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Photographer Jason is a Good Samaritan

Leicester Mercury photographer Jason Senior has received a Good Samaritan award from the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

The award is for vital assistance to ambulance staff and was given to Jason after he stopped to help an elderly lady who collapsed in front of him.

Jason, who has worked at the Mercury for seven years, was in Loughborough town centre on his day off when the woman collapsed in alley way.

“At first I thought she had just fainted,” said Jason, “But she was well out of it so I called 999 on my mobile.”

Somehow Jason managed to stay composed, and calmly got someone to keep an eye on his two-year-old son while he stayed with the elderly women.

He also asked a couple of passers-by to stand at either end of the alley and wait for the ambulance to arrive while he attended to the woman, even though he had no formal first aid training.

“At first she was breathing so I just kept talking to her. But then I thought she had stopped breathing so I called 999 again,” said Jason.

“She had fallen on her front and I had left her like that so she wouldn’t choke but I was told to move her and then I started to give her mouth to mouth and CPR.”

Within minutes a fast response paramedic arrived and began giving the woman mouth to mouth, while Jason continued the CPR chest compressions.

Once an ambulance arrived, Jason left the scene.

“After ten or fifteen minutes they took her away and they drove past me with flashing lights. I knew from experience that this meant she was alive and well enough to be moved,” he said.

The woman was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary, but sadly died before surgery.

Since the incident Jason has received a lot of praise from friends and work colleagues, as well as the fast response paramedic who said lives could be saved if everyone reacted in the same way as Jason when they faced a similar situation.

But Jason is very modest about his actions. “Some people have said I was brave, but I don’t see it like that: anybody should do the same in that situation.”

“It was a bit frightening but I was as cool as a cucumber, something took over me, I just did everything I knew,” he said.

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