Ambulance Blog...

Bonfire Night & Rugby

volunteering2saveyouguys — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:52:54 +0000

It’s been a busy weekend for the likes of us lot in the emergency services, seeing as it has been bonfire night and all. This weekend I was on duty all day Saturday at a rugby match, followed by all night at my local bonfire.
Luckily the rugby matches went off without any hassle. The bonfire was slightly different!
Compared to previous years however, it was extremely quiet. We had the usual burns from torches and sparklers, and then we had some very stupid kids who thought it would be funny to fire fireworks at each other.

Stupid ~~fuckers~~ children.

Thankfully, we were packed up fairly early and all was well.

This morning I was on duty again at another batch of rugby matches. The first few matches went off without anything serious, just the usual strains & sprains. However, 4 and 1/2 minutes into the last match of the day, me and my colleague were faced with a suspected spinal injury. As a preacaution we kept the head in neutral position and called for ambulance assisitance. They arrived within 15 minutes.. which wasn’t bad considering the distance they travelled! (But I won’t get into the conversation, i.e; ambulance times).

Anyway, the ambulance arrived and we assisted them in packing up the casualty onto a longboard. Shortly after they left for the nearest A & E.

That concludes another of my fun packed weekends..

It’s Been A Long Time..

volunteering2saveyouguys — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:41:29 +0000

Once again it’s been a very long time since my last post!
I have been so busy I just honestly haven’t had the time. Sometimes I haven’t checked my e-mails for over a week, let alone post a blog.

See next post for an incident after I worked today….

Show Hit By Foot & Mouth..

volunteering2saveyouguys — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:04:32 +0000

Well.. an unexpected twist to the event I worked at last Sunday. It is an agricultural show, with the main attraction and purpose being cattle.
However, due to the sudden hit of Foot & Mouth a ban was put on transporting all cattle, so there was no way of the animals being able to be displayed.
Also the Foot & Mouth outbreak isn’t actually that far from my location, so it would have been rather stupid to have any animals at the show anyway!

Other than that, the show was pretty quiet. Most people we treated had severe sunburn or heat stroke. Also we treated loads of people who had been stung by unknown insects hiding in the grass.

There is quite of work coming up, so will blog soon about that.

Take care..

It’s Been A Long, Long Time…

volunteering2saveyouguys — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:52:09 +0000

Hey everyone,

First of all.. my apologies for the length of time since my last blog, I have been so busy with exams, working and other various things that I really haven’t had the time to post a blog! I hope you are all okay and things are well.

I have been on duty at so many things since my last blog that it would take such a long time to write about them all, infact it might just turn into a book!
However, I am on duty at quite a large show all day tomorrow, so I will definetly blog again regarding tomorrow, also with pictures (hopefully!).

The weather forecast is stating that the temperature could get up to as high as 30 degrees tomorrow, which is great news for the organisers of the event, but not so good for us lot who have to pick up the pieces of the silly people who decide not to; wear sun cream, cover themselves from the sun and drink enough water!

Well wish me luck (I think me and my colleagues may need it tomorrow!).

Look back soon for the details of tomorrow…

On Duty At The Golf & Village Fete

volunteering2saveyouguys — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:31:47 +0000

Hey everyone,
I was on duty at quite a large and well-known golf event last Thursday. It was screened on BBC2 throughout the afternoon, so it was a high profile event. Luckily it wasn’t a very busy day and we only dealt with a few injuries, such as spectators being hit by golf balls! Gladly they were all fine, apart from some bruising which they might have had the next day!
Over the whole day there was four ambulance vehicles positoned over the site, along with two purpose built golf buggies, one of which for our members and the other for the site Doctor. These were a great help for getting around the site!
However, when these duties high profile duties arise they always come with a catch, and this one was that we had to be on site and operational by 7am. Which meant me having to get up at 5am! I didn’t arrive back home until 9pm that night.
I can tell you now, that is a very long day. But it’s all good fun!
Check out my photo gallery for a few pictures!

On Duty At A Local Village Fete

On the Sunday afternoon just gone I was on duty at a village fete not far from where I live. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t at it’s best, however the turnout was still strong which just shows that some areas around here do still have a big community spirit. All in all it was another not very busy day. There was 3 of us on duty at this event, well.. 2 ambulance members and 1 ‘observer’.
For those of you who don’t know or can’t guess what an ‘observer’ is, it’s someone is either thinking of joining our service or someone who has joined but hasn’t completed their training yet, and they come along with us to observe and see what we get up to.
Observers can sometimes be a great help, but other times.. can be a great pain. Luckily this time our observer was a great help and really enthusiastic to learn all about what we do.

