Northwich nurse saves woman's life in Rhodes (From Northwich Guardian)

Northwich nurse saves woman's life in Rhodes

12:20pm Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News By Emma Rigby

A HOLIDAY in Rhodes doesn’t usually lead to saving someone’s life, but for Northwich resident Dawn Worthington, that’s exactly what happened.

Dawn was sunbathing on the beach with her husband, David, in Kiotari, when she witnessed what she thought was a “talented” swimmer enjoying the Greek isle.

“I noticed this lady in the shallows – she was faced down but seemed to be bobbing her head up and down,” said Dawn.

“I thought it was a little unusual but just thought she was doing really well being able to look under the water without any goggles.

“After a while I realised she’d been faced down for quite some time and started to worry a little.”

Dawn alerted her husband and the two of them ran down to help the struggling swimmer, a 71-year-old lady from France.

After pulling the lady out of the water Dawn, a qualified nurse, put her into the recovery position and began trying to revive her.

“She wasn’t breathing,” said Dawn. “I shouted for help and continued to try and get her breathing again.”

Fortunately, Dawn’s first aid skills meant the woman was saved and taken to a nearby hospital.

Dawn, who has visited the island twice a year for the last seven years, said: “People kept coming up to me and calling me a hero, saying how well I’d done, but I didn’t do anything special – anyone else on that beach would have done exactly the same.”

The incident happened at 4pm, a time when Dawn and David had usually returned to their hotel, but because their holiday was coming to a close, they had decided to soak up a little extra sun.

Dawn said: “We knew we only had a couple of days left of the holiday – it was Sunday afternoon and we were leaving on Wednesday.

“I guess we were just in the right place at the right time.”