Four-year-old girl praised for helping mother during seizure at Dorset home

999 operator says it is an example of how vital it is for parents to teach children what to do in an emergency

Kaitlyn Wright with ambulance call handler Jess Hodkinson (South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust/PA)

A four-year-old girl’s has been praised for her quick thinking after her mother collapsed and became seriously ill at home in the Dorset town of Dorchester.

Kaitlyn Wright managed to call 999 and talk to an operator after her mother, Charlene, began having a seizure.

Paramedics went to the family home in where the mother had stopped fitting and did not require treatment.

The little girl was praised by staff at South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust for her actions on 27 October.

Kaitlyn was presented with a certificate on behalf of SWASFT chief executive Ken Wenman to congratulate her, at the service’s control centre near Bristol.

“I’m so proud of Kaitlyn. At the time I wasn’t really aware of what had happened,” Ms Wright, who has a medical condition that causes her to have non-epileptic seizures, said. "I woke up with the paramedics standing over me. I was so happy when I found out what she had done.

“We taught all our children how to make a 999 call, and what to say to the call handler. We got Kaitlyn a pretend Disney phone and practised with it.

“It can be scary when you’re not well. But Kaitlyn makes me feel safe. She’s a star.”

Her husband, Simon, added: “Kaitlyn is a grown-up little girl who knows exactly what to do in an emergency. She was brilliant.”

Jess Hodkinson, the call handler who took Kaitlyn’s call, said it proved how vital it is for parents to teach their children what to do in an emergency.

She said: “Every call is different, and we are taught how to deal with child callers as part of our training. But it is unusual to receive a call from someone so young. Kaitlyn was very brave and informative. She obviously knew how to call 999, she told me exactly what was happening, and where they lived.

“She knew exactly what to do in an emergency.”