Great Grandfather bought to Hospice when fire engulfed Dagenham estate

A great grandfather was taken to Saint Francis Hospice for safety as last week's fires caused by the heat raged around his Dagenham home.

Ernie Bruns, who is bedbound and in the late stages of Parkinson's disease, and his wife Dot, were at home when emergency services arrived on Tuesday to evacuate them from their home.

"I still cannot believe what happened," said Dot. "On Tuesday morning, I was reading the newspaper about all the fires and said, 'thank goodness we don't have any fires near us.' An hour later we had a fire!

"At first, I just smelt smoke and thought someone was having a barbecue.

"Our grandson was in the garden at the time and he could see the grass in my neighbour's garden was on fire. You should have seen the flames! There were lots of loud bangs as cars were exploding.

"The police came and told us we had to get out but I said I would not leave without Ernie.

"My grandson was wonderful - he saved our lives. He ran back in to get Ernie's medication and he also saved our cat Dotty.

Ernie at home with his beloved cat, Dotty

"We promised Ernie that he would not go into a home or a hospital and because Ernie is under the care of the Hospice, the paramedics got in touch and we were taken there by ambulance.

"Everyone at the Hospice has been absolutely brilliant. I don't know what we would have done without them - they haven't just looked after Ernie, they've looked after me too.

"We've been married for 68 years and he is OK as long as I am with him.

"We haven't been back to our home yet so we don't know if there has been any damage but I'm just so grateful to everyone at the Hospice. Ernie couldn't be in a safer place."

Ernie and and wife Dot on holiday in happier times

The Hospice helped keep Ernie out of Hospital

Martyn Tillett from the London Ambulance Service was at the scene where the fire was "engulfing a housing estate in Dagenham" and the police came across Ernie, Dot and their grandson while they were evacuating residents and moving them to a rest centre at the local football stadium.

"We only had one ambulance on scene at the time, which had an injured firefighter on board who needed blue lighting to hospital but we needed to rescue this family as well," said Martyn.

"As our only trolley bed had the injured firefighter on board, we had no option but to use the carry chair to move Ernie out of the danger zone and back to the command point where they were safe.

"We had no bed to place him onto and whilst knowing the easy option would have been to get a frontline ambulance to the scene and convey the family to hospital, this would not have been the best option for Ernie.

"I thought I would try Saint Francis Hospice as the family was already known to them, to see whether they could help at all, not knowing if this was just going to be for a few hours or possibly more if their house burnt down and then a longer term solution would need to be found.

"I rang the Hospice, spoke to a lovely lady and explained the situation I was faced with. Understandably, she could not give me a direct decision there and then but did phone me back a short time later to accept our patient.  

"I cannot explain my relief that our patient was going to be looked after in the best place I could have possibly arranged and not stuck in a hospital corridor for hours.

"From the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful to Saint Francis Hospice for their help on the day."

We did our best to accommodate Ernie and his wife

Dr Corinna Midgley, Medical Director at Saint Francis Hospice, said, "We were so glad to be able to help.

"Our community nurse Kathy took the call from Martyn. Poor Ernie was on the street, and the situation sounded desperate.

"Kathy found me - I was with our CEO Pam Court, and preparing to leave early (it was my birthday!) but this was top priority.

"Our ward already had two admissions and the ward nurses were stretched, so I approached our Hospice at Home team who were able to redirect one of their nurses, Nicky, to help the ward, so that we could say yes to Martyn.

"Ernie arrived about an hour later, with Dot, daughter, grandson and their cat.

"He went straight into a bed on the ward and we were able to establish comfort, care needs, catch up with medical issues, ensure the right medications were in place and find something for Ernie and Dot to eat.

"Ernie is with us pending an update about home. He is keen for home but comfortable here and Dot has stayed by his side throughout."

Ernie's wife, Dot, and Dr Corinna at Ernie's bedside at the Hospice