Emergency services leave Clara parade to help in critical incident

Members of the emergency services taking part in the Clara St Patrick's Day parade were called into action to successfully resuscitate a woman who collapsed outside the town. Fire and ambulance crews stealthily left the parade when alerted and rushed to the scene, leaving the large crowd watching the parade unaware.

The drama began when the woman collapsed while out walking in the Kilcoursey area about a mile from the town centre. Her son, an off-duty fireman, who lives nearby was contacted and on arrival commenced CPR while sending bystanders for a nearby public access defibrillator.

At the same time the local fire brigade, who are the first response to cardiac arrest calls in Clara, were just passing the reviewing stand in the St. Patrick's Day parade when they were alerted and immediately dispatched a unit, arriving within minutes.

Similarly, the national ambulance service had agreed to put a float in the Clara parade, made up of the service pipe band, colour party and other off duty vehicles and staff. The group was just arriving in Clara when the incident occurred and some staff and vehicles immediately responded. The combined efforts of all led to the successful resuscitation of the woman, prior to the arrival of the emergency air ambulance. She was stabilised by the ambulance crew before being airlifted to Dublin.

While all this was happening the remaining members of the emergency services continued in the parade fully aware of the critical incident nearby. The fire crew showed off their fire safety float, the ambulance band and colour party entertained the Grand Marshal with a rendition of his favourite song while the parade MC, who is a local paramedic/first responder, kept the parade moving along.