Stockton youngster honoured by ambulance service for coming to the rescue
A brave eight year old from Stockon on Tees who sprang into action when her mum collapsed on her bedroom floor has been awarded a bravery certificate by North East Ambulance Service.
Kelly Parton, aged 31, of Hardwick, collapsed on her daughter Emily’s bedroom floor at 1am on 4 March.
Emily immediately called her stepdad and granddad before swiftly dialling 999, where she came through to experienced North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) call handler Emma Roche at the Trust’s Operations Centre in Hebburn.
Emma stayed on the phone to Emily until the ambulance crew arrived, taking care of younger sisters Millie-Mae, aged four, and Lexi, aged two, in the meantime.
Emma, aged 34, who has been answering the region’s 999 calls for the last three years having joined the Trust as an NHS 111 call handler six years ago, was so impressed with the way Emily handled the situation that she decided to nominate her for a bravery award.
“Emily was the calmest little eight-year-old I’ve ever heard,” said Emma.
“Many adults really freak out when someone is fitting and you can understand why, it can be quite frightening. For Emily to be able to stay calm and not only look after her mam but her younger siblings at the same time was amazing to hear.
“Lexi actually started crying while she was on the phone to me. Very calmly, after checking her mam’s breathing and making sure she was on her side and that there no objects in the way, she went to console her sister. She even managed to put me on hold so she could answer the phone to her granddad and found the key to let him in.
“As a mum myself, I can only imagine how frightening it must have been for her but there was just no panic in her voice at all. She did really, really well and I just wanted to recognise her for that.”
Emily said: “She came in to my room and woke me up and asked me to call her an ambulance. I turned round for one second and she had a fit on the floor.
“It was quite scary but I knew the paramedics would come and help my mam.
“I think it’s great I’ve got this award. I can’t wait to show my friends!”
Kelly added: “I do have quite a lot of seizures so it’s not the first time Emily’s had to call 999. It’s really nice for her to be recognised, she really deserves it. She’s over the moon.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Notes to editors
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region. It employs more than 2,500 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million people by handling all NHS 111 and 999 calls for the region, operating patient transport and ambulance response services, delivering training for communities and commercial audiences and providing medical support cover at events.
In 2014/15 the service answered 1.107 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to 302,687 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged 18,144 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged 81,990 patients at home. In the same year, emergency care crews reached 134,745 incidents within the national target of 8 minutes.