London District brings aid to those commemorating the fallen

Amid the high emotion and enormous public turnout at the weekend, London District once again proved itself to be the vital difference to so many lives, when it served those who turned out to mark this year's Remembrance Sunday.

Making a valuable difference

Over 100 volunteers from St John Ambulance London (Prince of Wales’s) District were on hand to provide assistance for the 2010 National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where many thousands turned out to pay their respects.

In total some 34 members of the public were treated – mostly for temperature related effects, or for minor trips and falls. Two were taken to hospital.

First aiders were deployed around Whitehall, together with seven mobile treatment centres and members of the Forward Incident Team and Cycle Response Unit on standby to help extract injured or ill from the large crowds.

Control and command staff were aided by a further six ambulances at the heart of Whitehall, and four on standby at Military Aid Posts.

Dave Bell, Assistant Commissioner (Operations), said: 'I am exceptionally proud, as ever, of our serving first aid teams, and large public events like this really provide the opportunity to see what a valuable difference St John Ambulance makes to the lives of so many and how important first aid knowledge really is.

In the main, the injuries and ailments which came to our attention were of a minor nature, but we know that the public take enormous comfort from us being present, and we were clearly able to make a very significant difference to several members of the public on this special occasion.'

Also this weekend, St John Ambulance London District covered the Lord Mayor’s Show festivities. A total of 15 were treated by the team and two were taken to hospital.