Shaunna Farley – Thursday 8th July – 9:00am.
“These people saved my life, it was so amazing to meet them.” The words of Claudio Oliveira, one of two patients lucky to be alive after suffering serious injuries in a road traffic collision last year.
Claudio and Imogen Wood who were both seriously injured in the collision which took place in August 2020 and they were delighted to be reunited with their lifesavers last month.
West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics Roisin Morgan and Robert Armstrong were first on scene at the incident and met Claudio and Imogen at Worcester Hub after the duo had spent months recovering from their injuries.
Imogen and Claudio had been on a day out with friends and were on the way back when they were involved in a collision with a car and a lorry. Both sustained serious and life-threatening injuries.
Ordinarily, ambulance crews do not get to see the outcome of their hard work once the patient has left their care and gone into hospital, so being able to meet these patients who were so severely injured was an amazing opportunity, as Roisin explained.
She said: “We usually don’t get to see the outcomes of jobs, so we often don’t get closure, but especially a job like this where Imogen and Claudio were both so young and seriously injured, as a mother myself it stuck with me and I really hoped they were going to be ok, but thought I’d never find out.
“This made meeting them and seeing them both healthy and walking around, truly humbling,
“To think that, my work at the incident played a part in these two young people having a full life ahead of them, because of my actions, is the highlight of my career.”
Claudio said: “These people saved my life, it was so amazing to meet them.
“My memory of the whole thing was a blur so being able to see them and ask questions and tell them about how I’m recovering now was such a great feeling.”
Imogen added: “When the crew arrived, I was completely unconscious, so I have no memory of the incident happening, meaning I had no idea just how serious the collision we were involved in really was.
“Meeting Roisin and Rob and seeing how emotional they both were, and how thrilled they were to see that I’m still alive and walking around was so amazing and really made me aware of how serious the accident was and how lucky I am to be here.”
Sarah, Imogen’s mother who also attended to meet and thank the ambulance staff, added: “I’m so grateful to West Midlands Ambulance Service, the NHS and the people who make the NHS so amazing, there are not enough thank-yous in the world that I can say to them for saving my daughter’s life.”
Ends.