AMBULANCE care assistant David Le Blond, who received a commendation for assisting a burns victim in the 1990s, has been recognised for his 30 years as a States employee.
Mr Le Blond, who is 52, started work in August 1978 as a storeman/driver at the central stores department of the then Jersey Group of Hospitals. Nine years later he transferred to the hospital transport department, which is now known as Patient Transport Services.
He underwent training as an ambulance care assistant to provide a high standard of care to the patients and clients who are transported to the hospitals and day-care centres around the Island.
Ambulance care assistants also support their frontline colleagues at major incidents and are able to provide ambulance aid when required when they reach a scene before an ambulance arrives. Mr Le Blond said that he thoroughly enjoyed his work as an ambulance care assistant because it brought him into regular contact with people from all walks of life.
‘It is really rewarding to watch people who have had surgery or a serious illness return to their full fitness,’ he said.
Mr Le Blond received a commendation in the early 1990s for his quick thinking in placing a man who was badly burned during a boiler explosion at the Hotel Metropole into a cold bath. That action, which took place before the paramedics arrived, reduced the severity of the man’s burns.
‘I was taking an elderly person home from day care in the area when a woman rushed out nearby, told me about the explosion and asked me to help,’ he explained. ‘Once I had ensured that my passenger was with his wife, I quickly went to help. Seeing that the man was badly burned, I immediately ran the cold bath for him.’
Among the major incidents in which Mr le Blond played a role was the Hotel de France fire, in which he led residents to safety and took them for shelter at the Town Hall. He also transported equipment to the scene of the Channiland ferry disaster off Corbière.
Mr Le Blond, who has twin daughters Kara and Rebecca, both 15, enjoys sport, DIY and travelling with his partner, Sue. He received a watch to mark his length of service.
• Picture: Ambulance care assistant David Le Blond receives an award from ambulance chief officer
John Moulin. Picture by Tony Pike (00623669)
