30 Oct 2024
Wendy and Dave visit Reading Ambulance Station to say thank you to their lifesaving team
Wendy Mayne and her husband, Dave, recently visited Reading Ambulance Station to say thank you to the team that saved Wendy’s life when she suffered a cardiac arrest in March this year.
Wendy and Dave had recently returned from a holiday to Tenerife, and on the evening of Saturday, 23 March, she began feeling unwell with chest pains at the couple’s home in Wokingham. Dave called 999, with the call picked up by emergency call taker, Emily Coggan, who then worked with emergency despatcher, Conwae McCarthy, to get a response sent swiftly to Wendy and Dave.
Paramedic, Caitlyn Blackmore, and emergency care assistant, Sam Raison, arrived first and began assessing Wendy, but her condition deteriorated rapidly and she went into cardiac arrest. Caitlyn and Sam were swiftly backed up by Southern Medical Rescue ambulance crew, paramedic Craig Sheppard, and student paramedic Kieran Cross, along with paramedic team leader, Kirsty Bayley.
The SCAS and SMR team carried out resuscitation and administered two shocks to Wendy before they were able to achieve ROSC, and stabilised her before transporting her to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. Wendy spent 10 days in the intensive care unit, and a further nine days in the hospital's cardiac care unit before being discharged to continue her recovery at home. At the time of her visit in September, she had just increased her hours back at work to almost pre-cardiac arrest levels (21 hours) as an advanced nurse practitioner at a GP surgery in Woking.
Wendy said: “Both Dave and I really wanted to meet the team again, not just to say thank you for saving my life, but as a nurse myself I had some questions about what happened and the treatment I received, particularly as none of the tests I’ve had at hospital have been able to find a reason for what happened to me."
"It’s scary to think that one moment you’re enjoying a lovely holiday with your family and 48-hours later, with no warning, you’re fighting for your life."
"Today has really helped Dave and I come to terms with what happened and we do feel a sense of turning a corner. And if it wasn’t for the amazing people from SCAS and SMR helping us that night, along with the hospital team in Reading, we wouldn’t have so much more to look forward to in life.”
Wendy and Dave are photographed with (left-to-right), Caitlyn, Sam, Kieran and Craig.
Ends
Contact Information
David Gallagher
david.gallagher@scas.nhs.uk
Notes to editors
- South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) provides a range of emergency, urgent care and non-emergency healthcare services, along with commercial logistics services, to the populations of the South Central region - Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire - as well as non-emergency patient transport services in Sussex.
- SCAS now serves a population of seven million people across the five counties and employs more than 4,000 staff who, together with over 1,000 volunteer community and co-responders, enable the organisation to attend more than 555,000 incidents via 999, handle 1.24 million calls to NHS 111 and make 866,000 patient transport service journeys every year.
- SCAS is a foundation trust, which means it has thousands of members and a Council of Governors which form an integral part of the governance structure of the Trust. Being a foundation trust means there are more opportunities for patients and their families, staff and local residents to play a part in the future of the organisation by becoming members. Find out more here.
- South Central Ambulance Charity raises funds to support SCAS. All the money raised by the Charity is used to enhance services, projects and equipment across the Trust. The Charity works across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, as well as supporting patient transport services in Surrey and Sussex. Find out more here.
- Southern Medical Rescue is a CQC registered company, serving the NHS and private clients across the UK. The company is one of a number of approved private providers that supports SCAS' urgent and emergency care operations.
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