12 Hour Rugby Training and 8km walk

Hey,
Sorry I haven’t blogged for a few weeks. There hasn’t been much work and other things have been going on and what have you. Well, I worked on Saturday night at my local rugby ground.

In the summer of 2006 a 16yr old rugby player from this particular rugby club was killed in a tragic car accident, and a charity has been set up in his name to raise money for a certain cause. The Under 17’s team endured in a 12 hour training session, which included a 8km walk. They carried out the 12 hours between 12 midday and 12 midnight. The walk started at 10:30pm, so you can imagine what time we eventually finished! Me and my colleague walked with the boys to ensure everything went smoothly, which I’m pleased to say it did. Even though it was raining, cold, wet and pitch black, it was a worthwhile walk. I now have blisters on both feet and my legs ache like anything (this is two days on!).

From being part of that walk I am determined to do one thing.. start going to the gym again! I’ve got a week off this week which is great, because after the weekend, I was shattered. I spent Saturday day time with my lovely girlfriend, then went straight to work after dropping her off at the station, then got in from work at 1:30am and caught the 09:05 train to go to her house! So yes.. a bit hectic really.

I am now officially broke after going shopping today for Valentines Day!
Take care, I will blog again soon as work is picking up again now.

James.

My New Kit Bag

Good afternoon,
I recently changed kit bags so If you like have a look at the photo gallery where I have uploaded a few pics for you all to have a look!
Quite a few people within the Ambulance Service carry their own kit bag, from First Aiders to Paramedics. It really does make things a hell of a lot easier when responding to an incident!

I was going to blog today about how work went [another four rugby matches] however after arriving at the rugby club found out that all four matches had been cancelled.. so sorry but you’ll just have to wait until next time! But keep on looking back because you never know, I might end up blogging earlier than I think.

It’s a gorgeous day today so I am really glad that the matches were cancelled actually. I’m off out now to enjoy the sunshine!
Take care, and keep those comments coming.

To see the photo gallery click on the bar along the top.

James.

A very uneventful morning

Worked again this morning, at the rugby. Except I didn’t do any work! Makes a change, but no-one needed our assistance which I was quite happy about! I’d rather not have to do any work.
And now.. the week begins again. [A bit of a depressing thought actually!]

But anyway, I’d better go now. I will blog again soon.
Hope everyone is okay.

Take care..
James.

A Friday Night In

Hey everyone.. well this week has not been so bad, and has seemed to have gone quickly! I qualified in an advanced First Aid course this week, I didn’t really learn anything that I didn’t already know, but hey, it’s another qualification to add to the list isn’t it?!

I decided to stay in tonight [I know.. it's sad, seeing as it's a Friday night] but I just feel like having a night at home. No work. No going out. No hassle.

Just a night in front of TV! Even though I have some paperwork to do, but that can wait!
Luckily I’ve got this Saturday off.. shocking I know. So I am off to visit a ‘friend’ [watch this space]. However I am working on Sunday so I will blog again on Sunday so that you can read all about my day!
Until then.. take care!

James.

A Morning Of Rugby

I said I would blog again today, so.. here I am. I was on duty at the rugby this morning with my colleague in the frontline ambulance vehicle. And we weren’t very busy. Just because we weren’t too busy doesn’t mean to say we didn’t get caped in mud though! All in all we had two casualties.

Casualty Number 1:
Injury to the foot during rugby training. My colleague and I thought that there might be an underlying fracture, so just to be safe, referred him to the nearest A & E. But as he wasn’t in a lot of pain, we called his Mum who came and taxied him there.
His Mum was very grateful for our help [which is nice, because it isn't something that everybody we meet is].

Casualty Number 2:
Injury to the knee during match. He thought it was worse than it actually was to start with. But after an ice-pack was applied and he had time to rest it, he soon seemed to be back walking properly again!

So all in all. Not a bad days work.

[Apart from being covered in mud and my colleague and myself nearly ending up being crushed by about 6 or 7 rugby players charging towards us!]

Take care.
James.

Shopping Centre Collapse

Hey! Well first of all… I hope that all of you who have looked at my photo gallery like it. I admit it isn’t really the best, but it’s simple and easy to use! So it makes it easier for me to put photos on there and easier for you to look round. If you have any comments let me know.

Today I decided to go and have a look around the shops, not for anything in particular, just to have a look round. Because I know that as of this weekend I’m back to work and I know that I won’t really won’t get much chance to have a good look around for a while.
So I was just walking along outside in the pouring rain having a look through shop windows in a very well-known town [the official second nicest place to live in the country actually] when there was an almighty crash.
As I turned to my right there was an eldery woman lying on the floor next to a resturant metal menu board. As I ran over the street to the woman, there was already another very nice lady there already [who happened to be a qualified First Aider too].

