Award for ambulance service volunteer (From York Press)

Award for ambulance service volunteer Tam Stalker

9:12am Tuesday 19th June 2012 in News

AN ambulance service volunteer from a village near York has been recognised for the hundreds of lives he has helped save in his community.

Tam Stalker, 67, from Wilberfoss, said he was “gobsmacked” after receiving the Community First Responder Appreciation Award from Yorkshire Ambulance Service, at an award ceremony in Harrogate on Saturday evening.

Mr Stalker has been first on the scene at more than 200 emergencies since he took on the role of Wilberfoss First Response Co-ordinator in 2009.

He said: “I have made 222 responses in all that time. I have been to about six cardiac arrest situations. We don’t do road traffic accidents or those kind of things – it’s basically life-threatening situations in the home. An ambulance is always sent but we are sometimes sent if the controller feels it warrants it. The idea is we keep the person alive while the ambulance service gets there.”

Mr Stalker said: “I was gob-smacked to get the award – it’s such a nice thing to get.” Following the award ceremony on Saturday evening, Mr Stalker’s son, Stuart, said he was extremely proud of his father.

Stuart said: “It fills me with a large amount of satisfaction to know he has saved so many people’s lives.”

Paul Stevens, community resilience manager at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said: "Tam is a well-respected member of his community and his commitment to his role as a volunteer Community First Responder is outstanding. His dedication is a real inspiration and provides people living in and around his local community support in the first vital minutes until the arrival of an ambulance."