On 30th January at 8.10pm while in the middle of chairing a meeting of the Trustees of BEARS, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust called out the Bears Chair Paul Gates to reports of a 14 year old laying face down in water at Shoeburyness.
Paul Gates handed over chairing of the meting to the Vice Chair before responding to the call from his home in Rayleigh. On route the Essex Health Emergency Operations Centre updated him that the patient had not been found as yet.
Paul arrived on scene at 8.50 pm and in the bitter cold along with the Duty Operations Manager from the Ambulance service, a paramedic crew and two police teams he searched the shore line for the reported patient.
After 45 minutes the search was scaled down following further reports from the informant to the Police about the incident.
BEARS is a new charity in Essex formed from the merger of North East Essex Doctors Emergency Service (NEEDES) and Mid Essex Doctors Immediate Care scheme (MEDICS). The scheme is called out by The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust to patients that need an enhanced level of care following serious injury or illness. All the members are volunteer Doctors and Paramedics who have undergone additional training in Immediate Medical Care. Each member is equipped purely through donations at a cost of between £20-25,000.
For further information on BEARS please contact Paul Gates, BEARS Chair on 07971 955689 or bearsmedics@gmail.com.