Congratulations to our engineer Dave Pearce on his Good Citizenship Award
Some of you might remember a story that we posted on our blog in November 2019, about our engineer Dave Pearce, who happened to witness a road accident and managed to help bring a school bus driver at the scene back to life, not just once, but twice, using CPR.
If you haven’t read the story, you can read about it here:
We’re really proud and delighted to tell you that as a result of his actions, Dave was nominated to receive a Good Citizenship Award from Devon & Cornwall Police recently — an award which is only given to civilians in extreme situations or circumstances.
“It’s a huge honour and it was very unexpected,” says Dave, who has been working for us at Waldon Security for just over a year now.
“I got a phone call out of the blue from someone saying they were calling on behalf of Devon and Cornwall police. As you can imagine I was worried someone had been hurt at first but they quickly assured me there was no reason for concern but that I’d been nominated for the Good Citizenship Award, something that is not usually awarded to civilians apparently.”
Dave received a message stating that he was being awarded the Chief Superintendent’s Good Citizen award in respect of his ‘swift, decisive and selfless actions which resulted in saving the life of another.’
“Normally the award ceremony takes place at the Guildhall, but due to COVID, the ceremony actually took place online,” explains Dave. “I was able to invite my partner Alison, and my kids Hermione, Francesca, Sean and Charlotte along with close friends. The gentleman who I gave CPR to and his daughter were also there, and very emotional! It was a really moving ceremony and a huge privilege.”
The three firefighters who attended the scene and helped to keep the bus driver alive were also presented with the awards in the ceremony which took place on Thursday 28th January.
“To be honest, it was the man whose heart stopped who did all the real fighting that day,” says Dave. “I am just incredibly grateful that I had training in CPR and was able to help at the scene. I also think of the unsung heroes like the lady who was there bringing out cups of tea and the teachers who came out to make sure all the kids were OK while we waited for police officers to secure the scene and take statements. We were all grateful for that kindness on what was a long and emotional day!
“I have remained in touch with the man we saved and his daughter and he has sent some really wonderful messages, including one saying ‘Thank you from the bottom of my heart, which you restarted!’
Dave is now training all the team at Waldon Security in essential first aid, because you never know when it might be useful!
“Everyone should take time to learn CPR and basic first aid,” says Dave. “Of course it would be scary to be in that situation of needing to step forward and perform CPR in a life or death situation, but it is so much better to be able to do something to help.”
If you’re interested in taking time to watch basic CPR training you can find videos from the British Heart Foundation showing basic techniques at the link in the logo.
