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Diary

Saturday 1st July 2006 – Fundraising at Decathlon

This weekend is one of our main fundraising events of the year. Decathlon kindly let us collect outside their store in Stockport and we split the weekend up into shifts. I have volunteered to do Saturday afternoon, which turns out to be quite busy, as we experience a small pre-England match rush.

We smile and chat to the people going in and out, John and Alison on the way in and Ian and Pete on the way out. This must be the hottest day so far this year and everyone else manages to do their collecting in the shade. I however have drawn the short straw and have to stand out in the sun, showing people the equipment we carry in the Landrover.

Everyone was extremely generous and we are very grateful for anything that people have donated, however I would like to say a big thank you to the gentleman who gave me £20, perhaps it was partly in recognition of the bravery Ian demonstrated in wearing this tie!

Monday 3rd July 2006 – Casualty Care

Over the last few months we have been having Casualty Care lectures and demonstrations from Doctor Ian. Tonight it is our turn to put it all in to practice outside.

We make our way up to a wood on the way to the Kinder reservoir. There are six casualty scenarios which we have to diagnose and treat in turn. At first glance it looks like the left-overs from a plane crash.

It is a beautiful sunny night, which makes a change from the usual weather we experience. However we soon notice that this is made up for by the number of Grasshoppers, Spiders and Midges! Our first casualty is Mike, he has chest pains and shortness of breath. It is quite difficult to remember to follow the full procedures of checking them over fully without getting distracted by the first obvious symptoms. On checking him fully he has a displaced trachea and we diagnose a potential pneumothorax (a serious puncture of the lung) which requires immediate helicopter evacuation, which unfortunately tonight is only “paper” helicopter.

Our next victim, er casualty is Pete. He has come off his bike and potentially injured his neck. Colin stabilises his C-spine while we get on with the diagnosis.

As we work our way round we see the other teams dealing with the casualties in front of us.

Our next scenario involves our resuscitation dummy and getting the procedures correct for both opening it’s airway and CPR. Next it’s our turn to have a go at moving Ian and his fragile back. Colin moves in and shows his caring side. We carefully put him in a neck collar and make sure it is as uncomfortable as we can manage.

With an unusual display of team work, we manage to log roll him and get him ready for evacuation.

We then move on to Chrissie, who has had an anaphylactic shock caused by a bee sting, which we treat with adrenaline and Nigel who is having an asthma attack. A short blast of Ventolin through our Oxygen kit soon sorts him out and we can make our way back to the hut.

We finally get chance to enjoy the weather as the sun slowly sets over my pint!

Tuesday 11th July 2006 – Callout

With the recent warm weather things have been quiet for a while. It’s lunchtime on an ordinary Tuesday and I’m stood by the microwave at work, waiting for my lunch to cook. As I am chatting with some colleagues about the work we plan to do over the summer, my phone bleeps at me to let me know I have received a text. It’s a callout with an RV at Crowden Youth Hostel. I make my excuses and jump in the car to head home. After a quick dash in and out of the house, I make my way over to Crowden.

I parked up at the Youth Hostel, met up with Pete who had arrived just before me and we made my way up to the control. As we were walking up, we noticed a Helicopter at the top of the hill.

We arrived at the control and were briefed with the details of the incident. A vulnerable male had been out on the tops over night and had been found by some walkers in the morning. He was in a confused state and severely dehydrated. A couple of members of the Oldham team, including their team Doctor had made their way there from the Dovestones side and several members of the Glossop team had already gone up with a stretcher. As both of the teams were short on members, we had been asked to support the incident.

On discussing it further, I found out the Air Ambulance had just ferried a couple of extra Glossop team members up to the Cas site. Chrissie took this photo on her phone as it took off.

We waited around for instructions from the Glossop controller who was running the incident.

 

The Air Ambulance pilot made a decision that it would not be appropriate to transfer this man in a helicopter, and he returned to base.

Finally we received a request to head up to the Cas Site, as they were planning to carry the man off on their stretcher. They decided to head towards the Chew reservoir as this is the flattest way down and there is reasonable vehicle access. The problems for us were that they would be heading away from us, away from radio comms with control and that they also wanted us to take up a large wheel to attach to the bottom of their stretcher.

There was a short tumbleweed moment as Geoff asked for a volunteer to carry the wheel. Finally Vinny “offered” and we set off.

