“Thanks for letting us meet our grandad”: Patient praises cycle paramedics at Heathrow 20th anniversary event

London Ambulance Service cycle paramedics have celebrated 20 years of saving lives at Heathrow Airport with a special event to present honours to current and past members of the team.

At the moving 20^th anniversary event at Heathrow’s Compass Centre, the Head of the Cycle Response Unit Tom Lynch offered commemorative badges to serving and retired cycle paramedics and to airport partners to thank them for their service over two decades.

The first cardiac arrest patient treated by cycle paramedics at the airport 20 years ago, Graham Clark, 72, also received a special badge from the Cycle Response Unit.

Speaking about his cardiac arrest in Terminal 1 all those years ago, Graham, from Andover, Hampshire, said: “My kids would be without a dad and my grandkids would be without a grandad if it wasn’t for the help of the paramedics.

“They didn’t just save me. They also saved my family from grieving.

“My family have told the paramedics ‘thank you for letting us meet our grandad’. We can’t thank them enough.”

Heathrow Airport’s Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye and Chief Fire Officer for Airport Fire and Rescue Service David Bartlett gave speeches alongside London Ambulance Service Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles, Chief Paramedic Pauline Cranmer and Deputy Director of Ambulance Operations Peter Rhodes.

Mr Elkeles said: “I would like to thank Graham for sharing such an inspirational story. The Cycle Response Unit is one of our flagship teams at London Ambulance Service, with over 100,000 patients cared for and nearly half a million miles cycled.

“Our partnership with Heathrow is a partnership like no other. It has enabled passengers to travel safely, reduce airport delays and has helped ensured that Heathrow has the best cardiac arrest survival rate in London.

“Thank you very much to our Cycle Response Unit for everything they do.”

Heathrow Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye said: “We greet millions of people every week at Heathrow and keeping everyone safe is always our number one priority.

“Our partnership with London Ambulance Service has had truly life-saving results, and it was an honour to meet Graham, 20 years after paramedics saved him at Heathrow.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with LAS, working together to ensure our passengers and colleagues feel cared for and make it home safely.”

Tom Lynch MBE, Head of the Cycle Response Unit at London Ambulance Service, added: “We are so pleased to see Graham still going strong. There wasn’t a better way to celebrate our 20^th year at Heathrow than with our first cardiac arrest survivor.

“What started as an innovative trial at the airport 20 years ago broke new ground with the world’s first zero-emissions response vehicle for an ambulance service.”

Cycle responders are experienced frontline paramedics, fully trained to work on their own and operate in busy areas like central London that are difficult to travel through in a car or ambulance.

The Cycle Response Unit started out as a pioneering trial in 2004 to look at how paramedics could get to injured people quickly at the airport, given the large passenger numbers and miles of airport infrastructure at Heathrow.

Our cycle responders carry most of the medical equipment an ambulance carries and uses a custom-built bicycle and specialist clothing that allows them to respond to emergencies. With a kit that weighs 50lbs, they are able to reach patients quickly and give life-saving treatment while an ambulance is on the way.