Kuils River resident Petra Swartz says the shock of being awoken by her 22 month old baby daughter having a seizure was one of the worst experiences of her life. In the rush to get her child to hospital she forgot to lock her front door or her security gate, but thankfully her security company was able to assist. However, she didn’t expect the way in which the company ended up going the extra mile for her.
“I woke up just before 7am one Saturday morning (9 July 2016) to see my daughter Gabriella already going blue from the apparent seizure. She was not responding, so I knew I had to get her to hospital immediately. I grabbed her and my 12-year-old son, jumped in the car and raced to Netcare as quickly as I can,” she explains.
It was while making phone calls at the hospital to alert family members of what had happened, that Petra realized she had left home without locking up.
“I couldn’t leave the hospital as they were still working on my daughter. The only option was to phone my security company ADT to see if they could help, while my dad was making his way to also go check on my home.”
Cheryldene Samuels was on duty in the ADT monitoring centre when Petra called.
“I could tell that she was very panicked and stressed about the condition of her child, and now also with the extra worry of her home security. As a mother I could empathise with her – when my child was little, she was sick and in-and-out of hospital for a long time,” said Cheryldene.
“I tried my best to calm her down, and to assure her that we would take care of her home’s security so that she could focus her full attention on her child’s well-being.”
At that point, the call was handed over to dispatcher Mandisa Buso.
“I instructed one of our patrol vehicles in the area to go to Petra’s home and to report back on what they found, so that we could keep our client informed. Our armed response officer reported that one of the doors and a window was standing open but that nothing else appeared to be amiss,” said Mandisa.
This information was relayed back to Petra, while the armed response officer waited at the house for her dad to arrive.
“While we were waiting at the hospital, I received regular updates from Cheryldene and Mandisa on what was happening at my home. They even called back later that afternoon to find out if my child was doing better, and arranged for an extra patrol to keep an eye on the house that night,” said Petra.
“This simple act of kindness really impressed me. This was a very stressful and emotional time for me and my family but thanks to ADT’s assistance I did not have to worry about security issues at my property.”
ADT’s District Manager (Cape Town North) Verena Hulme said she was very impressed with how Cheryldene and Mandisa went beyond the call of duty to assist Petra.
“What impressed me most, was how they put themselves in Petra’s shoes and very quickly made sure that they took as much of the weight off her shoulders as they were able to. This helped Petra focus on her child’s well-being and is exactly the sort of service we strive to deliver to all our clients.”
Hulme said Cheryldene and Mandisa would receive letters of commendations from the company.
[Pictured here are monitoring centre staff members Mandisa Buso and Cheryldene Samuels]
