First-aid saves OAP Sheila in shop crisis

A GRANDMOTHER yesterday thanked a shop manager after she came to the rescue in a potentially life-threatening crisis. Sheila Blondel, 69, was trying on a pair of trousers in New Look when a blood vessel in her left leg ruptured. 'I was just putting my jeans back on when all of a sudden my vein just popped. The room was covered with blood,' she said. 'I opened the curtain and asked if anyone could help me.' The store's regional manager, Lucie Todd, rushed downstairs from her office. 'There was just so much blood. I did my first-aid training three years ago and knew to apply pressure,' said Miss Todd. She sat Mrs Blondel down in the High Street shop and elevated her leg. A woman outside the changing rooms gave Mrs Blondel a handkerchief and alerted staff. Miss Todd and colleague Colin McDonald contacted Mrs Blondel's daughter and cleared the blood from the changing room before she arrived. Mrs Blondel's daughter, Mandy Hill, is functions manager at the Bowl. 'I was at work and it was the first day of our inter-insular challenge, when I got a call from a young Scottish man who said he was Colin from New Look. He said not to panic but that my mother had had a slight accident.' She rushed to the store. 'They had tried to clean up but mum's jeans were sodden with blood. There was quite a lot of blood but Lucie was looking after mum, soothing her, while Colin wrapped up her leg. They were treating mum like gold.' Mrs Hill said that her mother, 70 next month, was never ill. She praised Miss Todd and Mr McDonald. 'I couldn't say how brilliant they were. Young people sometimes get bad press, but they are an inspiration,' she said. Her husband later presented the New Look staff with a huge box of chocolates. Miss Todd saw how shaken both women were and helped take Mrs Blondel outside to her daughter's car so that they could go to hospital. Since the incident, Miss Todd has been in regular contact with Mrs Blondel to check on her recovery. Despite losing a lot of blood, Mrs Blondel said yesterday that she was feeling normal once again. She was given special plasters to control the blood flow if the problem reoccurred. An Ambulance and Rescue Service spokesman said that Miss Todd had acted correctly. 'With any severe bleeding, you must apply direct pressure, preferably with a sterile dressing, and elevate the limb.' He urged anyone with severe bleeding not to wash the wound with water because this prevented clotting. Miss Todd, who is from Somerset, said that her first-aid training had been very helpful. Since arriving in the island, she has had an action-packed few weeks. Recently, she had to chase shoplifters. 'It is only my second month here and so much has happened to me.'