…that Sean has just spent the last 10 minutes trying to justify why he thinks that Patrick Stewart, Sean Connery and Anthony Stewart Head are sexy?
Tags: disturbing, sean
First responders seems to be quietening down at the moment and Mountain Rescue’s getting busier!
We’re up to our forty-something-th callout already this year – we’re well on track to be amongst the busiest teams in the country and this weekend’s contributing heavily to that number. Last night, just after midnight, while Sean and I were just winding up a long-needed clearout of the enormous piles of crap I have in my office the pager went off. With my hayfever going mad this year it’s triggering asthma which isn’t a good thing – especially when I’m going to be heading out with the team!
On the way to base we heard the details – we had a search for a misper down on the Gower – an elderly gentleman with dementia. He’d gone wandering and though we spent quite some time searching, we couldn’t find a trace. With the sun rising, the police stood down for a few hours for a shift handover and we headed back to base with the pagers announcing that the search was continuing. I was heading for bed.
This afternoon we’ve had a request from South Wales police to help recover a body. That’s going on at the moment and on top of that the search is continuing in the Gower. Another busy weekend for us. I’ve been catching up on sleep and preparing for tonight – a first responder meeting to go over any clinical issues we’ve had recently.
Anyway, more office to clean…
Tags: busy, dementia, elderly, First Responders, Gower, Mountain Rescue, night, search
The past few weeks have been mostly unbroken by shrill beeping of the pager with the exception of the regular Thursday night tests. That is, until Saturday. And it’s been a bizarre series of callouts.
After doing my Ambulance shift on Saturday, I headed up to Aberystwyth. Sean and I headed out to a Greek restaurant in town, where I think I surprised the waitress by actually knowing what I was ordering and pronouncing it fairly accurately too. It was a cracking meal and as Sean and I were relaxing in his room later on, the pager went off for the first time in a while. This one was for a search in Penarth for a missing elderly gentleman. Weighing up the options, I decided to not attend – it would be a 100-mile journey to base, 2 hours minimum. Not really worth it – a decision that’s becoming harder to make with rising fuel prices, since I have to pay for my own diesel for going to callouts.
The search continued into the early hours when it was stood down – the team had an ex on Sunday which was supposed to go ahead until the pager went off again at 1000 – a continuation of the previous nights’ callout. Whilst my colleagues were scouring scrubland in South Wales, I was eating ice cream and relaxing on the beach in Mid Wales (sorry guys!). The afternoon peace was broken by another pager message – this time for an area call in the waterfalls which finished fairly quickly. With the afternoon dying away, the search was finally stood down and I enjoyed a peaceful night.
Until last night when, as I was pulling away from Tesco’s, the pager went off. I headed up to base, vaguely concerned about my frozen pizza in the boot. Once there, I found that we had a sighting of a flare in or around the Ystradfellte Reservoir and so we headed up to Storey Arms to meet the Brecon team. With people approaching the valley from all directions, it wasn’t long before we stumbled across some people who had been setting off flares for no good reason and should have known better. I can’t go into detail, but suffice to say, they’re probably not having a good day today.
As I was about to pull out of the layby after packing up, the pager went off again, this time for a possible downed hanglider north of Cardiff. By the time I got to base, we’d been stood down since no actual evidence of the crash had been found. We packed up and headed home where, at 2300, I finally managed to cook my now-deformed and defrosted pizza. I finally collapsed into bed around 0100 and fell deep asleep…
…until about 0145 when the pager woke me – search for a misper in Porth. With feet of lead, I dragged my reluctant self downstairs and headed off to base again. Not much to say about this one, there wasn’t a huge amount of information, it was a horrendously shitty area to search and he was found outside of our search area. By the time I’d packed up the vehicle in base and reached home it was 0600 and I managed a few hours’ sleep before I had to get up for work.
I just hope that this isn’t the trend for the week.
