Islanders honoured for helping to protect Jersey’s community

Islanders honoured for helping to protect Jersey’s community

During a ceremony attended by high-ranking police officers and senior civil servants yesterday, seven Islanders were recognised by the Safeguarding Partnership Board for their contributions to protecting both adults and children.

One award recipient, Janette Urquhart, from the Jersey Probation and Aftercare Service, began working with a vulnerable woman with alcohol-related issues who had been placed on probation for six months.

Miss Urquhart had weekly contact with her client until the end of January, when her client began to miss meetings.

After not being able to get in contact with her, Miss Urquhart raised a concern for welfare with the States police, who visited the woman’s home address and found her collapsed and in a seriously ill condition.

Following the incident, officers described the woman as being ‘very poorly’, suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, and they said it was not clear how much longer she would have survived had an alarm not been raised.

Speaking after receiving her award, Miss Urquhart said that it was important to recognise offenders as humans.

‘I think when you work in the public sector you do not get a lot of recognition day to day for what you do, so to get an award like this is really nice. It makes me feel valued and what I do worthwhile,’ she said.

‘I work with many offenders and I think it is easy for people to label them as perpetrators rather than people. You have got to see the humanity behind that and sometimes that comes with vulnerability.

‘I think it is important to take that extra step and help them if they need it, which happened in this case. I do not know if it is too strong to say this – but that effectively saved her life.’

Jenny Querns, team leader for Family Nursing and Home Care, Karen Ogilvie, pre-school manager at St Peter’s School, Glenn de la Haye, safeguarding and occupation support manager at the Social Security Department, and PC Jo Carter from the States police were also all recognised for their work.

Laura Osmand, co-ordinator of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre, and Dr Graham Ramsden, the States’ educational psychologist – who was not present at the ceremony – also received awards.

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