This was the artical from the paper:
A disabled pensioner from Featherstone says he wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for the quick response of Wakefield and District Housing’s (WDH) Care Link service.
Mr.... 78, suffered a fall at his home on Huntwick Drive earlier this month and was kept alive by a WDH support worker until the paramedics arrived.
He said: “If it wasn’t for Care Link I wouldn’t be here today. They saved my life.”
As an amputee and a recovering patient of a recent tracheotomy, Mr English signed up for the service when he moved into WDH’s Huntwick Centre Independent Living Scheme in March.
He was able to press a button on a pendant that he wore round his neck to alert Care Link staff that there was an emergency.
Care Link operator Marie Hoaksey took the call and was able to communicate with Mr English through a special speech unit that was installed in his home.
“I could see from his details that he had had a tracheotomy and would struggle to communicate,” says Marie, “so I asked him to bang on the floor if he could hear me, and if he needed help.
“Once we established it was an emergency I put in a call to my colleague Carol Pugh, who was able to get round to the property and help him.”
Carol, a former nurse and Care Link employee for 19 years, said her extensive first aid training taught her to keep Mr English’s airways clear and make him as comfortable as possible until an ambulance arrived.
“When I got there he was panicking and in real need of help,” recalls Carol. “His airway was compromised and two minutes before the paramedics arrived he actually stopped breathing.
“It was touch and go but I worked with the paramedics to get him breathing again and then he was taken off to Pontefract General Infirmary.”
Both Marie and Carol say that while the case of Mr ... is a rare one, the team is always prepared for such instances if they occur.
Carol said: “Care Link helps people every day – not all events are like this – but our efforts to help people following accidents at home has meant ambulance calls have reduced locally.
The job is so rewarding. Each day is different, and the satisfaction you get from knowing you’ve helped people – even saved their life – makes you very proud.”
Care Link celebrated its 20th anniversary in February 2010 and currently supports over 15,500 people across the Wakefield district.
Mum was not going to put this article on the blog but dad and I said she should because we are proud of mum and what she did....Hugs GJ xxxx