Technorati Tags: callout
Tags: Aberystwyth, Ambulance, Brecon team, diesel, exercise, food, Greek restaurant, hanglider, ice cream, Mountain Rescue, rescue, reservoir, sean, search, shift, Storey Arms, waterfalls, Ystradfellte
…at 2am on the walk back from the pub, you and your friend are discussing the relative merits of the influence of the postmodern and minimalist movements on the architecture in the village.
And then running away as the you trigger the security lights of the house you’ve just been discussing.
Tags: architecture, Mal, minimalist, postmodern, pub
I’ve been reading with interest and disgust the comments made by MSP Murdo Fraser about the policing of the UEFA cup final in Manchester.
Reported widely on the BBC, I read it today and was surprised to see the MSP at odds with the police already – along with both Scottish Labour and the Lib Dems:
“I thought there was an over-reaction in terms of deploying riot police which possibly enflamed the situation…” MSP Fraser, BBC New
Personally as soon as I read his comment, I though his opinion was unlikely to be true. The police certainly weren’t amused and neither was Machester council leader, Sir Richard Leese, who said:
“If you are going to put blame on anybody you put blame on those people for their behaviour – they have to take responsibility.” Sir Richard Leese, BBC News
The police, who where policing a very difficult situation it seems felt it necessary to issue riot gear to the officers on the ground in order to control the crowds. Given that the MSPs in question weren’t there, I have to wonder how they think they’re talking anything but absolute rubbish. Of course, they’ve ended up with large amounts of egg on their faces now as GMP have released CCTV footage of the crowds, shown here on the BBC website. Quite frankly, looking at that footage, I think if I was that poor officer I’d be shitting myself with a mob of violent, angry and likely drunken hooligans bearing down on me. I can only imagine what that must have been like for him and all respect to him.
Of course, the wrong and allegedly honorable MSP Fraser has now issued a statement, not to camera this time, where according to the Beeb, he’s had to “temper his comments”. Apparently, after viewing the CCTV “the situation was more serious than [he] first suspected” and “The attacks on police officers and paramedics are deplorable and have to be condemned without reservation.”
So apart from thinking that the hooligans involved in the violence and riots should be strung up, I have to admit that my opinion of this MSP is now very low given that he seems to think he can judge a situation better than trained and experienced officers on the ground. Idiot.
I’ve not really had the best of luck with cars over the past few years.
2 years ago, my Discovery failed an MOT with some £2k of work needing doing on the body. With a resale value of £2.5k after doing the work, I opted not to throw my money away. My next car turned out to be a lemon and was scrapped. Following that, I had an old Rover for a while until the head gasket blew recently – a common fault on these cars, mainly because the engine is a bit crap. For the few weeks after that I had some rental cars (new Mondeo saloon – very nice indeed; a brand new Corsa – not bad, but too small for me; ML320 – nice but waay out of my reach) while I desperately looked for a new car. I had a recommendation to go and visit a garage in Risca so off I went.
Stuart, of Trustworthy Motors in Risca didn’t have anything in my price range out front and since it was a Sunday the office was deserted. Nevertheless, you don’t often get a used car salesman with such a glowing recommendation so I grabbed his phone number and left a message. Stuart called me back and we had a chat. He took the details of what I needed, my budget and so on and I was left with a feeling of confidence that he could find me something decent, even though my budget was fairly tight. Then at the end I had the big surprise – since I was a friend-of-a-friend he offered to lend me a car for a few weeks so that he could have a chance to find something and it would at least get me on the road. Once I’d picked myself up off the floor I gratefully accepted and a few days later picked up a Renault Scenic. With that taking a weight off my mind and wallet, life settled back into a routine again.
A week or two later I had a phone call – he’d found me something. An R reg VW Golf Estate, 1.9 diesel (no turbo). Initially unenthusiastic, it was a little over budget but I popped over to see it. Immediately I saw it, I felt better – a 4 door, small family-sized estate, loads of room in the boot. It even had a dog guard and a boot protector. My fears over a lack of turbo were put aside as I drove it and after chatting over the price, we shook hands – with a payment plan that suited me perfectly as well.
