I shouldn't think this thread will develop into anything, and I only really want to comment. Much has been made, and quite rightly, of the small girl who saved her mum's life by dialling 999 when her mother went into anaphylactic shock. I know there have been other cases where very small children have alerted emergency services when adults have become ill. I was standing in a queue at the hospital pharmacy yesterday behind an African lady with a child who could not have been more than four years old. She got to the front of the queue and it became obvious that she couldn't speak any English, and that the child was her interpreter. He was completely unphased as he listened to all the pharmacist's questions and relayed them to his mother - "is she taking any other medication” (medication???), "does she pay for her medicines?" "Is she allergic to anything". Without him they would not have been able to communicate with her, and I wondered whether whatever treatment she had been at the hospital for he had had to interpret for her there as well! He was a dear little chap and obviously wise beyond his years, but what a burden. I'm sure at that age, my GS would have been bored to distraction at just having to stand in a long queue, never mind deal with difficult words like allergic and medication!
