Border Telegraph | News

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Wednesday, 27th June, 2007 14:22

My heroines

By Border Telegraph Newsroom

WITHOUT the quick-thinking actions of two local youngsters, their grandmother wouldn’t be here today.

The sisters from Galashiels managed to stay calm and pull their Granny away from a fire when she collapsed in a diabetic ‘hypo’.

And this week they were presented with awards by the Ambulance Service in the Borders for saving her life.

Paige, 9, and five-year-old Caoimhe (pronounced Kee-va) Minnikin were spending Sunday at Granny, Aileen Minnikin’s, Langlee home when the 64 year-old collapsed.

Aileen has had diabetes for over thirty years, but despite the best efforts of her husband Morris and granddaughters to give her fizzy drinks, she had refused.

A ‘hypo’ is triggered by a drop in blood sugar levels and can be serious if the sufferer does not receive medical attention quickly.

Ambulance team leader in the Gala station, Kevin Douglas, said: “There is a real chance that Mrs Minnikin could have slipped into a diabetic coma and died.

“If it hadn’t been for the girls and the way they stayed calm, this could have got bad.

“It’s frightening enough for an adult to see someone having a hypo, never mind young children by themselves.

“The paramedics who attended the scene both said the girls deserved a medal.”

Paige and Caoimhe, who live in Halliburton Place, received their certificates at the ambulance depot on yesterday, Tuesday, accompanied by proud mum and dad, Mandy and Richard.

Aileen told the Border Telegraph: “It’s all down to the girls that I’m standing here today; they were absolutely brilliant.”

The Kenilworth Avenue resident added: “All I remember is I started feeling weak and then I fell over into the gas fireplace.

“It’s like being really really dunk and having none of your senses about you.

“The girls managed somehow to pull me away from the fire and Caoimhe was holding me up and kept saying ‘Granny’ and I remember hearing her and trying to stay awake and Paige dialled 999; she was so calm.”

Paige, who is a pupil at Glendinning Terrace Primary School, said: “I phoned 999 and said I wanted an ambulance because granny was speaking funny and not making any sense.

“I kept talking to them on the phone until the ambulance got here.”

Aileen was immediately given a shot of glucagen and she slowly started to recover.

And the first thing she noticed when she came around was that her granddaughter was not only speaking to emergency services, looking out for the ambulance but had tidied the living room as well!

Paramedic, Kevin, said: “It’s just fantastic what the girls did.

“You do hear about it now and again on the job about how brave children can be.

“This would have been a very stressful situation and they couldn’t have handled it better.”

Now Community Safety Officer Steven Irvine at Scottish Borders Council hopes to launch a new award scheme to celebrate acts of child bravery.

He said: “The concept behind the award is promoting safety in general and people out there who are doing good deeds should be recognised.

“For the Minnikin girls to compose themselves to the extent that they guided emergency services to their house is a credit.”

The scheme will be run in conjunction with other local emergency services, including the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Social Bookmarking What are these?