HE COULD have been at home with his family relaxing at Christmas after a hard year of parliamentary debate.
But Goole MP Andrew Percy has spent much of the festive period engaged in his other job – as a volunteer first responder.
The MP was instrumental in setting up the scheme that covers Goole, Airmyn and Hook.
Volunteers had a busy time over Christmas.
One call was to a heart attack at 11.50pm on Christmas Day.
The latest, a call to the neighbouring area of Howden, was on Thursday night.
Mr Percy said: "I set up the scheme in Goole in November and we got some volunteers in from the local community.
"The ambulance service had previously tried to set one up but it had fallen through."
Staff at Mr Percy's office are on- call during midweek days from his base in Pasture Road, Goole.
Other volunteers take over in the evenings and the MP himself takes up the challenge when he is back in East Yorkshire, particularly in the evenings, on weekends and holidays.
Volunteers are armed with a bag containing defibrillators, oxygen and other equipment.
They are often first on the scene when people have suffered heart attacks or strokes or are having breathing difficulties.
Mr Percy said: "We've got an ambulance station in Goole but it's not possible they will always be available. They might be elsewhere. I've been to two cardiac arrests already.
"Over Christmas, I hadn't been feeling very well, so I hadn't had a drink.
"I logged on to make myself available if anyone was needed.
"We take it in turns but, over Christmas, quite a few people were ill."
The reality of being called out to medical emergencies is the outcomes are not always positive.
But Mr Percy feels the service in Goole has made a difference.
He said: "We've been able to start treatment on people before the ambulance crews arrive.
"The real value of it was proven to me on a heart attack I went to. It is the relief on people's faces when you arrive with the official jackets on and all the equipment.
"For people waiting, every minute seems like an hour."
Mr Percy's fellow Conservative MP Graham Stuart has voiced concerns about ambulance response times in rural Holderness.
Looking into the issue, he met First Responder teams from Withernsea, Roos and Keyingham who, he said, were making a huge difference.
Mr Stuart said: "I'd like to see coverage of all our rural parishes so that everyone with an emergency need is given the best possible chance of survival through prompt care."
Mr Stuart wrote to Yorkshire Ambulance Service asking for an increase in the number of First Responder trainers to help expand the programme into areas where there are no teams at present.
