250 K…!!!

Well I’ve hit the quarter million mark for readers and I never thought I would still be doing this! Still enjoying the chance to post some moans and try and educate at the same time. Keep on reading and let me know what you would like more of…Ambulance related stuff that is and not dirty, filthy, rude, naked ladies in various states of undress and repose! (But then again…!!!)

And guess what? I’m on nights again!

‘Tally bleedin’ ho!!!’

999…Believe Me…This Happens…A Lot…!!!

I would not last five minutes working in Ambulance Control. I know that there is sometimes a ‘them & us’ thing between front-line Ambulance crews and those that work in ‘Puzzle Palace’  but I give them the utmost respect for dealing with these jokers!

A very small sample of the calls I have been called to over the years include the chap who had a headache and could not get the top off his paracetamol container…the lady who wanted her curtains drawing…the woman who had broken a fingernail…someone who wanted us to put their husband to bed…etc etc etc.

But the difference being is that these calls I went to have been over a very long time in service. Command & Control deal with these calls every day and have to try and filter them out!!! We can now build up a case file against the regular abusers of the 999 system but the one-offs get away with their ludicrous demands and suffer no penalty!

Nee Naw did a post on this very subject recently.

The Negotiators…!!!

 

'Better safe than sorry...!'

Slowly the vehicle crawled to a halt near to the junction of our RV point. The night was dark with a light fog settling over the roof tops of the houses nearby. The street was bathed in light as every house had their lights on as the occupants craned their necks to see what was going on. We could see the blue flashing lights ahead of us and we awaited the arrival of orders.

Sitting in the relative warmth of our truck we watched black clothed figures move in and out of the shadows at the other end of the street. Somewhere in that area was the house where a male had gone ‘ballistic’ and had trashed the property after assaulting his girlfriend. His girlfriend was on her way to the local hospital with injuries consistent with a heavy and sustained beating.

The assailant, the owner of the property, had locked himself in the house and had made threats to kill himself and anyone who came near. No one went near…..yet. Our job was to hang back while the Police tried to talk him into giving himself up. We were there for anybody who should become injured during the siege. Behind us another Police vehicle arrived and out poured several dark clad and heavily armed officers. I make a mental note ‘Should they not be between us and the house?’

Its ‘dark o clock’ in the small hours of the morning and we have still half a shift left. These jobs either go very quickly and everyone shakes out back to their stations or base, or they drag on for hours and hours. And in some cases days and days. I hope for the former. We are both tired, hungry and thirsty after being bounced from job to job since leaving our station at the start of the shift. My eyes feel gritty and my stomach thinks my throats been cut. I also have a full bladder the size of a ‘Space Hopper’.

Thoughts of a ‘wet’ and some food are interrupted as the armed officers behind us split up and edge down either side of the street towards their unarmed colleagues. All we can hear are careful, muffled footsteps as they try to keep in the shadows. Looking at their kit as they file past us they are dressed in the usual dark fire retardant coveralls and carrying what appears to be Heckler and Koch sub machine guns and automatic pistols strapped into thigh holsters with various magazine pouches. All are wearing hard helmets and a couple are balaclavered up!

'SWAB Team 6 were involved...!'

A Police officer walks over to us and tells us the score. Stamping his feet and blowing into his hands to try and keep warm in the cold night air he explains that our potential customer (and their potential client) has gone to ground in the house. No lights are showing and because he is known to be violent and has assaulted Police before lots of officers have been deployed including armed response. ‘Is he talking to anyone?’ I ask. The Police officer states that since the initial threats he has been quiet.

‘Whats the plan then? Are you going to storm the house or sit it out?’ I hope for a storming then we can crack on and get sorted for tea and medals back at our station. ‘Don’t ask me, the Bosses are playing it cagey. But I do know that ‘Negotiators’ have been called for.’ This should be interesting as there is no space for another vehicle down here. Where a ‘Command & Control’ unit will go no one knows.

‘So what are the negotiators going to do?’ my crew mate asks as he settles down with both boots on the dashboard, arms crossed and his head hunkered down into his fleece looking like a giant, fat baby sparrow. ‘Well the main thing they’ll do is set up secure comms. They’ll get dedicated, secure phones into the house somehow and open up the negotiations. I do know they’ve got some sophisticated kit.’

Sophisticated Negotiation Kit

‘Once comms are in place they’ll use psychological techniques and mind games to out wit him and hopefully secure a peaceful conclusion to the scene.’  I vaguely recall a film with Denzil Washington and another with Bruce Willis in a siege situation. ‘Failing all reasonable means to resolve the situation the MOE (methods of entry) team will go in. And they will go in hard.’ My next question is the all important one…‘How long til they get here?’

