Thank you messages to our Co-Responders

I had to ring 999 when my wife was suffering from chest pains. A co-responder arrived at our home within minutes of me making the call. He was wearing a HIWFRS sweatshirt and his name was John, he said he came from Hythe. He dealt with the situation calmly and professionally and did a great job until paramedics arrived and took over.

I didn’t get the chance to thank John properly and I wondered if you could pass on my thanks and best wishes to him – and could you please also make a note of the great work he did and the excellent image he portrayed for HIWFRS.

Hampshire resident

“The co-responder’s professional, calm manner and more importantly his airway management skills were vital, allowing me to continue with further interventions to help stabilise the patient. This would have been far more difficult on my own as a sole responder.”

SCAS paramedic

“Please could you pass on my thanks and gratitude to the co-responder, it completely out of what they would normally go to and was a big ask, bearing in mind it was 1am! He offered to help out, going above and beyond his job role – I personally would like this hard work to not go unnoticed as he was a vital role to our team.”

Assistant dispatcher from SCAS

We received a call from a 39 year old male with chest pains at a motorway services carpark. Whilst I began my assessment the patient went into cardiac arrest.

As I immediately began life-saving procedures a member of the public, Jordan Brown, presented himself as someone that had trained in CPR and was prepared to help. He was able to continue CPR whilst I concentrated on the patient’s airway and delivering defibrillation shocks.

We worked for approximately 10 minutes before the arrival of the first responding medic. Mr Brown continued to offer support and he stayed in attendance for the duration of the incident.

“Doing CPR in training is one thing, but actually doing it for real is something entirely different. This was a great example of a member of the public stepping up to help and providing invaluable support. With the assistance of SCAS, the patient was airlifted to hospital with a viable output.”

WM Bartlett, co-responder from Hartley Wintney Fire Station

“A Horndean co-responder attended an incident in which a 52 year old male was suffering with severe breathing difficulties and associated pain.

The co-responder promptly recognised that the patient’s oxygen saturation levels were not within the normal parameters. He applied 100% 15L Oxygen via a non-breather mask prior to my attendance.

Although the patient was the primary carer for the father, who suffered with severe dementia and on-going health issues, the patient needed to attend hospital due to the seriousness of his illness. The co-responder recognised the need for a carer for the father, and selflessly stated that he would wait at the scene whilst the patient received the care required.

Without the early intervention and reassurance of the co-responder, and his willingness to stay with the patient’s father; the patient would not have attended hospital. As a result it would have been highly unlikely that the 52 year old male would have survived.

Thank you for demonstrating such a sincere amount of empathy, compassion, commitment and level of communication on that job…as well as the spare oxygen cylinder you provided!”