Thanet care worker receives award for saving client’s life

Ben Beddall awarded Carer of the Year

A care worker at Caremark Thanet has received an award after saving a client’s life.

Ben Beddall, now 21 but 20 at the time of the incident, scooped carer of the year at Caremark Ltd’s Annual Conference for his quick-thinking actions.

Ben, who has since been promoted to field care supervisor, was at a client’s home last summer with a colleague when the man, aged 80, became unconscious and could not be roused.

Ben, from Margate, took immediate action.

He said: “We gave our client a cup of tea and his partner went to the kitchen to make another cup.

“This was when the client fell unconscious and didn’t rouse with all attempts made. I told Kate -the other carer- to call 999 and proceeded to flatten the client’s bed and check for a CPR tag to deflate the bed so if needed I could provide CPR but no CPR tag could be found.

“I checked for breathing by looking down his chest with my ear close to his mouth so I could listen for breath as well.His breathing was unstable at first then within a couple seconds stopped. That was when I first started CPR.

“Kate had communicated amazing well, all worries to the 999 call operators who could give advice and guidance on how to help the client. They told us we needed to get him on a flat surface.

“Kate suggested we use the slidesheet to slide/carry him to the floor from his bed. Once on the floor I continued CPR, with guidance from the 999 call operator.

“He started breathing independently again and so we stopped CPR. Within a 20 second period he then once more stopped breathing so I continued CPR for another while until they started again.

“Paramedics then arrived and took over completely and I went to talk to the client’s partner. This all happened before they could finish making the cup of tea!”

Caremark owner Garry Costain said: “We are very proud of Ben. His quick thinking and cool head helped him to do exactly what he needed to do in a very stressful situation.

“None of us know how we might act in such circumstances, but all of us can hope that we will act just as Ben did.”

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