Elva’s Story

Elva Griffin was on her way to a routine medical appointment when the car she was travelling in collided with a van on the A30 at Connor Downs.

The collision, which happened on Tuesday 19 June at 2.30pm, left her trapped in the car with significant injuries.

Elva said: “On the day of my accident, my father-in-law was ironically taking me to a hospital appointment at Treliske. We noticed a Transit van was at an odd angle in the road, we tried to get out the way but it just came at us. There was an almighty bang and everything went black. The next thing I know there’s people running around and all the emergency services appeared so quickly.”

The Police, Fire Service and South Western Ambulance Service were all scrambled to the incident. After suffering a pelvic injury, Elva had to be cut free from the car.

She continued: “I heard someone saying get the air ambulance. So much was going on, I didn’t really know what I’d done so that was quite frightening. I was worried about my daughter and family.”

Cornwall Air Ambulance was tasked at 3pm and was airborne within 2 minutes. The pilot and crew landed on the A30 at 3.20pm. Critical care paramedics Thomas Hennessy Jones and Jeremy Griffiths administered enhanced pain relief to Elva at the scene, before she was airlifted to Derriford Hospital for further treatment.

Elva spent more than 2 weeks in Derriford Hospital, before being transferred to Bodmin hospital for a further week. She suffered a broken wrist and a back injury which left her unable to walk for several weeks.

Several months after the accident, and well on the road to recovery, Elva was moved to nominate Thomas for an Emergency Services Award for the care he showed her that day.

Elva added:“What really struck me was the fact that he made me feel like a person. I know they see these things daily almost, but for us on the other side this is something completely out of the blue, scary and you’re in shock, so for people to take that moment to explain to you and talk to you- that makes a world of difference.

“Everyone was just so good. It’s nice to say thank you and to have some sort of recognition. The air ambulance does an amazing job and being just a charity I don’t expect they get the thanks and recognition that really they should.”