A five-year-old from Pode Hole has been given a bravery award after alerting the emergency services during a medical emergency.
Lola Brisbane’s mum Kirsty suffered a seizure at home on April 5.
With no other adult in the home, Lola used her mum’s Apple Watch to dial 999.
“I’m super proud of her,” said 38-year-old Kirsty.
“I began having seizures at the start of this year, which is now being treated for epilepsy.
“My first seizure happened outside Lola’s school. Afterwards I sat her down to explain that mummy may fall down and start to shake.
“She has witnessed me have a seizure a few times prior to that day, but she would normally be able to get another grown-up to help.
“Every parent I’ve spoken to after hearing what happened doesn’t feel their children would know what to do if they were in the same situation.
“I feel passionate about children being educated on what to do if they see an emergency happen.
“Because of this, I have been teaching Lola to remember her home address and how to call 999 since she was four years old.”
The East Midlands Ambulance Service decided to give Lola a bravery award after she was nominated by Tim Highham-Jones who took her emergency call.
“Lola was brilliant throughout the call,” Tim said. “She was able to answer all the questions asked, confirming her mum was not awake and breathing noisily.
“It’s always important for us to get the right information so we can arrange the appropriate help, and Lola made this very easy to do.
“At times during the call, Lola would be reassuring her mum that help was being arranged and it was on its way.
“If you have pets, we will advise you to move them to another room before the arrival of the ambulance crew.
“Lola worked hard to coax their family dog into another room by tempting them with a treat.”
Lola’s aunt, and Kirsty’s sister-in-law Emma arrived at the house during the call. This is because Kirsty’s Apple Watch sent an alert to Emma as a nominated contact. This message stated that Kirsty was in trouble and accessing emergency help for assistance.
Emma was swiftly followed by paramedics Helen Pearl and Glynn Roache.
Glynn said: “Lola did an admirable job calling 999 as this was the right course of action to take to get the help Kirsty needed.
“Lola was quite calm and collected.
“I had to ask her questions about the type of seizure that Kirsty had, and Lola was very open about what had occurred.
“The information she provided us meant we were able to assess Kirsty, looking for any potential injuries based on what had happened.
“Kirsty was starting to come around from her seizure as we arrived, and Lola stayed by her mum’s side the entire time. This will have given Kirsty a lot of reassurance.”
