A Fife woman who started the year by using CPR to save her mother’s life has been honoured for her bravery.
Emma Scott, 40, used a community defibrillator when her mother Doreen, 76, collapsed at her home in Crail on New Year’s Day.
A lifeguard at the East Sands Leisure Centre in St Andrews, Ms Scott knew CPR alone would not be enough to save her mother’s life when she asked her father to fetch the lifesaving piece of equipment.
Following her dramatic start to the new year, she has now been honoured for her actions after being named as St Andrews First Aid’s First Aid Hero of the Year 2015.
Recalling the drama, Emma said: “The hardest thing was watching a family member you love slip away. This will never leave me.
“However, my first-aid training, alongside the help of the emergency services, meant my mum was given a second chance.
“It’s strange because for all the years I have worked as a lifeguard, I have never experienced an incident as serious as my mum’s collapse.
“I had always thought that if anything was going to happen then it would have been at work. It completely took me off guard.”
Since her heroics Emma has been chosen to front a national campaign to teach more people CPR.
She addressed health professionals and first aiders at the Scottish Community Resuscitation Conference hosted by St Andrews University.
The desire to see more lives saved following cardiac arrest was also highlighted yesterday in Newport.
A new community defibrillator was unveiled in the town, the 23rd to be installed as part of Operation Heart Start in St Andrews, with a further three to be put in place in the coming weeks.
Councillor Tim Brett said: “I would like to thank St Andrews Heart Start for working with the community council to achieve this defibrillator for the Newport community.
“Thanks to a generous donation from North East Fife Rotary we are now in a position to also install a second machine in Wormit.”