A DEDICATED volunteer who has saved hundreds of lives over 10 years has won the Market Rasen Rotary Club Community Service Award.
Steve King has been the leading light in the Lives first responders organisation, serving as the area co-ordinator and attending 1,200 call-outs in a career which has spanned a decade.
It was his recovery from a heart attack that inspired Steve to train as a volunteer, having previously driven his Lives responder wife Jenny to some calls.
Mobilised following 999 calls alongside an ambulance, Steve attends various calls with issues ranging from respiratory difficulty, falls and cardiac arrests at home, to road traffic incidents.
He is often the first medically-trained person on the scene of an incident.
He is now one of very few volunteers trained to be able to attend category A calls, the most life-threatening kind. He administers life saving drugs and pain relief, and uses nebulisers and blood monitor kits.
Lives is important in the rural Wolds. Located within their own communities, volunteer responders attend call-outs within minutes, stabilising patients and reassuring loved ones, until paramedics arrive.
This early intervention sometimes means the difference between life and death.
Mr King has also taken a lead role as area co-ordinator in the organisation and helped several villages start up volunteer Lives groups, trained new responders and supported their development.
Before retiring last year, the Olympic torchbearer was a familiar figure at Market Rasen Racecourse as manager of the stables there.
And his work was recognised at a packed carol concert in Market Rasen Methodist Church.
He said: "This award has left me speechless. I accept it on behalf of all the responders in the area.
"We are all proud to help our community. Thank you ever so much."
Ray Pearson, community service chairman for Market Rasen Rotary Club, said: "Steve is a true ambassador for Lives.
"When he gives talks locally on Lives, his passion and gentle humour shine through, inspiring others. He is also a very active volunteer."
To find out how you can get involved in Lives, visit www.lives.org.uk
