Town centre rangers save woman's life in Bournemouth

One of the rangers carried out chest compressions on the woman and took charge of the situation until an ambulance arrived.

Rangers Dave Dowling and Rosie Cook were called when a town centre camera operator spotted a woman having a medical episode under the Lucerne Arch on Old Christchurch Road.

They found the woman had fallen and hit her head and that a member of the public had called for an ambulance.

They spotted symptoms of substance abuse and after around five minutes the woman began to lose consciousness.

Mr Dowling said: “On duty in the town centre, we were able to respond quickly to the call from the town cameras and help the woman as her condition declined.

“All our rangers receive First Aid at Work training and go on regular courses.’’

While he was monitoring the woman, he saw a decline in her breathing and began chest compressions.

The pair were in contact with the ambulance service during the 35-40 minutes it took paramedics to arrive on a busy Saturday afternoon last month.

An ambulance arrived and the woman began to regain consciousness before she was taken to hospital.

Head ranger Bob Carter said: “This was the first incident of this type we have seen in three years.

“I am really proud of our Rangers and commend them for calmly controlling the situation over the space of an hour until expert medical professionals arrived.’’

Dorset Police and Bournemouth council jointly operate the town centre’s CCV cameras and often call the rangers, provided by the Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID), to be their “eyes and ears” on the ground.

The rangers were introduced in 2012 and work with the council, police, CCTV and Shopwatch scheme to make the centre safer.

Bournemouth Town Centre BID later received praise from an eyewitness to the incident, a holiday-maker named only as Ms Lloyd from Wales.

She said: “Your rangers did a wonderful job in Bournemouth’s town centre and they probably saved the girl’s life.’’