The minutes pass by slowly and after another updated sit-rep from the Police I decide to ask one of the many curious householders if I can use their toilet? Its not one of the nicer estates around here but the householder is happy to let me use the facilities. After reducing the size of my ‘Space Hopper’ considerably, I am greeted at the bottom of the stairs by the householders wife holding two mugs of tea. ‘Do you want any sugar love?’  Resisting the urge to ask for cake and biscuits I gratefully accept the proffered beverages.

Sitting in the truck with our steaming hot mugs of sweet tea, we keep wiping the inside of the windscreen free of condensation which has emanated from said vessels of ‘Ambulancemans Nectar.’ Two hours have now passed and there is still no sign of the negotiators. I have visions of the wanted man fast asleep in his bed whilst we are all waiting outside. My next vision is of two fat blokes walking down the street towards the house.

‘Looks like they must live round here. Should see some fun and games when the Police stop them!’  I say to my crew mate. As they get nearer to the property a Police officer beckons them over towards a marked Police vehicle. They stop in the middle of the street and exchange a few words with the officer. Both look about in their early fifties, unfit and appear to have just got up. I wait to see what happens to our two ‘gate crashers.’ They move away and continue towards the house!

Within seconds they are through the garden gate of the house and as one moves to the front door the other looks around the front garden for something. This is bizarre, why have they been allowed to approach the house? The first man crouches down and shouts something through the letterbox! The second man has started to throw pebbles at the bedroom window! The scene is unfolding in front of our very eyes as we sit in our truck 200 metres away. The Police have not moved! They maintain their positions.

'I bet he's in bed!'

Pointing towards the house I ask the nearest officer ‘What the **** is going on?’  He looks over to the house, looks back to me and smiles…‘Those two? That’s Bill and Ben. The negotiators!’  A couple of minutes later and lights come on in the house and five minutes after that Police are let into the property. Not more than five minutes later the wanted man calmly walks out handcuffed and towards a waiting Police car!!!

So after two and a half hours all it took was two fat blokes to shout through the letter box and chuck some stones up at a window to resolve the situation! All I can think is that they were either very lucky and brazened it out or they knew him better than anyone else?

What would Denzil or Bruce have done…?

Emergency…New Number !!!

Do we dial 999?

Do we dial 112?

Do we dial 911?

Confused…you will be!!!

‘Can You See Me Now…?’

A very busy night shift the other night nearly ended in my crew mate and myself being launched into orbit through certain drivers inabilities to use their ******* rear view mirrors or to be able to hear the ******* sirens on our big yellow flashing truck!!!

Most drivers are very good at pulling over safely or judging distances to enable us to pass them without everyone concerned having to change their underwear! But…!!! There is always at least one who does things differently…always one who defies the laws of normal intelligence or plain common sense…always one who either:

* slams on the brakes in front of us!

* tries to accelerate away from us and ends up impeding progress at next set of lights!

* realises at the last moment that ‘yes we are on an emergency’ and suddenly throws the car into a dangerous manoeuvre

* or just plainly ignores us and bimbles along in front of us either totally oblivious to the big yellow, flashing, noisy thing behind them or just does not care!!!

I don’t know why but we had a combination of all these in one shift! As I say most people are good at letting us past but we seemed to be coming up against some really bad drivers! Have a look at the ‘Road Safety’ video explaining what to do when dealing with an Ambulance on an emergency call. The second video shows what can (and unfortunately does) happen when things go a bit ‘Pete Tong’!

This happened in London when a Gas van crashed into a RRV. Blues and Twos were on but the van did not see the RRV. The RRV pilot escaped serious injury (as did the Gas van driver) but a member of the public was injured and suffered a fractured leg! The RRV vehicle was a complete write off! Given that it happened in a busy High Street its lucky that it wasn’t far worse!

Please drive safely, use your REAR VIEW MIRRORS and

listen out for the sirens approaching. And DONT panic!

Education, Education, Education…!!!

This is a post highlighting the importance of getting the right help when having chest pains. Tom Reynolds has done this post already and I am just repeating the message. But as Tom says he never under estimates chest pains. I know through experience that chest pains can be brought on by all manner of things. These include chest infections, musculo-skeletal injuries or illnesses and stress to name but a few. This is an excellent video which I think gets the message across…….

And don’t think chest pains only affect big, fat males who smoke or the elderly. It can hit anyone, anytime, anywhere. I once attended someone who thought they had pulled a muscle in their chest through lifting a heavy object. His wife called us because he was sweating “a bit too much”.Only when we did our ECGs and other examinations did he realise he was having a major MI (Myocardial Infarction = Heart Attack). In general young people don’t tend to have chest pains…they drop down dead usually through Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) or Brugada Syndrome.

