Emergency first responders who sacrifice so much to keep you safe up for Who Cares Wins award

THEY are the frontline heroes who sacrifice so much to keep us safe.

For this year’s Who Cares Wins awards we are ushering in a new 999 Hero category to honour our amazing first responders.

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We were flooded with incredible entries but these three represent the best of our emergency services.

These include paramedics and army officers who deployed hundreds upon thousands of troops to support the Covid front-line response, as well as brave air ambulance workers who fought the hardest of conditions to ensure the safety of those they care for.

Here we meet the three finalists who will be recognised in this month’s glittering ceremony hosted by Davina McCall.

Michael Hipgrave and Deena Evans

PARAMEDICS Deena Evans and Mick Hipgrave were on a regular call-out when they were accosted by a knife-wielding attacker.

Deena Evans, a mother-of-three, was nearly killed after being stabbed twice in her chest. Mick Hipgrave, 52, sustained injuries as he tried his best to protect her.

They are back at work, despite what happened.

Deena, a former hairdresser, said that many people told her she was crazy to return to work.

“I was offered roles in the control room but I’m not trained to sit behind a computer.

“I’m trained to do this job. “Why should anyone take it from me?”

Martyn Smith (53), was the victim of the attack. His mother hadn’t seen him in three days.

Deena, who is the mother of three girls aged seven, twelve and thirteen, said that there was no reason to suspect anything dangerous or untoward.

“His mum was really very worried so we decided it was very important to force entry and make sure he was safe.”

Mick and Deena took down the front door. Deena stepped in, before Smith leapt out from behind the door with two eight inch blades.

She said, “One slashed my chest and one went in my chest. At first I didn’t realize I had been stabbed.

“Shock and adrenaline took over and I thought he’d punched me.

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“Mick stepped in front of me to push me out of the way. I felt him surge forwards, and thought he had been punched.

“I looked down and saw my gloves were covered in blood. I pulled out my shirt and found a large hole in my chest.

“I pressed my emergency button and shouted ‘I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed’. I remember Mick saying ‘me too’.”

They ran to the garden and both fell.

Deena added: “I remember grabbing one of the female officers and saying: ‘Please don’t let me die. I have three children, please don’t let me die.’”

The pair were taken to the trauma unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, where they were treated for their serious injuries. Deena, along with Mick, returned to work toward the end 2020.

Richard Barratt, the 38-year-old senior operations manager, nominated them. John Braggington, paramedic, attended to them both on the day.

He said that in all his 20 years as paramedic, he’d never seen anything quite as terrifying.

“To hear people who are both your friends and colleagues screaming for help and to hear the fear and panic in their voices, it’s something nobody should ever go through.”

Their attacker Smith, 52, was jailed for nine years in July, where the judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court praised the paramedics’ “courage and bravery in the most challenging of circumstances”.

Major Emma Allen

ARMY officer Major Emma Allen MBE gave up nearly 800 hours of her own time to volunteer as an emergency co-responder during the Covid pandemic.

Her pivotal role was also in the drafting of military personnel to assist the overstretched paramedics during the worst of the crisis.

Major Allen mobilized members of the Army and Royal Navy to transport patients, drive ambulances and answer 999 calls to South Central Ambulance Service.

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The 38-year-old, from Tidworth, Wilts has since been awarded an MBE for her work during the pandemic.

She served in the Army for 15 years and recently returned from a six-month tour in Afghanistan.

Major Allen, who has been volunteering for SCAS since 2003, said that she was searching for a hobby with her husband when she came across an article about co-responders in a magazine.

We joined because we wanted something to give back to our community. You could be called for anything, from breathing difficulties or cardiac arrests to trips or falls.

“It’s hard to explain the sense of achievement you get from doing this as a volunteer – you arrive when people are at their most vulnerable, and sometimes they are critically ill.

“You always feel like you’ve made a difference.

Major Allen met with her SCAS supervisor in March 2020 to discuss how military could help the Covid effort.

She stated that the strength of her team was remarkable. We were able, through our efforts, to allow ambulances to be used for those who most needed them.

“I genuinely believe we made a difference. We could never say how many lives we saved but we all know that what we did made a difference.”

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Emma praised both the ambulance service she worked with and her husband – Major James Allen, 42, who serves with the Royal Artillery – who was by her side throughout the whole experience.

Nicola Dunbar, 48 (head of operations at SCAS), nominated Major Allen.

“Demand at the peak of the pandemic was like nothing we’d ever experienced and staffing levels were low,” Nicola explained.

“Major Allen was key to getting military personnel into our aid. She worked her absolute socks off and got everything up and running in a matter of days.”

Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance

DUNCAN Stevenson has nominated the air ambulance crew who saved his life after he ‘died’ seven times on board the rescue helicopter in treacherous conditions.

Duncan, a 58-year-old management consultant from Biggar in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, began feeling unwell while walking around Loch Tay.

He recalled: “I’d always been fit and well so this came out of the blue

“We were out walking and suddenly I started to feel very unwell. I tried to pretend it was a migraine and it got worse.

“My mates realised I was seriously ill and went to find help. They found a farmer with 4×4 capabilities who was able pick me up and return me to our accommodation. It was snowing, sleeting and windy.

“An ambulance was called but because of the weather it took a while to arrive. Although I was denial, I felt chest pains that made it clear that I was suffering from a heart attack.

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When paramedics arrived on scene, they told Duncan the nearest hospital was two hours away and that they would have to call the air ambulance.

We took off, and I suffered seven heart attacks while aboard the crew of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.

They had to resuscitate Duncan seven times while trying to fly him to Ninewells Hospital Dundee.

He stated that it was difficult to fly in such harsh conditions after taking off. I could feel the helicopter bouncing around.

“The crew was amazing, they kept me reassured as I drifted out of consciousness. They kept me alive and my heart stopped.

“The helicopter would drop a little, then go back up again so I also started getting quite sick.”

Amazingly, Duncan was safely taken to the hospital by his team, which included Shaun Rose (54), paramedic John Pritchard (52) and Richard Garside (44)

He was taken to hospital immediately and doctors found a blockage in his artery. A stent was fitted and he is now feeling well.

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Duncan nominated the crew for saving his life.

Shaun has been involved in air ambulance charity missions since 1998, carrying out more than 10,000 missions.

He’s also been a Search and Rescue pilot and has flown for the likes Tom Cruise and Vladimir Putin in corporate jobs. However, he said that the most difficult flight of his life was taking Duncan to the hospital on February 2020.

“It was one of those one in a million jobs and there is no doubt if we hadn’t been there, Duncan would have died,” He said.