Family of 'beautiful, innocent child' who died at 5 start emergency response petition
The petition, Maggie's Call, is calling for the NIFRS to be dispatched automatically to all emergency medical calls in rural areas.
Last updated 13th Jan 2022
A County Antrim family are calling for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service to be dispatched automatically to all emergency medical calls in rural areas.
Sheenagh Black from Glenarm started a petition called Maggie’s Call after her “innocent and fun loving” five-year-old daughter died on December 1, 2021.
Maggie had what appeared to be a stomach bug for few days before her mother had to call the emergency services.
Sheenagh also called her sister-in-law Margaret Quinn who lived close by.
She said: “I called the ambulance who chatted to me over what needed to be done, and was amazing, but I became aware that we needed more than the support we were able to provide ourselves.
“So, Margaret had to go to Glenarm to fetch the defibrillator because Maggie had stopped breathing.
“I had started CPR myself in the house and on the way to collect the defibrillator Margaret thought on her feet and called her Cousin whose husband is a fire fighter, because we knew that he would be able to help us in the time that we needed.
“Both of them arrived at our house that morning in about four minutes from when Margaret made the call and from as soon as he arrived at our kitchen, I just knew Maggie was going to be looked after and to get all the help that she needed and could be given.
“Then Martin made a call to his fire crew and got them dispatched out to our house.
“When they arrived on the scene, they literally just took over, well when Martin arrived, he took over from me and then the fire fighters arrived and took over everything that needed to be done.”
An ambulance took over an hour to arrive and while the family has thanked the service for going “over and beyond” they think they need more support.
Margaret said: “This is a positive petition in Maggie’s memory it’s more about getting the ambulance service support.
“The fire service is there to help them and getting that service and making it available to everyone.
“The ambulance service is at full capacity and are very openly telling us they’re struggling; the service is there to support them.
“Everyone from the police to the fire service, to the ambulance service, all went over and beyond to help support Maggie and the family and it’s just to back that up to make sure everyone gets that support.”
Sheenagh said she thinks it would be “extremely important” for other families to receive the service they did and not just because they know someone.
She added: “So families aren’t left sitting asking questions, did we do enough to help? Did we do the right thing? Did we perform CPR properly?
“We know that by having the fire service there that everything was done to help our daughter that morning and we want everyone else also to benefit from that service that the fire service can provide.
“Maggie was just a beautiful five-year-old girl.
“She was innocent, she was fun loving, she was the light of our lives and everyone’s lives that she went into.
“She had this infectious personality where she would tell a joke, and this look in her eyes.
“She had this art of being able to charm anyone she looked at, she just loved life and everyone loving each other and being happy.”
A Health spokesperson said the Department, NIAS and NIFRS have extended their condolences to the Black family and “fully support any initiative to improve emergency medical cover in rural communities.”
While several community responder schemes are in place across Northern Ireland which can be dispatched by NIAS alongside paramedics as required.
However, there are currently none covering the Glenarm area.
A spokesman said: “Whilst these community volunteers generally do not attend incidents involving children under the age of 12, due to the specialist training and equipment required, NIAS would welcome approaches from any group of volunteers who express an interest in creating new local groups, including in the Glens of Antrim region.
“With regard to potential collaboration with NIFRS, NIAS previously ran a promising co-responder pilot in which NIFRS crews were dispatched to suspected cardiac emergency calls in the local catchment area of fire stations in addition to the normal emergency ambulance response.
“NIAS and NIFRS met in November 2021 to consider how this model might be rolled out across Northern Ireland, and both organisations are working closely together to progress the development of a regional joint response model.
You can sign the petition here.
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