Deserving awards for our brave West Midlands Ambulance Service heroes
Acts of courage, bravery and heroism were celebrated by West Midlands Ambulance Service at its annual awards ceremonies to honour staff from across the region.
The university NHS foundation trust’s Staff Long Service & Excellence Awards and Excellence in the Community Awards were held at The Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill near Dudley with more than 300 guests attending each ceremony on Thursday.
A total of 19 staff were recognised for having given 20 years of service, nine were commended for 25 years’ service, four received certificates for 30 years’ service and one person were honoured for 35 years service.
Inaugural winner of the Patient Transport Service Mentor of the Year award was Kiron Bhamra based at Tollgate Drive, in Stafford, and described as a role model she ensures everyone is up to date with new policies and procedures, and supports new staff.
Integrated and Emergency Urgent Care Mentor of the Year was call assessor Lyndsey Parkes based in Brierley Hill. At the start of the Covid-19 crisiss she took on the job of mentoring new 999 call assessors.
The Diversity and Inclusion Award was presented to Ash Deakins based at Dudley for efforts to promote fairness in the workplace.
The Community First Responder Volunteer of the Year was Derek Chebsey who in lockdown continued with his role and along with his paid role as an NHS nurse.
St John Ambulance Awards were presented to Jade Asson, the district lead for Staffordshire, Shropshire and Wolverhampton St John, who is also a senior nurse in a busy accident & emergency unit. And to Brad Pritchard and Lisa Humphreys, who were at a Oswestry Unit Responders meeting when they were called out to a child in cardiac arrest.
They gave basic life support before quickly being backed up by an ambulance crew, remaining calm they assisted the team that night to give the child the best chance of surviving.
The Chief Officer’s Commendation was presented to Telford community first responder co-ordinator Nick Freeman who recently organised a successful recruitment drive.
Ambulance service chief executive Anthony Marsh, said: “To have the chance to recognise the extraordinary efforts of our staff, volunteers and members of the public is extremely important.
“Throughout the awards ceremonies we heard many fantastic stories of people going above and beyond what is normally expected of them, all for the same reason, to provide the very best levels of care to our patients.
“I would like to say a big thank you and well done to all of our award winners, I am incredibly proud of all of them.”
Guests included the Deputy-Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Richard Boot OBE, and the High Sheriff of the County of West Midlands, David Moorcroft.
Mr Boot said: “It is an honour and privilege to be invited to events of this nature and to see the fantastic work done by ambulance staff and volunteers. It is reassuring that there are people such as these who do so many incredible things to keep us all safe. Without their dedication and resolve, the public would be much worse off.”
Ambulance chairman Prof Ian Cumming said: “It is important we recognise our staff, volunteers and members of the community because they all do remarkable things, day in, day out, despite the NHS facing some of the toughest challenges every seen. I send a huge and heartfelt thank you to them all for everything they do.”
University of Wolverhampton, G4S, Wolverhampton University, Staffordshire University, Birmingham University, Coventry University and University of Worcester were among the event sponsors.
