At their recent annual Awards Evening at Walsall Football Club the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) recognised the contribution of Telford’s Street Pastors for their work in the night-time economy in Telford.
Presenting the AED* Community Initiative Award to the Street Pastors, the CEO of WMAS Dr Tony Marsh applauded the Street Pastors for their outstanding work and for the assistance given to the ambulance service in avoiding unnecessary calls with simple First Aid.
More recently Telford Street Pastors have become the first Street Pastors group in the West Midlands area to be trained in the use of the defibrillator and now carry one at all times when they are on patrol. Mr Medlicott, WMAS Community Manager, said, “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to support and train community volunteers and have worked with Telford Street Pastors since 2011 – it’s good to know that they are there to help particularly at busy times at weekends.”
Telford Street Pastors coordinator, Revd Keith Osmund-Smith, said as he received the award, “All our street pastors receive basic First Aid and CPR training, and while First Aid is only a small part of our work on the streets at night it is important to us that we offer the very best skill set that we can. We now have a defibrillator and while we hope that we will never have to use it – it is there if needs be. We are grateful to WMAS for making this award and for the support that they in turn have given to us.”
*AED = Automated External Defibrillator.