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Diary - April 2007

Sunday 1st April 2007 09:00hrs – Kinder Downfall Fell Race Cover

Today is the Kinder Downfall fell race, a 10 mile trek across the top of the Kinder plateau. We have been asked to provide cover for the race as we have done for the previous few years. We assembled at the hut and were divided into teams. I was given the role of Casualty Care, along with Hamish as Party Leader, Ryan and Amanda, one of our newer probationers. Seven teams were sent out to various locations around the course. We were to be stationed at Edale cross for the day. We were given the option of a lift in a Landrover most of the way, but in past years, this has meant driving up there, waiting around at the top all day and driving back down. So we decided that we would walk there from the hut.

We set off and started our walk up to the top of Edale Cross. About half way we met Janet on her way back down the track. She had just dropped Kinder 7 off at Moorgate and was heading back to the hut.

We carried on up the track. I was starting to notice that last month had been very quite and my fitness was suffering as a result. Still we were due a long quiet day in the sun once we got there.

Finally we arrived at Edale Cross. The weather was really sunny, however the wind had been getting stronger, the higher we went. By the time we were at the top, it was almost blowing us off our feet. We found a sheltered spot behind a wall and I opened up my sandwich box. It is an unwritten rule of Mountain Rescue that when you stop you eat, as you never quite know when you might be sent off at a moments notice.

The race marshals arrived shortly after looking a little disgruntled that we had managed to bagsie the only sheltered spot on the hill. They were soon joined by a number of spectators and a large group of passing walkers. Not long after the first runner went through.

He was really flying and had made great time in the windy conditions. There was a bit of a gap and then the other runners started to go through.

There had been a few tumbles in front of us, but they are a strange breed these Fellrunners. They all just got up, said “I’m fine thanks”, wipped the blood off and carried on running! By the time a couple of hundred of them had gone through it was starting to look like it was going to be an early finish.

Then we heard the call we didn’t want to hear on the radio. Our team at the Downfall had an injured runner with a torn ligament in his calf. They were requesting the stretcher, splints, a big Cas Bag and the Entonox Cylinder all the really heavy gear. Next we got an even worse call to say that Janet was on her way up to us in the Landrover so that we could carry them to the Cas Site. She soon arrived and emptied the gear out of the Landrover. It was a big pile for four people. There were a few moments of shoelace tying and casual whistling as we all waited for someone to volunteer to carry each half of the stretcher. Finally Ryan could stand the tension no longer and he offered to carry one. Now that he is a full team member he was hoping that his stretcher carrying days were over, but it just seems that it keeps following him around. It must be that he has carried it so much, that he and the stretcher have become one!

Hamish felt the weight of leadership responsibility and picked up the other half, leaving Amanda and myself with the lighter, but much more awkward bits of kit.

We started our push towards the Downfall, no easy task with the strength of the wind and weight of the kit we were carrying. About half way there, we herd a message from Nigel, the Site Officer at the Cas site requesting a helicopter evacuation. He said that due to the strength of the wind, they were having difficulties keeping the Casualty warm and was expecting the conditions to make a carry off extremely risky. After some time swapping messages and chasing Air control, base finally came back saying that a Sea King would be arriving in about 45 minutes. By this stage we were only 15 minutes from the Cas site, in any case, we had to get there in case the helicopter had to turn back for any reason. We finally met up with another Kinder team who helped us with the kit for the last part of the route.

When we arrived at the site, Nigel had things sorted. The stretcher was soon assembled and Neal picked out a Landing site for the helicopter. By now a reasonable crowd of walkers was starting to gather. The helicopter was due to arrive and we were concerned that as it put down it would blast all the loose dirt and grit into the onlookers. We decided to put people out on the edge of the Landing site to shut off the edge path and stop people getting through, which on the whole, most people were happy to co-operate with. Soon the Sea King appeared in the distance. Neal let off an orange smoke to allow the pilot to judge the wind speed and direction.

The pilot took a quick fly past and then came back round and landed in front of us.

Even in this wind you could still feel the strong down draft from its rotor blades. We carried the runner up to the landing site on our stretcher and from there we helped him in to the helicopter. Nigel and Lofty cleverly decided to seize this opportunity and hitched a lift with the heavy equipment. I didn’t mind carry gear up to a casualty, but I wasn’t too keen on carrying it back down without him!

