Bystanders help save a life after person collapses in town centre
Aylsham's Market Place, where three members of the public pitched in to help rescue someone who collapsed. Picture: MARK BULLIMORE - Credit: Archant
Bystanders pitched in to help a community first responder save the life of a woman who collapsed outside a charity shop.
The first responder, Andrew Hartshorne, saw a person on the floor at Aylsham's Market Place on Monday afternoon (April 1) when he was off duty.
He said on the Aylsham Community First Responders Facebook page an ambulance had been called and someone collected a defibrillator from the town hall.
Mr Hartshorne said: 'With the superb assistance of three bystanders we managed to get the patient's heart restarted.'
He said the air ambulance flew in along with several land crews.
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Mr Hartshorne said: 'The patient was still alive but very poorly when they were taken away and our thoughts are with them and their next of kin.'
The woman was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in a serious condition.
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A spokesman from the East of England Ambulance Service said: 'We were called at 2.13pm yesterday with reports of a person who had collapsed in Market Place, Aylsham.
'We sent one ambulance, two rapid response vehicles and East Anglian Air Ambulance.
'An off-duty community first responder was also at the scene. A woman was taken to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in a serious condition.'
Another community first responder, Meg Foster, also attended, having been alerted on her responder phone.
Mr Hartshorne said he was able to thank two of the three helpers afterwards - a young woman in an orange top and a man who had completed a first aid course last week.
But the third helper slipped away before he could thank her.
He said: 'It was a young lady wearing a red quilted jacket. I would really like to thank her personally for her help. All three of them saved a life today without a thought for themselves, well done.'
