A POOLE woman crawled on her hands and knees to open her front door during a chronic asthma attack so paramedics answering a 999 call could find her house.
Donna Kerley fought to stay conscious while trying to attract the attention of ambulance crews trying to find her home at Phippard Road, in the new Poole Quarter area of Seldown.
Mrs Kerley told the Daily Echo that she had crawled to the front door of her three-storey town house facing Seldown Bridge to help paramedics find her.
“I couldn’t breathe and I was losing consciousness. I kept seeing blue lights through the window and I couldn’t do anything about it,” she said.
“The woman on the phone kept me talking. I had to crawl down and open the front door so there was more for them to see.
“The paramedics said, ‘We dread coming over here’. They asked if someone could stand in the road and wave so they knew where to go.
“I was lucky my mum came down. She’s in her 60s but she stood in the road waving.”
Her ex-partner and full-time carer, Paul Kelly, said he was driving back from Southampton with their 12-year-old son, Ryan, when he received a phone call from a neighbour.
“My neighbour had seen the ambulance go round the complex and back up the hill and contacted me to see if I needed any help. I came back to find the ambulance outside my house,” said Mr Kelly.
“When I spoke to the paramedics they said they quite often have to get someone to come down and ‘wave a flag’ to show where the house is.”
He said paramedics had been called to his house four times already this year and on each occasion had experienced difficulties finding the road.
Dave Beet, the head of operations in Dorset for the South West Ambulance Service Trust, said the crew called to Mrs Kerley’s property had since asked for the trust’s geographical data to be updated.
“Prior to Thursday’s incident the trust was not aware that a problem existed in this location and is glad that appropriate action has been taken to resolve it, and sincerely hopes that the residents of the area feel assured by this,” said Mr Beet.
He added that despite the difficulties, paramedics had reached Mrs Kelly within five minutes of her emergency call – three minutes quicker than the required national standard.
Poole council and developer Crest Nicholson are set to work on signage in the area after enquiries from Mr Kelly and the Echo.
* Residents concerned about ambulances reaching their homes should call 01392 261500 or email publicrelations@swast.nhs.uk.
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