The runner decided that he did not want to go directly to hospital, so the pilot agreed to fly him down to Hayfield. The local cricket club kindly let us use their pitch in emergencies, so a couple of our team who were at base, hot footed it round and cleared the pitch so that the helicopter could land. Fortunatly there wasn't a game going on at the time!

If you would like to see a video of the helicopter at the Cas Site, click on the "Youtube" video below:

The rest of us packed up the remaining gear and headed off on the long walk back to base.

More photos....

Saturday 8th April 2007 12:45hrs – Callout

It’s Saturday lunchtime and we have made a family decision to go Tescos shopping at Glossop. About half way round my phone goes off “Snatch Callout, RV Hut, 45 mins – Nigel”. This means that there is a fast response callout, which will probably be over quickly. People are needed as soon as possible, so if you can’t get there within 45 minutes you needn’t bother responding. It would take me more than 45 minutes to get back home, get my gear together and make it to the hut.

We finished the shopping and headed home. Once back I called the hut to make sure they didn’t need any more help. A walker was being attended by a paramedic at the top of the path above the filter house near Kinder. The team had been called to assist him with a short carry down to the road. It was quickly over and no further help was needed. Sometimes that’s just how it is!

Tuesday 10th April 2007 – 19:30hrs – Casualty Care Training

Tonight’s training is a practical session from Dr’s Ian and Simon on diagnosing and treating Airway and Breathing problems. They start by unloading two very realistic training dummies. Then Dr Ian went through how to work out what the various symptoms could mean. He proceeded to discuss the various ways of releasing the pressure in injured lungs by inserting a cannula (long needle) into the chest cavity! Not a procedure we usually carry out, and I don’t think any of us were looking forward to the idea of ever having to use it. Especially in the dark and rain – you never know what you might hit!

After the gruesome discussion involving the obligatory anecdotes of children with railings sticking out of both sides of their chests, we moved on to the practical. We had to work through scenarios of injuries to the poor dummies.

After diagnosing the problems and suggesting what course of action we would take, we then had to practice safely rolling the casualty to get them into a vacuum mattress, so that we could evacuate them.

Finally, as we were discussing the treatments and the possible risk of using a cannula, Simon was trying to explain how to find the safest area of the chest to use. As we are generally difficult bunch to explain thing to, he decided to take a more practical approach and picked on Steve one of our newer probationers to demonstrate how to find the area by drawing a diagram on his chest.

I couldn’t decide if he didn’t use me because the others would be put off by my finely honed torso, or if it was because he wasn’t demonstrating liposuction tonight!

Wednesday 18th April 2007 19:30hrs – Training

Thanks to the unusually warm weather, tonight’s training session is to be outdoors. We are practicing our Primary Survey procedures. This is where we look for any immediate life threatening injuries before moving on to a more detailed check of the casualty.

We split up into teams. I was with Howard, Bernie and Amanda. We had to make our way round several stations, each one with a different scenario of an injured person. In each case we had to work through the standard procedure of Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Extremities. It is essential to stick to this kind of method as each of the scenarios are very different and it is easy to miss a crucial symptom.

We all have a go at the various roles, including playing the casualty. Some seem to take to this role a little better than others. Bernie seems to be a natural at playing the rambling, confused hypoglycemic runner. I can only put it down to his fantastic acting skills!

After we have been round all the scenarios, and as it has now gone dark, we head back. The plan to go to the pub near where we were training seems to go awry as only six of us end up in it. The rest of the team must have taken the gear back to the hut and gone to the local. At least I hope thats the reason!

Friday 27th April 2007 20:00hrs – Team Meeting

Friday night is meeting night! Our end of the month meeting seems to have come round again pretty quickly. This time is Chris’ first go in the “chair” since he took over as Secretary. His first report goes well, apart from the fact that he informs us of a date for dairies, which it turns out happened two weeks ago. Never mind!

Colin added his first report as Cas Care officer, but the night seemed to roll past pretty quickly with an impressive number of Nothing to Report’s.

Ken introduced Anthony, a new probationer, to the team. He was quick to point out that Anthony’s strapping frame would be ideal for stretcher carrying duties. If he can get it away from Ryan!

As tradition dictates, we ended the evening with a spot of social catching up downstairs in the pub.