Of course, I’ve already told the story of what happened next, not two weeks into the ownership of my new Golf. The good news is that the rumble was just a balancing problem and I’m back on the road with a fully working Golf. It needs a little TLC for the bodywork and a new wheel, but other than that, it’s back to normal. The drive is lovely – it’s such an effortless drive to Aberystwyth, there’s more room in the boot than almost any other car I’ve had and all in all, it’s a cracking little car. My experience with Stuart has boosted my confidence in used car salesmen tremendously and I can’t speak highly enough of him.
Makes a change, doesn’t it?
Sorry I’ve been quiet recently but the last few weeks have been pretty chaotic. Today, however, deserves a post of its own
First of all my car died. I ended up renting one for a week, followed by borrowing one from a used car dealership that was able to get me out of a very difficult situation, but that’s a different post. Finally, I managed to find a new car – a nice shiny red VW Golf estate which has impressed me a lot. I’m loving it.
So in my nice new car I was heading to base this morning, not to work and for once not to a callout. Meeting at base at 1000 we set about to prepare ourselves and the base for today’s event – a royal visit.
At about 1400 today, a number of cars pulled up outside base and out stepped Prince William. As the news reports, he was visiting a number of places in the valleys and stopped off to see us as his final visit of the day. We had some fun prepared for him – some hobnobbing with the local dignitaries, a light lunch and then change and head up to Morlais Quarry where we took him to the top off the cliff and he got to lower someone down a cliff – I don’t think his protection detail would have been too amused by my idea of lowering him off the edge of a cliff, but nevertheless, we had some great photo opportunities. It was a great day with fantastic weather and we all thoroughly enjoyed.
That’s when it all went downhill though, because on the way home, some drunken twat drove into my nice shiny new car and drove off without stopping. The damage isn’t too bad, it was a glancing blow but it’s knackered one of my wheels (it’s bent the actual metal bit) and twatted my rear door and rear wing, and after a drive tonight, I think it might have done something to the suspension or thereabouts. I only managed to grab a partial index – “S633…”, and I know it was a pale blue or silver hatchback – a large one, quite wide. Beyond that, the prick didn’t even slow down – no brake lights. I’ve just got home after filling in a police report which was gratifyingly easy and quick, though the nice young PC didn’t hold much hope of catching the turd, and reckoned he was probably drunk anyway.
Great.
Tags: car, crag, crash, exercise, Mountain Rescue, police, Prince William, quarry, royal
I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I posted anything here. So much has happened recently…
I’ve not really been responding with the First Responders recently because of something that happened to me that has caused huge repercussions through my whole life – my car died. Now, I believe in Bangernomics – running cheap cars with higher maintenance costs instead of newer more expensive cars who depreciate quickly. However, I was expecting my little Rover to last another year or two, so it was a little bit of a shock when the head gasket blew and I had to get towed back from halfway to London. I have a temporary fix and I have someone looking for a more permanent fix for me, so I’m not too bad for now but it does mean that I’m not really able to respond for now.
We have had a job with Mountain Rescue – apart from a standdown after a request for assistance for a search in Redditch that is. It was a call to New Tredegar to assist the fire service with two youths stuck on a rock face. They were in a pretty nasty little gully, lots of loose rock, very unstable and we had a bit of a job getting them down. It was nice to be at the sharp end of a fairly technical job for a change, so I was happy with that.
Right now, I’m sat in a fantastic flat in Battersea in London getting Sean and his Dad ready for his Dad’s wedding. It’s going to be fun event I think, I’ve even got a reading to give and I’m taking the groom to the wedding in a rental car. The first of four wedding-type events of this year so far, Sean and I are going to be all weddinged-out by the end of the year I think.
Right, time to wash the car I think.
Tags: car, crag, Fire Brigade, First Responders, John, Mountain Rescue, rescue, sean, Sophie, wedding
Ok, so it’s not that impressive, but it was a busy shift today. 4 calls, one mountain rescue callout.
