Mavis Lesbirel will be "the talk of the town"

Saturday 16 March 2024

A new vehicle has been donated to the Ambulance and Rescue Service in memory of Mavis Lesbirel - a woman described by her brother and cousin as being someone who would "help anyone".

The Preventative Care vehicle is a Peugeot E-Rifter - the first electric car in St John's fleet.

The car will be used by Kelly Marquis in her role focused on proactively supporting independence and safety in the home environment and promoting physical health and well-being in the over-80s.

Ms Marquis will also work as a first responder offering emergency care using the new vehicle too alongside her routine calls.

She says this means everyone will see the car out on the roads - with Mrs Lesbirel's name on it.

Pictured: The vehicle has been donated in memory of Mavis Lesbirel.

"The idea behind having this vehicle was that we wanted something that would be able to be an emergency response vehicle, but also to cater for the needs that I have in a slightly different role in the ambulance service, which is focusing on preventative care," she explained.

"I do preventative care assessments with people, and as a result of that, I often have to carry a lot of equipment around. If I've suggested that somebody has some adaptation equipment around the home, this vehicle gives me the opportunity to be both an emergency response vehicle, but also more of a van style vehicle so that I can carry things as and when, but still keep the emergency equipment in there should I need to respond if I'm in the right area at the right time."

Ms Marquis' main focus is on preventative care though with the ageing population at the forefront of planning within the Partnership of Purpose.

"It's no secret that we're living in an ageing population," she said.

"There's been lots of information provided to the public about that recently, and the ambulance service is dealing with the ageing population as well as health and social care. The prevention element of it is absolutely fantastic, because what we're doing is we're finding problems while they're in their infancy so that we can nip them in the bud before they escalate into people being more unwell, ambulance call outs being required, Emergency Department admissions, hospital admissions, and the future reliance on community services that those often bring along."

Pictured: The new vehicle is the first electric car to be added to St John's fleet.

The preventative care service is operated through the Partnership of Purpose, by the Ambulance and Rescue Service and the States of Guernsey's Health and Social Care (HSC) department.

Mrs Lesbirel was cared for by the service before her death in February 2023.

She is missed by relatives and friends, including her brother Michael and cousin Marion Gallienne. Ms Gallienne had arranged for the vehicle to be donated in her cousin's name.

"She'd help anyone, even when she was in her wheelchair," said Ms Gallienne. 

"She lived at the Grand Courtil in her last years and she always asked if they wanted anything from the shop. She got in and out my car no problem. She was very independent."

Ms Gallienne felt very emotional when the new Preventative Care vehicle was presented to the ambulance and rescue service on Friday. 

"I just thought it'd be great to have something with her name on because she helped others so much. She was good as gold," she said, adding: "she'd be really proud (of the new Preventative Care vehicle), telling everybody 'look, this is my car. It's got my name on it'."

Mark Mapp, the Ambulance Service Chief Executive Officer, said he is very grateful to Ms Gallienne, and others who make donations to the running of the service.

"Whilst we receive contributions towards our running costs for the ambulance service, we do rely on donations for some of our service lines and subscription schemes and charges and so we really appreciate this donation, which will support Kelly's role in things differently," he said.

"Quite often when we get a donation, someone wants to see something tangible  in memory of their loved ones, and so we're really pleased to put it to a vehicle. It's quite emotional for us all. It's been named Mavis (the vehicle), so she is in our memory and it will support the community and many people in our island for the next decade.

"You can see there's a real connection, and so I am really pleased we can help Mavis' family remember her in this way. We're pleased to be part of that journey."

Ms Marquis was also grateful to Ms Gallienne and Mr Le Lacheur for the donation on behalf of Mavis Lesbirel.

Pictured (l-r): Marion Gallienne, Michael Le Lacheur, and Kelly Marquis. 

"It's gained a fair bit of attention because it's quite a unique vehicle. What we wanted to do was demonstrate that it was a St John vehicle but we've also got the Partnership of Purpose logo on there because this job role is a partnership between St John Ambulance Service and Health and Social Care, and so it's brought lots of attention because it is different.

"It's not a typical ambulance, but equally it's not a normal car, so lots of people have been 'what's this all about?' and it's really going to get people's attention, which is absolutely great from the job role point of view. 

"But also importantly people will know that Mavis donated the vehicle. It's got her name on the back so people can see this absolutely wonderful gesture that her and the family have done for the ambulance service and Health and Social Care.

"She's going to be the talk of the town."