Barclays Women of the Year Awards
The women of Manchester for their remarkable emergency response
bereavement liaison nurse Laura Prescott, Cath Daley of the British Transport Police, PC Lauren Moore, consultant Naomi Davis, paramedic Lea Vaughan, junior doctor Vicky Wijeratne, assistant chief constable Debbie Ford. Scrub practitioner Shobha Manesh is not pictured Junior doctor Vicky Wijeratne was leaving the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena when the bomb went off. ‘There was so much chaos. I thought a bit of the stage had fallen down, and it was only when we got outside that we realised what had happened,’ she said. ‘Even when you see the destruction all around you, you can’t quite compute what has gone on. I was with a group of friends who are also doctors, and we were very aware that
Above, left to right:
there may not be anyone medical around, so my first instinct was to try and help.’
Using T-shirts from stall sellers and jackets and tights from members of the public, she attended to the injured coming out on to the street. She then went back into the foyer to help the most seriously injured until paramedics arrived.
She was among eight women – all medics and police officers – who helped victims of the bombing.
The group also included Debbie Ford, Assistant Chief Constable for Greater Manchester Police. ‘The fact that so many young people were injured was hard to deal with,’ she said. ‘That phone call was shocking and unexpected, and for the first 10 seconds, I had a lump in my throat. But then you just get on with it and do your job.’