Take a look at my photo gallery for some pictures, and look under the page name the same as this blog.
I will blog again soon as I am on duty at another high profile event this Saturday. Take care.

Going, going.. gone.

It’s Been A While…

volunteering2saveyouguys — Sun, 13 May 2007 18:18:11 +0000

Hey,
I thought I would write a post seeing as I haven’t for over a month! I’ve been really busy lately, so haven’t had time to write a post. I’ve done a few jobs recently, but haven’t really had anything serious.
The bank holiday weekend just gone I worked at a typical village fair, which is a fairly large village so we had our vehicle parked in the middle (makes sense doesn’t it?), and what happens.. the only casualtys we have are at each end! The first casualty of the day was a young female who cut the bottom of her big toe, which was bleeding quite a lot, but after cleaning the wound it soon became apparent it wasn’t serious at all. The female was more concerned about her new sandals which she brought the previous day, as they were saturated in blood!
The second casualty caught her finger in scaffolding while packing away her stall. This was a straight forward job, and was finished in under 5 minutes.

As it is getting closer and closer to the hot summer months I will be blogging more as I will be working more! Also I have exams coming up, so need to be studying for them too! So much to do, so little time.

Take a look at my photo gallery for new pictures.

Take care, blog again soon.

Easter Egg Hunt

volunteering2saveyouguys — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:09:18 +0000

Hey,
This morning I was on duty at my local showground, where an Easter Egg Hunt for children under 10 years had been arranged by a local organisation. The actual hunt was spread out over about 4 fields and woodland. Thankfully our assistance wasn’t needed too much, and we only treated a few children for minor injuries. Cuts and grazes mainly, but a few sprains as well. It makes a change to treat minor injuries rather than major ones! But still.. not very nice treating children at all =[

I'm not working for the rest of the easter weekend, and am spending easter with my girlfriend =] So all in all should be a good easter.
I hope you all have a really great easter.. don’t eat too much chocolate! Take care, and I’ll blog again soon.

James.

Horses, Horses and MORE horses!

volunteering2saveyouguys — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:03:47 +0000

Hey guys,
Well today I was on duty from 07:30hrs until 18:30hrs.. so.. one of our longer days today. It was at a horse jumping event, where basically the riders ride their horses around the countryside jumping over purpose-built fences! Yes.. it does seem pointless and to me, it is. But hey, that’s my own opinion.

There were two ambulances at the event, firstly there was myself and my colleague in the 4×4 vehicle, where we were positioned on the course and were the first on the scene to each incident.
Secondly, there was a frontline ambulance which was based off the course, we transported our patients to this vehicle after assessing and stabalising them.

All in all it wasn’t a very busy day, a few people went flying over the top of their horse, but hey what do you expect?! Also a few people got caught up underneath their horse, but all riders were fine. [Apart from the bruises that they'll have in the morning!]

Even though we weren’t too busy, we were busy enough.. and that’s always good to keep busy! Also racing all over the Surrey countryside in a 4×4 ambulance is always good fun!

I will keep you up-dated as I am working over Easter, so be sure to look back again soon! Oh and have a look at the photo gallery.

Take care,
James.

Sunny weather, Rugby & Blood…

volunteering2saveyouguys — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 14:55:42 +0000

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.

It’s Been A While

volunteering2saveyouguys — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:27:38 +0000

Hello everyone!
I thought I would write a post seeing as I haven’t for such a long time! I have been so busy lately, I just haven’t had the time. I’ve been busy studying, it’s getting close to my exams now so I have to at least pretend to concentrate! I’ve been quite busy with ambulance work as well, doing bits and pieces, mostly talks to youth groups recently but I’m “Back On The Run” so to speak this weekend, so will post again then and let you know how it went!
I have been doing my AED (Automated External Defibrillator) course which I successfully passed on Tuesday, which is good news all round. I will tell you more about this at the weekend.
Also, my love life has started looking up recently as well. I’ve been with my [amazing] girlfriend now for nearly two months and everything is looking good.

I hope all is well with all of you, I will post a blog again at the weekend.

James.