04/04/11
Life saving paramedic student receives employee of the year award
A Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences paramedic student who was involved in persuading three people not to take their own lives off Eastbourne's Beachy Head has received an employee of the year award from the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SECAmb).
David Hopkins, a technician in the Trust's Eastbourne ambulance station, is studying the accelerated in-service foundation degree in paramedic science. Within the space of four months David played a crucial role in preventing a mother, a former soldier and a mental health patient from taking their lives at the infamous suicide spot in the South Downs.
David was nominated by station manager, Tim Fellows, who said, “With two of these cases, David took a leading role, gaining the confidence of the patient to the extent that he led them back from the brink. In the third, he supported two highly-trained police negotiators, always adopting an extremely patient, professional and caring approach. He clearly deserved to win this award.”
David said, “I’m very honoured to have received this award but I feel that I can’t take all the credit. Other organisations such as the chaplaincy service and police are equally involved in helping and winning the trust of these people who are clearly in a very vulnerable and distressed state.
“We spent considerable time with each of these people winning their trust and finally persuading them to reconsider. I hope that we made a difference and that they overcome their issues, but unfortunately we often don't get to find out what happens.”
Chief SECAmb Chief Executive Paul Sutton said, “Our awards provide us with a valuable opportunity to recognise the tremendous achievements of our staff during the year, in a range of roles throughout the organisation. Our staff are without doubt this organisation’s greatest asset. They work extremely hard in often difficult circumstances to provide the very best levels of care to our patients.”
- Find out more about our Centre for Paramedic Science
