HE IS THE Hampshire Hospitals porter who played a key role in helping to save a colleague’s life – and now Daniel Spacagna has received a national award for his efforts.
Daniel, whose job as a porter is to move patients and vital equipment around Royal Hampshire County Hospital, jumped into action when colleague John Bauldry suffered a cardiac arrest in the team’s staff room.
Using his CPR skills, Daniel was able to keep John alive during the time it took the emergency medical team to arrive on the scene. After a defibrillator was used to restart his heart, John made a full recovery and is now back at work.
Alan Kemp, portering and security lead at Winchester hospital, which is run by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, nominated Daniel for the Life Saver Award at the national Unsung Hero Awards 2018. The awards, which recognise the efforts of non-clinical healthcare staff and volunteers, took place in Manchester last month and Daniel was delighted to hear his name announced as the winner.
Daniel said:
The Life Saver Award was the last award of the evening. I was certainly not expecting to win, so it was a real shock when they read my name out.
I felt really proud, but I don’t see the award as being for just me because it was a real team effort. Every single porter on duty that night played a massive part, getting stretchers and helping the emergency team to get to John. Without every single one of them it could have been a different outcome, so I accepted the award on behalf of the whole team.
The whole evening was absolutely brilliant and it was an honour just to be there. I got to meet some amazing people from all over the country.
I’ve done quite a few first aid courses, but fortunately I’d been on one through work about four weeks before the incident, so it was really fresh in my mind. It just shows how important doing first aid courses can be. You never know when you are going to need to use the skills you learn on them.
PHOTO: Daniel Spacagna won the Life Saver Award at the Unsung Hero Awards 2018.
Credit Neilson Reeves Photography.