While the First Aider was talking to the eldery woman, I was trying to make her as comfortable as possible and was checking for any other injuries. Luckily, there was no other injuries. Apart from that she hit her head when she fell, but that wasn’t causing her any distress.
Although we couldn’t see any other injuries, we thought it best to leave in the position we found her. So by now there were quite a few people gathered around the elderly lady.. myself, the other First Aider and a few bystanders, as well as the elderly ladies friend.
A 999 call was made and an Ambulance arrived within minutes.
As the Ambulance Paramedics were lifting the woman onto the carry chair she collapsed again. And she was rushed off into the back of the ambulance.

It turns out that what actually had happened was that the woman had come out of the resturant as she was feeling hot and a bit out of breath, so she came outside to get some fresh air. She was holding onto the resturant metal menu board when she came over “giddy” and collapsed.
She then hit her head as she hit the ground.

After being whisked off into the back of the Ambulance that is the last I saw of her. I then carried on with shopping and returned home.
Hopefully the woman will be fine in the end, aslong as the hospital find out what caused her to collapse.

A Big thank you to the Sussex Ambulance Paramedics, and everyone else who stopped to help.
And as for all you people who walked past and thought to yourself.. “I can’t help. I don’t know any first aid”. Then go on a First Aid course! Because one day you maybe in a situation just like today, and people like me and the other First Aider might not be around to help.

On duty tomorrow so will blog again then.
Take care.

James.

Brand New Photo Gallery

First of all.. a Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2007 brings you lots of joy and happiness.

Over the last few days I have been working away at a photo gallery for this site. And I have now finished. It’s an external site but that doesn’t mean this one is going. I will blog on here and then direct you to the photo gallery to view the appropiate photographs.

However, there are some unrelated photographs on there so why not have a look anyway, the site has a very original name so that you won’t get confused.. Volunteering2saveyouguysphotogallery

Please let me know what you think. Hope all is well.

Kind regards..
James.

Merry Christmas!

Good afternoon to you all,
I am being really lazy today and have only just got up! Well I thought, why not? I don’t have anything to do today so I might as well make the most of it. Seeing as soon it will be January again and everything will be back to its busy normal routine! Luckily, I am not working over christmas so can enjoy it peacefully, just like christmas should be.

However, when you’re eating your nice christmas dinner just take a moment to think of those people who are out working.. the Police, Fire Service, Community First Responders and obviously Ambulance Techs & Paras.

And if you feel for whatever reason that you require an ambulance.. THINK.
Do you really require an ambulance? It is becoming more common that people are phoning for an ambulance for reasons that do not require an emergency response.

If you are in doubt you can phone NHS Direct before phoning 999, you can phone them 24/7 on: 0845 4647
Or visit their web site: www.nhsdirect.org.uk

However, if it is a life threatening situation do not hesitate to phone 999.

I shall be back to saving lives again in the new year, so be sure to keep having a look at my blog!

On that happy note, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Best wishes for 2007.

Take care.

Night Shifts

Well I have just finished my stint of nights on duty for this year, four nights in a row. I’ve been on duty at a christmas performance and I have now seen 8 peformances of it.. I think I should be a member of the cast, I can repeat the songs and words! Luckily we had a fairly uneventful time up there, the only thing we really had to deal with was the cold, lost children, and being asked where the toilets are. [I don't remember wearing a sign stating that we knew where the toilets actually were, but hey, there you go].

Actually come to think of it, we did have two incidents.. one male who decided to fall over climbing over a muddy slope and one little boy who spilt scolding hot chocolate over his hand. But other than that, it was really uneventful.

The most work we did was transport people who had trouble walking or who were disabled from their vehicle to the performance and then back again, which proves more difficult than first thought when you are using a 4×4 Rescue Ambulance Vehicle!

I am not sure what days or times I am working over christmas yet so you will have to wait and see, but be sure to keep looking back at my blog, and leave comments if you have anything you want to ask or if you just purely want to comment.

Take care, and I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a great 2007!

3 year old boy VS Concrete

I thought I would blog about an incident that I attened just over a week ago. Seeing as I am free now and have time, I thought, why not!

Well I was on patrol with my crewmate at a christmas market, when the call came over the stewards radio calling for assistance [at this point I had just sat down to drink my nice warm hot chocolate] but obviously, we had to go. Within one minute of being called… we were on the scene.
We were faced with a 3 year old boy who had fallen off a mini fairground ride and hit his head on the concrete as he fell. The little boy was really quiet which was unusual according to his calm but very shocked mother. Within a minute a huge lump had appeared on his forehead and he became extremely white. My crewmate and I looked at each other and knew exactly what each other were thinking.
My crewmate left the shop [where we were treating the littleun] to dial 999 for an ambulance. Whilst my crewmate was on the phone the little boy started to nod off to sleep, which normally most parents wouldn’t complain about but in this case his parents were frantically trying to keep him awake! I took hold of the boy and was trying to keep him awake. Luckily the ambulance arrived within about 8 minutes and I managed to keep him awake until they took over from us.

After dealing with this incident my crewmate and myself returned to our long-awaited hot chocolate [with cream and a marshmellow ] only to find that the shop had closed up and gone home
So we never did get our hot chocolate!

All part of the job some people would say.

JaMeS.