CHLOE (12) RACED TO GIVE AID TO CRASH VICTIM
Order of Malta cadet took charge of accident scene
A 12-YEAR-OLD primary school girl used her Order of Malta training to give first aid to a man injured in a motorcycle accident outside her Upper Bride Street home.
Chloe Paige Sinnott went ‘straight into first aid mode’, checking the man’s pulse and applying pressure to cuts he received when the bike he was a passenger on crashed into a parked car.
Chloe’s mother Julieanne said: ‘The injured man was covered in blood. Chloe was brilliant. She took charge of the whole thing.’
A 12-YEAR-OLD Order of Malta cadet put her training to good use on Friday night when she sprung to action to help a man injured in a motorbike accident outside of her house.
Chloe Paige Sinnott is a sixth class pupil at the Mercy National School. She recently earned her Year of Service badge for the Order of Malta. She was at home in Upper Bride Street on Friday night with her mam Julieanne, and Julieanne’s boyfriend who had just arrived for a visit.
Shortly before 10 p.m. they heard a loud bang outside of the house and Julieanne ran to see what had happened.
‘I opened the door and saw one man on the ground under my boyfriend’s car and the motorbike on top of him. Another man and I tried to help them to get out from under the bike.’
It is believed that the bike, which was travelling from the Thomas Street direction and carrying two men, went out of control at the roundabout, skidding along Upper Bride Street and crashing into Julieanne’s boyfriend’s car. The bike passenger, who was in his mid 40s, sustained injuries to his face and body, including a broken nose and finger, and lots of cuts.
Julieanne said: ‘Neither of them was wearing a helmet. The man who was injured was covered in blood. I rang 999 and asked for the ambulance and the Gardai.’
In the meantime, Chloe had come out to see what had happened and, on seeing the injured man, sprung to action.
‘She went straight into first aid mode, asking him his name, his age, if he was on any medication, checking his pulse and applying pressure to his cuts. She was brilliant; there was four or five adults there and we wouldn’t have had a clue what to do. One of our neighbours came out and she yelled at them to get some towels and wipes for her. She took charge of the whole thing.’
Chloe signed up to the Order of Malta after her grandmother encouraged her. She did two summer camps and became a cadet, continuing her training with the organisation.
Her proud mother said she believed that First Aid should be compulsory in schools, remarking that you never knew when it would come in handy.
The potential seriousness of the incident was hammered home to Julieanne when another woman, who had her two children by her side, came down to the scene having witnessed the accident from further up the road.
Julieanne said the woman was very shaken by the incident as she had been about to cross the road but pulled her kids back when she heard the noise of the bike.
Julieanne said: ‘The men were lucky that the car was parked a bit further down the road. They hit the curb and the bike skidded, rather than hitting the car head on.’
Both mother and daughter felt the shock after the incident but Julieanne said that a female paramedic who attended the scene spoke to Chloe, praised her and told her to be proud of her quick thinking and action.