A homeless man who collapsed in the doorway of a bank was dramatically saved by a passing doctor – the second time an off-duty medic has intervened to bring a stricken rough sleeper back to life in Camden Town in recent months.
In a grim case of déjà vu, junior doctor Clovis Rau went into action on Tuesday when he saw police attempting to resuscitate an unresponsive man on the steps of NatWest in Camden High Street. The incident unfolded just metres from where Big Issue seller Steven Percival died earlier this month. Dr Rau, a trainee accident and emergency doctor at Queen's Hospital, in Romford, said: 'We were just passing and saw the police trying to resuscitate him. The guy had passed out, so I did what I could to help out.'
Before council street wardens arrived on the scene, the man was lying unconscious at the front of the bank, with some customers stepping over him to enter and others appearing concerned and looking for help. Fears were raised when the man initially failed to respond to his arm being vigorously pinched by police officers.
In February, two off-duty doctors helped to save the life of a homeless man at nearby Britannia Junction, whose heart had stopped. After more than a half-an-hour of chest compressions, they managed to re-establish a pulse. Paramedics are being called with increasing regularity to reports of homeless men lying unresponsive on the streets near Camden Town tube station. Mr Percival, who was found dead next to the same bank on July 7, was the second rough sleeper to die within a 100-square-metre area in less than 12 months. Enda Murray, a carpenter who had recently been released from prison, died on the steps of the World's End in September last year.…
The death of Mr Percival, who was known to many around his Big Issue patch in Parkway, triggered calls for 'no more deaths on our streets'. Councillor Jonathan Simpson, cabinet member for community safety, said: 'Despite funding pressures on local authority budgets, Camden Council is committed to supporting rough sleepers in the borough so that they know the services that are available to them to help get them off the streets. I strongly urge residents who witness, or know of rough sleepers to report their location to the Safer Streets Team (SST), so we can offer assistance and help to those who need it.'
A study by Crisis and the University of Sheffield in 2011 found the average age of death of a homeless person is just 47, compared to 77 for the general population. The number of rough sleepers recorded in Camden hit 641 in the year to April 2016, compared to 563 in the previous 12 months.
From an exclusive report by William McLennan published in the Camden New Journal on 28th July 2016.