An awards ceremony to honour members of the public from across the West Midlands, who have gone beyond the call of duty to help save lives and support the work of West Midlands Ambulance Service’s 4,500 staff, has taken place.
The ceremony took place at the Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill on Thursday 30th March and recognised the efforts of Community First Responders, St John Ambulance, other emergency services and other voluntary organisations, businesses and individuals. Addressing the audience, West Midlands Ambulance Service Chief Executive Anthony Marsh said:
“The role of our volunteers is incredibly important to the success of West Midlands Ambulance Service and that is something which I am acutely aware of.
“You all do a fantastic job, I know many of you put in a tremendous amount of hours, and you have all played a part in making our ambulance service the best in the country and for that you should be very proud, as I am.
“I personally would like to thank you all for everything that you do, you are a fantastic inspiration to all of us and to our communities.”
Award recipients on the evening included St John Ambulance volunteer, Philip Saunders, who was on duty at the Armistice Day Parade in Bedworth when a veteran collapsed. On arrival Philip found that the patient was not breathing and commenced CPR which was successful and the patient did not require defibrillation. Philip then monitored the patient until he was passed the care of the patient to a WMAS Crew.
PC Simon Lawton was also honoured after responding to reports of a man being stabbed outside the Arcadian in Birmingham. PC Lawton provided 'excellent first aid with limited equipment' and bandaged the patient’s wound in a difficult situation.
He carried on providing vital assistance on the arrival of a solo responder and continued to help on the way to hospital. Only once the call had been completed did PC Lawton ask for assistance for himself.
Deputy-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Viv Astling OBE, who helped present some of the awards on the evening, said:
“We are surrounded by some incredible people who work very hard on behalf of others and it really is a great testament to yourselves.
“My belief is that people do not get enough recognition for the good work they do in this country and I only wish that could be addressed. We are surrounded by award winners tonight and that is fantastic, you, along with all of your colleagues deserve great credit for the time you give to support the ambulance service, you should be very proud.”