But it happens, and I have been to primary school kids, teenagers, fit and healthy people who have all had some kind of cardiac event. Its not just the crinklies who get chest pains!!! As medicine becomes more efficient and research sheds more light on the heart education becomes even more important. We need to get rid of stereotypes….anyone can have chest pains, anyone can have a heart attack!!! 

If In Doubt Get Someone Out…!!!

England…!

I would vote this to replace our national anthem!

It brings a tear to either eye and a lump to the throat…

Anyone have another choice?

The Fog…!!!

A Picture of Fog…

Moving carefully along the main road we edge past the cars and lorries as they move over to let us by. Our blue lights are on and the sirens are bouncing off the sides of the trucks as we slowly sidle past them. Its almost ‘white out’ with a dense fog blanketing all and sundry. Even the street lights cant penetrate the nights companion of mist.

What seems like an eternity we turn off the main roads and head even more slowly along the back roads. There is nothing in front of us…nothing to the side of us…the only visual points of reference are the blue spinkly, spankly lights from our strobes reflecting off the fog. Its like driving through a discotheque made of milk!

Somewhere a few miles head of us awaits our scene. Reports of a ‘two vehicle RTC query injuries’ have sent us driving into the sticks. We are in the countryside away from Big City. Luckily I vaguely know this area from a previous job some years ago. But that was without there being any fog…and in daylight!

The radio is playing up because of the atmospherics and we get occasional transmissions from a Russian trawler! We even hear a transmission from another ambulance service that is at the other end of the country! I follow the edge of the road on my side looking for tell tale signs of road markings denoting a junction as my crew mate stares ahead trying to locate anything that resembles anything.

As we cruise slowly round a bend doing no more than five miles an hour I recognise a wall…the same wall from years ago that had been smashed into by a car. Its loose stones and bricks have been tidied up but the gap still remains where the car went through and into a field. I think we are getting near to the scene. This journey has taken us almost an hour…during the day and in good conditions it should have only taken us twenty minutes.

I’m still looking at the road side when the ambulance lurches to a stop. In front of us, not more than ten feet away, we can just about make out the ghostly shape of a car. Its headlights are still on barely discernible through the fog. If we had been going any faster we would have ploughed straight into it! Pressing ‘Arrived Scene’ on the MDT I zip up my hi-viz jacket and grab the green bag and O2 and make my way towards the car.

It is eerily quiet, except for the diesel engine of our truck ticking over. Everything looks grey with the occasional dash of blue as our lights continue to sparkle in the nights fog. I cant see the other vehicle…and I cant see anyone else…no driver, no passengers, no witnesses. The hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up…I put that down to the cold night air!

Remembering a scene from ‘James Herberts’ ‘The Fog’ I recall the advice given to the townspeople…”Don’t go into the fog! There’s something in there!”   Another couple of steps and I make out the second vehicle, its bonnet crumpled up, the drivers door wide open. I slowly peer into the front of the car…nothing! ‘Where the hell is everybody?’

‘Were here!’  A voice states from behind me. I eventually get myself off the top of the car! Checking that I have not replaced my adrenaline with the brown stuff I move towards the voice. Again after only a couple of feet I come face to face with a woman wrapped up in coat and scarf. ‘Its a bit chilly isn’t it?’  she says matter of fact. ‘One of the drivers is in the house and the other is trying to find his roof rack!’  I quickly ask if everyone is alright and I am shown along a very indistinct path towards the house.

The female driver of the first car is relatively uninjured only complaining of an ache in her back. Meanwhile the other driver has come into the house clutching various bits of roof rack. He too is unscathed. ‘You might as well put the kettle on whilst we sort out the paperwork’ I jokingly say although deep down I could murder a cuppa! Making my way back to the truck I start getting the paperwork ready and let control know that the location is two miles nearer than reported and to relay that onto the Police.

Its amazing that only a matter of feet away is a house with several people inside all talking away and yet we can not hear a thing apart from our own vehicle. The fog has eaten up any surrounding ambient noise. We need to concentrate on the scene and listen out for the Police, or any other vehicles for that matter, as they may come crashing in on top of us!

‘Whats that noise!’  My crew mate leans out of the cab and turns his head to angle his ear to the approaching sound. It sounds like a rattling bottle in a milk crate. It does not make any sense. All I want to do is get the paperwork signed, clear scene and bog off back to base for a drink and some food.

‘Whoaaa!’ My crew mate nearly leaps out of his skin as he pulls away from the cab window. I look carefully past him expecting to see some sort of apparition…but all I see is the lady in the coat and scarf with a big tray of tea and a big plate of biscuits and cake! Teapot, cups and saucers, milk jug and sugar bowl! Apparitions, ghosts, zombies…nothing stops an Ambulanceman from having a cup of tea…and a biscuit!

Lovely Tea & Biscuits

 The best job of the shift and ‘Tea…the best drink of the day (night)!’