A woman whose life was saved by a fast-acting off-duty police officer has thanked him – and she hopes to encourage other people to also learn vital first aid skills.
Tina Collenette suffered a cardiac arrest while her daughter was driving her along the Town Quay in September last year.
They were already heading to the Emergency Department at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital after Mrs Collenette had experienced chest pains that morning, when things suddenly escalated.
Hannah Collenette pulled into the bus lay-by in front of the Picquet House and called for help – luckily PC James De La Mare was only on the Albert Pier.
He rushed to the scene and was able to use the public access defibrillator at The Albany to resuscitate Mrs Collenette. That ultimately saved her life and enabled her to be flown to Southampton within a few hours for further treatment.
“How do you thank someone who has saved your life? There is nothing you can do that is enough to say, ‘thank you’,” said Mrs Collenette.
“The most important message I want to come from my experience is to actively encourage people to be trained on life saving techniques, whether that is learning CPR through a course that is offered through your workplace or something you seek out as an individual.
“I feel very fortunate that this incident happened at the time and place it did, exactly at the point where James was. He truly needs to be commended for his prompt actions and also for the care and concern he showed myself and my daughter. Without his presence and professionalism on that day I would not be here.”
Mrs Collenette, her daughter, and her son Joe, met PC De La Mare last week for a special reunion.
“Meeting Tina today was an absolute honour, along with her children Hannah and Joe,” he said.
“Seeing Tina doing so well and hearing her story was the greatest thank you I could ever receive.”
“I echo Tina’s message wholeheartedly, if you ever can attend any form of life-saving training, please do. I’m fortunate to receive incredible training by our specialist training department on a yearly basis. It’s an invaluable skill, and you never know when it might be needed.
“I am so grateful that I was there when it happened and that I could make a difference. Moments like these remind me exactly why I joined the Police Service. I wanted to be a name, not just a number, and to truly help someone in the community when they needed it most. I hope to see Tina in the future living her life to the fullest.”
Mrs Collenette is said to be “recovering well” and the doctors involved in her care have said that is largely down to the speed of the initial first aid response administered by PC De La Mare and others at the scene, including a retired doctor and her friend and an off-duty firefighter.
Mrs Collenette and her family would like to thank those people personally too if they can be found.
The family have also thanked the ambulance service and medivac team in being so efficient and helpful.
Her sister and her family own Beeton’s Chippy and a fundraising day help earlier this year raised nearly £6,000.
£1,500 is being used to buy a public access defibrillator which will go on the side of the building at the junction between Pitronnerie Road, the Vrangue and the Bouet.
The rest of the money is going to Guernsey Chest and Heart LBG which offers a free check up among other services.