Helping communities in their time of need

Hundreds of St John Ambulance volunteers have devoted hours of their time to the flood relief effort. Here we capture the dramatic story of two St John Ambulance volunteers and their tireless work throughout the floods.

Malvin Hobbs, 31, Superintendent for the Worcester city branch of St John Ambulance, worked solidly from Friday until Tuesday providing relief for flood victims.

Malvin who is a first aid trainer and ambulance crew from Malvern in Worcestershire received his first call for assistance on Friday at 4pm when colleague Lorraine Odell called for help in evacuating a nursing home.

Lorraine, a 48-year-old mother and grandmother, who is also a first aid trainer, had ventured out to retrieve an ambulance but her own car had got stuck on the way. Malvin rescued Lorraine in his 4x4 and the pair then drove through the floodwater to the nursing home in Worcester.

The nursing home was on top of a hill but the drains had backed up and left the home under one foot of water.

Five ambulances and crew from St John Ambulance, the ambulance service and British Red Cross, evacuated the residents and a police escort took them back to safety in Malvern.

The police escort was needed to clear a path through the floods and abandoned vehicles. The local motorway was flooded for seven junctions and the local bypass had also flooded, creating islands out of Malvern and Worcester.

'It was like something out of a horror film,' said Malvin. 'Cars were left abandoned at sides of roads and it was an eerie sight. At times it was quite frightening but there was nothing to do but carry on and make sure people were safe and dry.'

On Friday Malvin and Lorraine answered 999 calls. On the way back from one call they passed through a village called Powick. Police had closed a road but lorry drivers had removed the bollards and driven through, pushing water into the homes of residents living nearby.

'People were in floods of tears. They were just getting back to normal after the floods four weeks ago only for it to happen again. We consoled people who had lost their homes and tried to keep their spirits up. A local pub had been set up as a rest centre so we evacuated people there and helped set the bollards back up on the road so no further damage could be caused.'

Malvin only left the temporary rest centre to attend a family wedding. But he remained on standby all day to answer ambulance calls if needed.

On Sunday morning Lorraine travelled to Upton on Severn to check on her mother. But while visiting the town a paramedic who knew Lorraine and her work at St John Ambulance asked her to set up a medical centre in the rest centre.

Lorraine who has set up a hospital at the Malvern show every year sprang into action and set up a medical centre within 30 minutes. The local ambulance service arranged for medical supplies to be airlifted in from Staffordshire and the Staffordshire St John Ambulance was also called in for support.

Malvin and Lorraine helped out at the centre, throughout Sunday and into the early hours of Monday.

'Emotions were running high. Amazingly we didn't deal with any injuries but we were much needed as a shoulder to cry on,' said Melvin. 'One lady cried on me for two hours. It was highly likely she'd lost both her boat and house and was understandably upset. But by the end of the day she was laughing and joking and helping out by cleaning the rest centre. There was a real community spirit.'

The mood was lifted further by Malvin's mother who requested a song on the local radio for her son and the St John Ambulance volunteers.

While the crew were based at the rest centre they also answered 999 calls. At 5am on Monday Malvin was called out to the house of a gentleman with suspected food poisoning who had been vomiting for 12 hours. With the contaminated water it was difficult for him to drink fluids to get better so the crew took him to the medical centre where a doctor could look after him.

Monday night came to a dramatic climax when the crew were stationed outside the local fire station, positioned opposite a flooded rugby pitch. They heard cries for help and the fire crews sped off in the direction of the shouts in their boat. The St John Ambulance crew followed in the 4x4 and together they pulled two men in their 20s from the thigh-deep water. The boys had swum across to see their sister without much thought to the coldness of the water.

'Before we reached them the boys were in so much pain from the cold they had stopped shouting altogether. When we took them to the doctor he said that had they stayed in the water for 10 more minutes they would have been unlikely to survive,' said Malvin. 'We got there just in time.'

Malvin finally returned home at 8.25am on Tuesday for the best sleep of his life. Lorraine meanwhile went straight to work to teach more people first aid so they can have the important skills needed to look after their friends, family or indeed their local community.

'We had a great team of people working with us - members of the NHS and ambulance managers who co-ordinated all the different organisations to make sure everything ran smoothly. We would especially like to thank all members of Malvern and Worcester St John Ambulance.

'It was an exhausting few days but we're just glad we could be of help. That's exactly why St John Ambulance exists,' said Malvin.

Harry Dymond, Chief Commissioner Operations for St John Ambulance wishes to thank all the volunteers who gave up hours of their time to help others: 'Hundreds of St John Ambulance volunteers have been involved dealing with the effects of flooding in every affected area.

'These volunteers, and others like them, are the unsung heroes of this tragedy. Many of our members came straight from their work to help those in need and worked tirelessly the whole time, often with little sleep; some of them leaving behind their own flood problems.

'Some volunteers acted in support of the ambulance services responding to emergency calls whilst others help set up and staff rest centres.  I am proud of each and every one,' said Harry.

'We train for such emergencies and I was confident that our members would deliver.  As the country's leading, caring, first aid organisation we form the reserve of the ambulance service and we will always respond at the very highest standards.'