A fire station opened its doors to welcome a local hero who was presented with a certificate for his actions in saving the life of a stranger, last year.
On a Friday afternoon in October, Andres Morales stepped forward to begin performing CPR on Kevin who suffered a cardiac arrest on the high street in Lymington.
HIWFRS co-responder John Pearce was on the scene shortly after and was able to use the defibrillator from his vehicle to continue treatment.
Paramedics were soon on the scene and with the patient breathing again, was taken onto hospital.
Andres and his family were invited to the local on-call fire station in Lymington on Wednesday evening where he was reunited with Kevin and Firefighter Pearce, before being presented with his Chief Fire Officer’s commendation award by Deputy Chief Fire Officer Shantha Dickinson.
HIWFRS Co-Responding lead, Station Manager Andy Walford said:
“Andres had the courage to stand up when he was needed.
“It is very rare for someone to be brought back following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but his actions allowed our co-responder to arrive on scene with the casualty already having started to receive treatment.
“It’s believed that if it wasn’t for Andres starting CPR when he did, the incident would have ended very differently.
“We need role models such as Andres in our communities, people with compassion who will drop everything to support someone who really needs it.
“I also want to thank our co-responder John for his professionalism and excellent commitment to making our local community safer. Without his quick response, use of the defibrillator and life-saving skills, there would not have been a successful outcome.”
Andres was also presented with an award for the actions by the Royal Humane Society.
Find out more about our medical co-responding programme.
