Home care worker whose quick actions saved woman's life says she feels 'very humbled'

A care worker said she felt “very humbled” after her persistence and quick actions led to an ambulance being called for a woman who needed emergency heart surgery.

Gemma Dawson, a care and support worker from Caremark (Dacorum & St Albans), arrived at the woman’s home in the evening to provide care for her.

She found her client had lost her sense of balance and “kept falling over backwards”.

“I knew that is a sign of stroke as well as the fact she was feeling faint. My gut feeling was that it wasn’t right to leave her like that,” she said.

The woman’s husband praised Ms Dawson in a review on the home care agency on UK's leading home care reviews site, homecare.co.uk.

He said: “The carer was concerned at my wife's serious loss of balance and decided to request an ambulance. The carer was told that there were 'more important cases to be dealt with' and there was no ambulance available for several hours.

“The carer refused to accept this and called again. She was eventually advised the paramedics be called. After a series of tests, they found my wife had a faulty heart condition and took her straight to hospital where she stayed overnight.”

He added: “In the morning, my wife was taken to another hospital from where a surgeon telephoned me to say he was going to operate immediately and give my wife a pacemaker. He agreed that the carer's diligence had saved her life! The diagnosis was: Complete heart block-emergency dual-chamber pacemaker.”

Ms Dawson said: “I am very humbled to have made such a huge difference and glad to be there at the right time and right place.”

Caremark has praised her actions with a spokesman saying: “Without this decisive, professional action, Gemma’s client may not have survived this ordeal.”

Gemma Dawson’s care manager at Caremark (Dacorum & St Albans) called her an “exceptional carer” and said: “She is fantastic at her job, she always goes above and beyond. She is an exceptional carer.”

Ms Dawson was inspired to become a care worker after caring for her grandmother who is now a client of Caremark (Dacorum & St Albans).

She has found her job in home care to be “the most rewarding job I have ever had, ensuring all the client’s needs are met”.

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