand it back over,” Wendy said. “I had a very close relationship with my grandfather. He would be so proud. We all felt today like he was looking down on us.”

Stan ‘Safety’ Peterson served in the RAAF medical unit and Medical Air Evacuation Transport Unit during WWII, later becoming one of the first male nurses in post-war Victoria. He likely used the resuscitation kit during his time as Head Safety Officer for the Australian Paper Mill. He worked in similar roles at other companies, including Carlton United breweries.  Stan was a volunteer for the National Safety council and a leader in the campaign to introduce seat belts into Australia. In retirement, Stan was a WGHG volunteer and a founding member of a Warragul cancer support group.

Several of Stan’s grandchildren and great-children have followed him and his wife Joan – who was also a nurse – into the healthcare industry. Wendy, her daughter Kiera Tilling and Wendy’s brother Stephen Earl are registered nurses at West Gippsland Hospital, while Stephen’s daughter Jessica Earl is a local paramedic. Several more family members work at other healthcare organisations, with their roles including a cardiothoracic nurse, enrolled nurse, orderly, paramedic and a naturopath.

“It was most likely pre-defined,” Wendy said of the family’s collective career choice. “Grandpa was a nurse, his wife – our Nana Joan – was also a nurse pre-war and during the war. They actually met when they were both in the air force in Townsville.

“His children all remember him being called Stan ‘Safety’ Peterson. He was very safety conscious and did a lot of volunteer work and education around safety. They remember him with a resus-Anne (a CPR simulator mannequin) sitting in his car on the way to work – probably to see people’s reactions! As grandchildren, we remember his fake glass eyes that demonstrate eye injuries, and his safety message like ‘don’t rock in your chair!’.”

Stan passed away in Warragul in 1991.

His family say they are happy his resuscitator bag will be well preserved into the future.