Nantwich’s two Ambulance First Responders have won a national 2017 Community Hero award.
Gavin Palin and Max Kelly were stunned to discover they had been nominated – and even more so when organisers called to say they had won.
The public cast their votes on social media to see who from the shortlist should be named TheGivingMachine Community Hero, as revealed by Nantwichnews two weeks ago.
The pair, who have raced to the aid of hundreds of people often first on the scene of an incident, believe they were nominated by someone from one of the community talks they give to local groups and organisations.
A spokesperson for TheGivingMachine said: “We are delighted to announce them as the overall winners and look forward to giving them the prize of a £500 voucher from London Stansted Airport.
“The awards were designed to celebrate unsung community heroes, people who make a difference to their community and go that extra mile to help others.
“In our eyes everyone who was nominated is a hero – read all the amazing nominations we received.”
Gavin has been a volunteer First Responder for 16 years and Max joined him five years ago.
They work on behalf of the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, and are often first at the scene of an accident or when someone is taken poorly or is injured suddenly.
The Responders are sponsored by Car Transplants, Nantwich Town Council and donations from the local community.
They said: “Both Gavin and Max are overwhelmed with the support, votes and comments that our community have all made.
“We are one of thousands of charitable organisations, volunteer groups and others that have made and continue to make a massive difference to people’s lives in their communities and we share this award with them all.
“We would also like to thank Nantwich Town Council, Car Transplants and our local community for their continued support.”
The person who nominated Gavin and Max, wrote to the award organisers: “Gavin & Max are Ambulance First Responders who give up their time on a voluntary basis to attend those in need of medical assistance.
“Based in Nantwich, they attend incidents not only within the town, but in the surrounding rural areas, allowing ambulance-standard assistance to arrive more quickly in harder-to-reach areas.
“In addition, they give tirelessly of their time to talk to community groups about the importance of summoning assistance from the ambulance service, demonstrating how to make use of defibrillators and to give CPR.
“All of this is done with good will, humour and entirely free of charge.
“Emergency medical assistance has been provided rapidly and professionally to countless people taken ill or involved in accidents, sometimes involving very extreme trauma.
“By talking to community groups in a humorous and matter of fact way, Gavin and Max have taken the fear away from contacting the ambulance service and have also enabled countless people in the local community to be able to take control and give useful assistance in the case of illness and emergency.
“They are particularly good at encouraging the older generation not to hold back from contacting the ambulance service is something such as breathlessness, weakness or pain which is unusual for them or their relatives/friends and this means that lives have undoubtedly been saved and the effects of illness considerably reduced.”
You can see all the tributes to the pair on their Facebook Page here.
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