Sunny weather, Rugby & Blood…

Hey,
I said I would post a blog again at the weekend, after I’d been on duty, so.. here you go! This morning I was at my local rugby club covering a ‘league game’ for the Under 17’s. For the first half of the match it was relatively quiet, not a lot happening. Which gave me and my colleague a chance to sit and have a chat in our vehicle with a cup of tea (makes us sound so old doesn’t it?!).
Anyway, at the beggining of the second half we were called onto the pitch by the referee after a player had been kicked severely on the side of his head. Before we even got to the patient we could see that this wasn’t just a kick to the head. Blood was pouring down the side of his face!
After moving him off the pitch, so that the game could continue, my colleague and myself began to treat the casualty.
After cleaning the wound and assessing the casualty it became very clear that he needed to go to A&E, and possibly have stitches. As the players parents weren’t at the rugby club and couldn’t get there quickly (as we are in the middle of the Surrey countryside!) we had to make a descision, do we patch him up and advise him to attend A&E later on or call 999 for ambulance assistance?
This is always a tough descision to make, but this was made easier after the casualtys condition deteroiated and he began to show signs of concussion.

A 999 call was made to phone for an ambulance.

After dealing with this casualty, we packed up our equipment and returned to a our vehicle to watch the rest of the match. From then on we dealt with only two minor injuries, one of which was a nosebleed after being kicked in the face and the other was a dislocated little finger, which was quite clearly dislocated and possibly even fractured. We sent the second casualty to A&E but as he was in no pain, he made his own way there.

It was a gorgeous day today, one of those days which you love to be outside doing something.. even though for me and my colleague it was in the middle of a rugby pitch!

Take a look at my photo gallery, and in the page named “Sunny weather, Rugby & Blood” there are photos from this morning, why not take a look.

In my last blog I posted I said that I passed my AED (Automated External Defibrillator) course, this now means I am a qualified AED Operator. Which more or less promotes my level of First Aid to Advanced First Aid. This piece of equipment gives the heart a shock, when somebody is not breathing or ‘in the trade’ known as in cardiac arrest.
Being qualified in this means that I can give somebody more of a fighting chance should I ever come across somebody in cardiac arrest.

Take care, I will post a blog again soon.

James.