Students from Penrith’s Queen Elizabeth Grammar School have been praised by North West Ambulance Service for assisting the victim of a road traffic collision.
The four sixth form students – Deputy Head Girl Robyn Walton, Ailiysha Bell, Erin Ledward and Clara Davies – were on their lunch break on 24th September, crossing the side road by McDonalds and the NFU offices in Penrith. A people carrier had stopped to let the group cross but then hit another pedestrian crossing after them. Alerted by the sound of the impact, the students turned to see the victim falling in the road.
Robyn telephoned the emergency services and, despite the cold, wet weather, waited with the patient until she was safely in the ambulance. Having learned that the patient worked at Home Bargains, she also telephoned the store to inform the manager, who accompanied the patient to hospital. In addition to taking witness phone numbers, Robyn also gave her own details to police officers at the scene.
None of the group have received formal first aid training but Robyn said they acted “on instinct”.
Dom Gething, Senior Paramedic Team Leader, Penrith Ambulance Station described the injury to the patient’s foot as “potentially life-limiting” and praised the group’s actions:
“Robyn and her friends were calm, re-assuring and had provided shelter to the patient and then to me which made my job a lot easier… In short, she, and her friends, were a total credit to themselves and to QEGS. Please pass on my thanks from North West Ambulance Service and from the patient.”
Robyn said she has also been contacted by the driver of the people carrier to thank her for her help.
QEGS Headteacher, Paul Buckland, said: “We are very proud of the quick-thinking and compassion shown by our students in responding to this accident. Our school is about more than the curriculum and Robyn, Clara, Alishiya and Erin are a great example of the mature and community-minded young adults we hope all our students will become.”