The shift started off quiet with no calls from Ambulance control until Saturday morning, meaning that I could get a decent night’s sleep. Of course, a lie in was out of the question as the phone rang at just before 0900 for a call to an elderly lady with a PR bleed. I headed off to the home – it’s a fairly decent place, but it’s more of a sheltered home than a nursing home offering full medical care. Apparently, the lady had been sent home from hospital the week before with a perforated bowel, though that seemed unlikely. Either way, she was in pain and so after only a few minutes of getting her details the crew arrived and she was rapidly taken out to the ambulance. I headed back for some breakfast and a cup of coffee.
Off into Caerphilly at lunchtime to meet an old friend. We managed a decent meal without interruption and I started thinking that I might even be able to get some DIY done today. Of course, on the way back from Asda I had a call, so seeing as I was 20 yards from the house I dropped Sean off, he grabbed the shopping and off I went. The call was for a 54 year old female who’d fallen and had a back and shoulder injury. I found the house OK and headed in – the husband pointed me upstairs where I found the lady bent double over the bed. She’d slipped while showering in the bath and fell backwards onto the taps. She was fairly comfortable so long as she maintained that position and just as I started getting some basic obs the crew turned up. They listened to her chest and suspecting a pneumothorax caused by a broken rib, we got her out to the ambulance quickly and she was blued into A&E.
On the back from that call, I had another, this one to a 98 year old female who’d fallen. Off I went across Caerphilly to find the lady had fallen coming out of the kitchen and had bruised her knees. I took some basic obs, reassured myself that she was ok – the walking around the house proved that. Control called to get an update while I was there which is unusual – they asked if I could clear and since there was a crew pulling up and I said yes. Things had suddenly kicked off with an RTC, a collapse, chest pains, several Difficulty In Breathing calls and a “?CVA – unresponsive”. So I got the CVA. When I got there, the “unresponsive” part was true – he was sitting up and breathing fine but wasn’t responding to us. The crew was coming down the road as I walked into the house, so I gave the chap some oxygen and let the daughter bring the crew up to speed. I assisted in getting him out to the truck and headed back to the car. There was an RRV on as well and I heard him heading off to another job as I packed the car up.
Hoping to go home to get a cuppa, I was still a mile away when the phone rang again – 41 year old female, ankle injury. Ok, no worries I said, where? The answer – “The burger van, Caerphilly Mountain.” “Excuse me?” I queried how far from the road she was and was told that the caller said that she was near the road. I asked to put Mountain Rescue on standby, just in case. I got there quickly – it’s an easy run from where I was and traffic was light – the rain however, wasn’t. I got to the top and there was no sign of anyone with a broken ankle. Back to control who called the reporter, asking me to keep a look out for a woman with a dog. Spotting her across the car park, I asked her for some details. Apparently the lady was some distance from the road. I headed back to the car – by now the rain was heavy and the sky gray – or was it the other way around? Either way, it was cold and wet and getting wetter. I called control back and asked them to arrange for Mountain Rescue – I’d need some backup on this one especially if she was any serious distance from the road. I slung a decent coat on, grabbed my MR kit and my Ambulance bag and off we went.
She was some 500m from the road on a muddy and slippery path. The ankle in question was swollen and slightly deformed and moving it was causing some pain, so I got my KISU tent out (naturally, it was the first thing I thought about this time) and insulated her from the ground. There were 3 other family members and her son, so I put them under the KISU tent too. Meanwhile, I had Mountain Rescue and Ambulance control to coordinate. The ambulance arrived and held at the RV which was the burger van. Police arrived soon after with 2 WPCs slipping and sliding their way up. Helimed – the air ambulance – was rejected due to the fact that the casualty was in trees and Gwent’s helicopter couldn’t fly in this weather. Rescue 169 was an option and after a discussion between myself and one of our MR Incident controller’s, was stood to and asked to make their way to us. The police were happy to leave things to us – the terrain wasn’t good and although they offered the fire service, we really needed MR. Our stretchers are designed to have people strapped into them instead of balanced on top and on this kind of terrain I wasn’t happy with anything else. I had a few conversations people and I think it did show a little of the fact that people aren’t that aware of our capabilities as mountain rescue.
