A REDDITCH woman has been awarded two certificates of achievement from the British Heart Foundation and from Herefordshire Heartstart for her use of emergency life support skills.

Margaret Prentice was waiting to be served at a Redditch supermarket when she saw a man collapse. The man was fitting so Margaret called for a first aider, no help came, so Ms Prentice helped him by putting him into the recovery position.

She kept a close watch but noticed that he had gone blue and had stopped breathing. She again shouted for help but had to start CPR to try to restart his heart.

She shouted for staff to bring the defibrillator, attached the pads and carried on CPR. Once the machine had analysed the rhythms no shock was required, but the machine advised her to continue with CPR.

On the third round of CPR the man began to breathe again. Paramedics arrived and he was taken to hospital.

Only a few months before Miss Prentice had attended a Heartstart How to save a life course in Hereford run by Herefordshire Heartstart.

Loraine Coleman, from Herefordshire Heartstart was so impressed to hear what she had done, that she recommended her for a special achievement award from the British Heart Foundation. She also made a recommendation to the trustees of Herefordshire Heartstart that Margaret receive an achievement certificate from Herefordshire Heartstart, the charity who was responsible for training Margaret in Heartstart emergency life support training.

She said: "Well done Margaret for staying calm, for correctly assessing the casualty, making him safe and recognising when the situation had changed and that he’d stopped breathing.

"Margaret was very brave and did absolutely everything right. She deserves a huge pat on the back for saving this man."

Ms Prentice and her partner Robert Underwood formed Redditch Heart Safe following the death of their 16-year-old daughter Charlotte Marie in 2010 to sudden arrhythmic death syndrome.

Since then they have tirelessly fundraised to get defibrillators in school and other public places. The defibrillator in the supermarket had been purchased by the charity just four weeks before the incident.

On October 13, Dr John Ballance, medical director and chairman for Herefordshire Heartstart and Loraine Coleman, met with Ms Prentice to present the certificates.

For more details see herefordshireheartstart.org or redditchheartsafe.com.