A MACHYNLLETH army cadet who has been praised for providing first aid to casualties of a serious car crash told the Cambrian News she knew she needed to stay calm to provide the best treatment to people who needed it.
Fifteen-year-old Holly Vincentelli, a pupil at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen, was travelling home to Machynlleth when she saw the crash involving three cars that saw the Wales Air Ambulance called out to transport a casualty.
Holly has won praise for stepping in to help out in the aftermath of the crash and in assisting the emergency services, but said she had fallen back on her training from the Gwent and Powys Army Cadet Force to help those caught up in the crash despite being shocked by the crash herself.
She said: “I saw the crash as it happened.
“It was really scary actually.
“I was looking at my phone and looked up and saw the cars hit each other with a lot of debris.
“When I got out, the first thing I thought of was ‘who needs attention first’.
“I noticed the boy was quite quiet and that the woman trapped in the car had a lot of people around her.
"There was a nurse there as well, who I think was going to work, who was helping her.
“I remembered from my training that you should always go to the quietest first so I went to the boy and asked his dad how he was and what had happened.
“He was in shock.
“Everyone was kind of running around and calling the ambulance, but I knew that if I panicked I wouldn’t be able to treat him as well as I could.
“When the ambulance and air ambulance arrived they came over to ask what had happened so I said he was in shock and had a bruise on his collarbone, but that I didn’t think it was broken.”
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