Our Christmas heroes... and their message to you

CHRISTMAS is family time, says Festus Omeike, describing how he'll be celebrating with his four children and wife.

- By RAMAZANI MWAMBA

But those celebrations on Christmas Day were over the phone, on video calls, during his breaks.

Because cardiac nurse Festus, like so many people across the country yesterday, were giving up time with their loved ones to keep lifesaving services going when people need them most.

While you were poring over the Christmas edition of the Radio Times, meticulously scheduling when you'll watch Wallace and Gromit, they were planning to give more than 100 homeless people a Christmas dinner, or tirelessly patrolling to keep our streets safe.

One 999 call handler made a plea to the public this Christmas, saying: “We have a lot of repeat callers taking up our time. If it’s not an emergency, 101 or live chat are the options to use.

“Once they call, we have to spend our time to make sure there’s no crime and that has to be escalated.

“It affects us and our supervisors and takes our time away from looking at severe cases.”

We're celebrating Greater Manchester’s selfless Christmas heroes and putting the spotlight on just a few of the amazing people who regularly give up their Christmas Day in the service of others.

As nurse Festus says: “Even though we're supposed to be with our own families, it’s our pleasure to work on Christmas Day and make a difference in our community at people’s most vulnerable times.”

The NHS cardiac nurse

Festus Omeike, who lives in Moston, is one of thousands of NHS staff working on Christmas Day in this country.

The dad-of-four started out as a support worker in 2017 before qualifying as a nurse in 2021. He now works at the Acute Cardiac Centre in Manchester Royal Infirmary, treating people who come in with cardiac arrests and heart attacks.

It can be a scary experience for patients and their families, and heart attacks make no exception for Christmas time.