Not all heroes wear a cape

In June 2019 Jon answered the phone to a caller and rather than a repair or rent enquiry he was met with a very distressed resident, Vicky.

The caller was difficult to understand as she was so upset but with a lot of patience and reassurance, Jon managed to establish that a female had collapsed outside her flat. Jon asked for more detail but was told that she could not go outside the flat to check as she had mental health issues which cause her to not want to leave her home.

Jon had to try and establish the severity of the situation but initially was only told was that the lady had fallen and was not moving, but the caller thought she had seen her before and that she lived locally.

With limited detail, Jon called 999 and asked for an ambulance to attend the scene. He then returned to Vicky and persuaded her to open her front door to try and get us more information. He was told that she thought the lady was familiar but she did not know if she was breathing. After reassuring Vicky that he would stay on the line with her and that he would not leave her until the ambulance crew arrived, she agreed to step outside the flat.

Despite being very nervous about the situation she was in and with some prompting, she knelt by the casualty but was unable to confirm if she was breathing. Jon asked her to try talking to the lady to see if she could get a response from her and to keep reassuring her that help was on its way. During this time he continued to assure her what a great job she was doing and how much help she was being.

Jon realised quite quickly that the more information he could provide to the emergency services, the better. Jon explained that we needed to see if the casualty was breathing and was able to get Vicky to place her hand on the lady’s chest and to let him know if she could feel her breathing, gaining confidence she was able to relay to Jon that she could feel her breathing and was also able to describe the noise that was being made enabling Jon to establish that although breathing it was very laboured.

At this point, Jon asked a colleague to contact the ambulance service to update them on the situation whilst he continued to stay on the line with Vicky and provide her with much-needed reassurance. It took the crew 25 minutes to get to the casualty and throughout this time with Jon’s support, Vicky was able to manage her anxiety during an incredibly difficult situation and provide much-needed information. She was very grateful for all the help she had received, thanking Jon profusely for everything he had done, he, in turn, was able to thank her for overcoming her fears and supporting him in getting much-needed help to someone in need.

We replaced the name of the customer involved to protect their identity.