Friday 9th May 2014 – 1.30pm – Chris Kowalik.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has picked up three awards at a prestigious ceremony at the House of Lords.
The Ambulance Service Institute (ASI) Awards, held on Thursday 8th May is described as “A time to reflect and recognise the people working in the pre-hospital care sector who have performed above and beyond the call of duty, in their dedication to saving lives.”
Presenting the awards, Lord Ian McColl said: “It’s been a great joy for me to be here and to hear all the amazing things that you have done. It must have been absolutely horrendous; some of the situations you have had to deal with. We are just so grateful that you risk your lives to do all these wonderful things. Greater love hath no man who gives his life for another – or risks doing so.”
Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive of West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “It’s a great event; each year many of our staff receiving awards from the Ambulance Service Institute, our staff doing a fantastic job day-in, day-out. And to see our staff get these awards and have members of their own family with them to share in that moment, is a really proud moment for them, for their families and of course for me as Chief Officer as well.”
Above video: Anthony Marsh
Below are the citations for award recipients from West Midlands Ambulance Service and Midlands Air Ambulance:
First Aid/Community First Responder Award – Craig Singleton of Gnosall and District Community First Responders in south Staffordshire (and a teacher at Oldbury Wells School in Bridgnorth, Shropshire)
Craig was nominated concerning an incident in Gnosall involving an 18 month-old child who had been attacked at home by the family dog – a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. The dog had suddenly attacked the child and torn the right side of his face. Craig, as the local CFR, was first on scene and commenced treating the child with oxygen before the ambulance arrived. Craig continued to assist the crew then left the scene and the patient in the safe hands of the ambulance crew. The crew were impressed by Craig’s actions and his assistance at what was a very difficult situation and asked for him to be nominated for an award for his calm and swift actions.
Above: Craig Singleton. Picture courtesy Simon Hilldrew
Craig said: “It was a traumatic experience. At the time when I was in the house with the family and when the paramedics arrived I kept everything together but when I got outside it hit me how traumatic it was.. On receiving the award, he said: “I feel slightly embarrassed about it. It could have been anybody who turned out. The West Midlands Ambulance Service training is fantastic – we are all prepared for that sort of thing and the support I got off Vicky (Vicky Tufail – Community Response Manager for Staffordshire) and West Midlands Ambulance Service was fantastic afterwards.”
Click below to hear Craig:
Patient Transport Service Award – Alex Leston and Louise Orsmby.
Alex and Louise are a PTS crew working from University Hospital Birmingham who came across a road traffic collision involving a female pedestrian and a large goods vehicle in Moseley in November 2013.
Despite the horrific nature of the patient’s injuries, the crew remained calm and professional in rendering aid until a frontline ambulance arrived and then continued to provide first-class assistance to the attending more senior clinicians.
The fronline crew on scene commented on how helpful and calm the PTS crew were and asked to pass on their thanks and congratulations.
(Adam Layland (Senior Contract Manager – Non-Emergency Services) collected Alex Leston’s award in his absence.)
Above: Louise Ormsby and Adam Layland. Picture courtesy Simon Hilldrew
Above video: Louise Ormsby
Air Ambulance Team of the Year Award –
Midlands Air Ambulance Services (HMED03 Cosford and HMED09 Staffordshire) – James Benson, Ian Walley, Kat Ellis, Fay Mason, Dr. David Balthazar, Sheelagh Withers and Katie Howse.
Bond Aviation – Graham Cannell and David Kelly.
The case was that of a 33 year-old male worker trapped in a tunnel (3ft wide x 3ft high x 20ft long) under a large (50ft x 20ft) potato sorting maching. His arm had been pulled up over and back down between ten-inch diameter metal rollers. He was stuck in a squatting position in this tunnel. He was bleeding from his axilla (underarm) while trapped. Initially the HMED09 was dispatched. After their initial assessment of the patient they requested back-up from HMED03. Ian Walley from HMED09 crawled into the tunnel and used pressure to stop the bleeding throughout the entire incident. Other members of the ambulance service took turns in the tunnel to treat and reassure the patient. It took two-and-a-half hours to release him. Whilst trapped, the patient had oxygen, morphine, intravenous fluids and two units of O-negative blood. We arranged for the blood to be provided by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (HMED03 flew from the scene to pick this up). This was a difficult and dangerous job demonstrating excellent team work and inter-service working (with Staffordshire and West Midlands Fire Services).
Above: Kat Ellis, Ian Walley and Dr. David Balthazar. Picture courtesy Simon Hilldrew
On receiving the award, Ian said: “I’m highly honoured to have this in my hands. I am representing the two crews, the fire department and the agricultural people who were on scene at the time – all attempting the same thing which was the rescue of an individual trapped.”
Above video: Ian Walley
Dr. David Balthazar nominated his colleagues for the award. He explained: “I felt a couple of my colleagues, in particular Ian and Fay, showed exceptional devotion to duty when they spent a great deal of time in very difficult and cramped conditions looking after the patient that we had.”
Click here to hear Dr. Balthazar:
Ends
Notes to Editors;
Pictured above left-to-right: Ian Roberts (Acting Air Operations Manager of Midlands Air Ambulance), Dr. David Balthazar, Louise Ormsby, Anthony Marsh, Ian Walley, Sir Graham Meldrum (Chairman of West Midlands Ambulance Service), Craig Singleton, Tony Yeaman (Non-Executive Director of West Midlands Ambulance Service), Adam Layland (Senior Contract Manager, Non-emergency Services), Kat Ellis, Victoria Tufail (Community Response Manager for Staffordshire) and Elizabeth Davies, Assistant Area Manager for University Hospital Birmingham Patient Transport Service.
CFR Craig Singleton can be contacted on 07792 506 084