North Cotswolds girl praised for cool head (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

North Cotswolds girl praised for cool head

A QUICK-WITTED Wyck Rissington 11-year-old has received national praise for keeping a cool head in a crisis after a young playmate suffered serious head injuries.

St John Ambulance named Emily Topping runner-up in its Countrywide First Aid Award for the 'exceptional' way she reacted when another young girl fell from monkey bars and landed head-first on the concrete surface of the playground both were playing in at Cowes, on the Isle of White, on Valentine's Day.

Emily, then aged 10, was playing there with school friend, Charlotte Taylor, when they saw the girl, who they do not know, fall to the ground where she started fitting and bleeding from the mouth.

Without being told, Emily used a mobile phone she had been given for Christmas to call 999 and spoke to the ambulance service.

She was given first aid instructions that she relayed to Charlotte's mother, Susan Taylor, who had accompanied them.

Following the instructions, Sue put the injured girl into the recovery position and ensured her airway was unblocked while keeping her as warm and still as possible until an ambulance arrived to take her to hospital, where she recovered.

Emily, who received first aid training with the 1st Bourton-on-the-Water Brownies and then Bourton's Girl Guides, was on holiday in Cowes with her mother, Martelle Hullmann.

The Brownies nominated her for the St John Ambulance award, while the Guides gave her their John Harrison Community Service Award.

A proud Martelle said: "She's just very outgoing and she's used to communicating with people and doesn't panic."