Audlem Responder wins NWAS award

The great and the good at the North West Ambulance Service were honoured last week at the Trust's award ceremony and Audlem resident Michael Thompson was one of the lucky winners.

Michael Thompson from Audlem won the title of Community First Responder of the Year for his work with the Audlem community first responder team over the past two years.

Community Resuscitation Manager at NWAS, Rob Hussey, who nominated Michael for the award said: "Michael has been instrumental in gaining charitable status for his community first responder group in Audlem. From this he has been successful in gaining access to funding for a team vehicle.

"As a head teacher, he quickly adopted the promotion of basic life support tuition throughout his school, allowing for his staff and sixth formers to become trainers of this important life skill.

"Working with his group and the local Audlem community, he has also assisted the Trust in the establishment of three Public Access Defibrillator sites.

"Whilst he has been heavily engaged with these activities, and his demanding work of a head teacher, he still finds time to respond as a CFR and spend some time as a family man.

"Michael gets on with his responsibilities quietly. His determination for his group to be relatively self sufficient is highly noticeable and he is an example to other CFR groups on just what is possible with dedication and time."

The ceremony took place at Ribby Hall Village in Lancashire on 6 April 2011. Almost 200 staff members from the North West Ambulance Service attended the ceremony which was hosted by BBC Radio presenter Becky Want.

This was the first regional event which focused on peer nominated awards and special commendations, as well as recognising the contributions made by volunteer and partner agencies.

Chief Executive at NWAS, Darren Hurrell said: "The evening was a great success and I was delighted to meet staff from throughout the North West.

"The number of staff recognised for long service was remarkable and displays the levels of dedication our staff have to the patients and communities they serve.

"Some of the actions of we heard about are truly heroic and heart-warming and it really is an honour to be leading an organisation which has so many dedicated and hard-working individuals."

The awards ceremony was funded by kind donations from the following sponsors; Ferno UK, CME McKinley, Road Range, Ascribe and Laerdal.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.