Even morning sickness can’t stop her dramatic life-saving heroics

Lucille Hobbs, who has been a paramedic for West Midlands Ambulance Service for the past two years, was on a ferry returning from the Isle of Wight when a fellow passenger suffered a cardiac arrest.

Mrs Hobbs, who was early on in her pregancy and experiencing related nausea at the time, stepped up to help and carried out cardio pulmonary resuscitation for 20 minutes while the ferry turned around to return to dry land. She then continued alongside ambulance staff for another 25 minutes until the patient, a woman believed to be in her 70s, could be taken to hospital.

The 34-year-old, who had been returning from the island after a holiday with her husband and daughter, said: “When I got to the lady, she was breathing her last breath.

“When she got to hospital they gave her a ten per cent chance of survival. She went into intensive care, but came round a few days later.

“It was lucky that I started CPR straight away as she still had enough oxygen. I was told that she lost one week’s worth of memory but apart from that, there was no damage done to her brain.”

The woman, who suffered the cardiac arrest in November, is now believed to be making a good recovery after being transferred to her local hospital in the new year.

Mrs Hobbs, who is based at Leamington fire station, has now been recognised for her life-saving efforts with a Chief Officer’s Commendation from her ambulance service, which she was presented at a ceremony in Telford last week.

She said: “I don’t see why I got an award for doing my job. I would never have stopped CPR until the ambulance staff were there.”

Speaking at the ceremony, chief executive Anthony Marsh said: “Four and a half thousand staff are doing a fantastic job every single day. West Midlands Ambulance continually outperforms almost every other ambulance service in our country and I think that’s a real testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment of all of our staff in the organisation.”