Settle nurse saved a life - using a bra and a belt (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Settle nurse saved a life - using a bra and a belt

11:10am Thursday 10th November 2011 in Health By Helen Perkins, Reporter

AN OFF-DUTY nurse who made an improvised tourniquet from a belt and bra to save a motorcyclist is among outstanding staff who have scooped health awards.

Accident and emergency nurse Jayne Craig, of Settle, picked up two awards from the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust for her quick-thinking.

The 46-year-old used the unusual medical aids to save the life of a female crash victim who was bleeding to death on a rural road.

Mrs Craig found the South Lakeland woman laid in the centre of the A65, in Settle, while she was driving home from a London holiday.

She said: “I ran over to her and saw all the blood.

“I shouted ‘has anyone got anything to stop the bleeding – a scarf, a tie?’

"Another nurse offered me her bra. A man came running up with his trouser belt and I used that.

"I kept checking the strength of the pulse with my stopwatch and it started to get stronger.”

The victim, in her forties, was airlifted to hospital with her partner.

Her leg had to be amputated but Mrs Craig’s actions saved her from bleeding to death.

Mrs Craig added: “She sent me a wonderful, beautiful email a few weeks later.

“It was one of the most life-affirming things I have ever read.

"I don’t think I realised exactly what I had saved until then.”

A further accolade was awarded to a switchboard operator at Westmorland General Hospital, in Kendal.

Kath Kennedy, 38, of Kendal, was working a night shift when a man rushed into the hospital to ask for help with his wife, who was in labour.

Ms Kennedy, who is also a maternity assistant, phoned the maternity unit and went to see the patient.

She quickly realised she would need to help the woman who was in the back of her car.

She said: “The partner was a bit panicked but I don’t think he was aware of exactly how advanced his wife was. There was no time to move her.

“I ended up delivering the baby – a little girl – right outside the front door.”

Another Pride of the Bay award went to an Ulverston nurse who personally accompanied her patient to London for specialist treatment when she found there were no friends or family available.

Fiona Benson switched shifts at Furness General Hospital to make the journey in her time.

Resuscitation expert Alison Plenderleith, from Kendal, also scooped a gong after saving the life of a choking ten-month-old baby during a school street party on Royal Wedding day.

The trust’s chief executive Tony Halsall said the awards at Kendal’s Castle Green Hotel revealed inspirational work that often happens ‘under the radar’.

He said: “We have some outstanding individuals.”