Pretty soon we had plenty of people there and with a blast of entonox, we packaged the lady’s ankle in a vacuum splint and stretchered her off. The team had assessed the path on the way in and stood down 169. Within half an hour she was in the back of the ambulance on the way to Cardiff. I called Ambulance control and advised them that I was going off-service for a while – I had to follow the vacuum splint to Cardiff to retrieve it and then head home to get changed out of my soaking wet clothes. I had a thanks from control and from the police Sargent whom I’ve now seen on a few incidents in the area. I had a chance to chat with the lady in A&E and found that she had indeed fractured her fibula right on the ankle. I wished her well and picking up the splint headed home for chips and a shower and some dry clothes. Despite going back on service the rest of the night was nice and quiet as was the rest of the weekend – I’ve even managed to (finally) finish painting the bathroom.
How was your weekend?
Tags: 169, Ambulance, ankle, bleed, broken, Caerphilly, CVA, entonox, First Responders, Mountain Rescue, nan down, pneumothorax, police, rescue, shift, splint
Sean and I were quite happily sat at home yesterday when the pager went off for an area call. As Sean called out the grid reference, I tried working out where it was…until Sean called out the location. “Abertridwr.” “I…what?!” I grabbed my pager and laptop and threw the grid reference into StreetMap – sure enough, it was a callout just off the top end of Abertridwr.
Jamming my shoes and jacket on quickly, Sean and I ran out and drove off. Arriving on scene, I texted one of our senior guys who I knew was en route and quickly changed into my boots and a hi-viz. I could see someone standing up by a small quarry uphill from us and Sean and I headed up the scene. A young lad had broken his leg and the ambulance crew were already on scene. We had a few interesting moments but apparently they’d already called 169 to come and assist and apart from covering them in a KISU tent and trying to organise a winching location for the helo, there wasn’t much for us to do. I had the amusing moment of clearing the scene of helmet-less people (mainly police) but other than that it was a fairly rapid and uneventful callout. 7 mins from pager to being on-scene and I think we were stood down within about an hour.
Couple of things come to mind though as I look back and analyse my own actions. I was very aware that although I’d joined First Responders to get some experience of dealing with scenes, this one threw me because I’d concentrated so much on the medical and there was nothing for me to do here – there was a paramedic on scene. I did have concerns about their health at one point since it was damnably cold up there, but 169 shocked us all as it suddenly appeared from over the hill and we were gone before it became an issue.
So, in retrospect, and knowing that hindsight is 20:20, what I could have done better:
- Got a better handover from the ambulance crew. To be fair, the paramedic was being a little brusque and somewhat territorial with his casualty, and while I could have been more assertive, it wouldn’t have benefited the casualty any unless 169 would have taken another hour or so.
- Got my KISU tent out. It was cold up there, but I was mainly trying to get a handle on the scene and get in contact with the rest of the team whilst Mike (who arrived a few minutes after I did) got his KISU tent out.
I think I did OK, certainly room for improvement, something I suspect will come with experience. I certainly think that had we remained there for any length of time I would have chosen a number of actions – got the ambulance crew out before they got hypothermic; got the casualty in a cas bag; moved him onto our stretcher off of the ambulance’s scoop stretcher; certainly I would have offered the casualty some Entonox I think – the Paramedic was sure that the kid was OK with his pain (until he nudged his leg), but I’m not sure how much of that was bravado on the young lad’s part. He refused my offer of Entonox since the casualty was hypothermic – it’s a controversial subject since it’s not technically contraindicated for hypothermic casualties and so long as the cylinder is above -4 celsius it should be ok (you have to shake it first when it’s cold just to make sure it’s mixed). My biggest concern would be monitoring his consciousness levels given that both hypothermia and Entonox can in extreme cases affect it.
Anyway, some food for thought. Good result and the young man seemed to be happy as he got his first helicopter flight, his leg momentarily forgotten as 6.5 tons of noisy, yellow helicopter thundered overhead.
Tags: 169, entonox, Mountain Rescue, quarry, rescue