When we were about half way up, we received a message from the Cas Site to say that they needed to set off and could we try to catch them up as they didn’t have enough people to rotate two stretcher parties. We agreed with them that we would be quicker without the wheel and left it there to be collected later. We then pushed on up the steeper part of the climb.

We reached the top, slightly short of breath, and started to make our way across the plateau towards the stretcher party.

Just after we started this next section, a member of the Glossop team arrived from the stretcher party and advised us that they were just about at the Landrovers and we could head back. "*&!##$!%&**#" said Geoff.

We took his advice and in a kind of “Grand Old Duke of York” way, we headed back down.

On our way down, we met up with Ian and Bernie, looking for where we had “dumped” the wheel, so that they couldtake it back down. We showed they where we had left / hid it and they carried it back to Glossop control.

We made our way back to our vehicles and headed home, slightly frustrated, but happy that the incident had a positive end. Later it turned out that we had actually been needed as the stretcher party still had a reasonable distance to go, but we had been given incorrect information. Aarrgh!

Wednesday 12th July 2006 – Rope Rescue Training

It’s knots tonight. Our next exercise is Rope Rescue (rescuing people from cliffs etc.), so tonight we are revising our techniques. It is all based on a Canadian system called “Rigging for Rescue” and can get quite complicated if you don’t concentrate. In a little sub game I thought I’d count how many times the term “Three way load” was mentioned.

I lost count at 30!

We split in to three teams, Darren first shows us how to set up the belay and lowering package. We use the Landrover to simulate the stakes we use as a belay.

This then goes to the “BFK”. I’ll let you work out what that stands for.

We then attach the Lowering rack for the main package.

The back up package, which is the safety line, is made up of another rope attached by prussic knots, with a radium release system.

We put them both together and this is what we end up with.

Hope you got all that.

We then moved on to practice tying all the knots we use in the system.

Finally, Nigel showed us how to attach the stretcher to the lowering packages. This involves lots of ropes and pullies. We then look at the single rescue harness, or nappy as it is fondly known. This is used to rescue single people (this doesn’t refer to their marital status), who usually are not wearing a harness. Ian gives us an excellent demonstration of how to be rescued.

 

The night ends with a short social visit to the pub.

Like me, the more astute readers of this diary my have noticed that Mountain Rescue seems to have a greater quota of beards per head than the rest of the general population. I haven’t yet decided on the reason for this, it could be due to the harsh weather conditions we face, or the lack of razors at high altitude, or perhaps it’s just a rugged Mountain fashion thing.

Friday 21st July 2006 – Callout

It’s late Friday afternoon and I have just got home from work after collecting my kids from their Childminder. My phone starts bleeping at me to let me know we have a callout. I call my wife to let her know, but can’t get hold of her. I know she is on her way, so I get myself ready and wait. She eventually turns up, we do a quick swap and I head off to the Hut. As I am driving I notice a red Helicopter flying around over Kinder. When I get there I am told a walker is unconscious near Kinder Low. Details are a bit sketchy and a team has set off to recover him. Geoff has taken Mike, Hamish and Bernie and with the Helicopter on the scene, all the rest of us can do is find somewhere to wait in case events change.

Here is Mike’s version of events:

It’s 5pm and my mobile phone starts to ring, the Thunderbirds theme… it’s a callout! Tricky time of day as most team members will be commuting home; I’ve finished school for the summer holidays and I’ve been at home in Hayfield for a few hours already so I can be at the hut fairly quickly. Quickly get into the routine of finding the right socks, grabbing my rucksack, a piece of fruit – its sweltering out so LOTS of water.

Arrive at the hut and sign on. “Ready to go, as soon as you can” is Geoff’s greeting – so it looks like a serious job. A man is unconscious at the bottom of Kinder Low, reports are of ‘heat stroke’… between us we think out loud what we need, bag of crisps (for salt), lots of water, and some Dextrosol tablets (some sugar). Four of us jump in mobile 1 and it’s off to Moorgate under blues and twos. We provide passing entertainment for the packed tables outside the Royal Hotel enjoying the sunshine and a pint.

Hamish has been given the job of casualty care, with my assistance. On the drive up Kinder we start trying to second guess what could be wrong… heat exhaustion looks favourite, could be diabetes related, or worst case scenario a heart attack. Seems a very different proposition to our staple diet of lower leg injuries!

We quickly arrive at Moorgate: Geoff, Hamish and I are off to the cas site. Bernie will be staying with the Landrover initially to provide communications, then to fetch reinforcements if needed. We carry our normal kit, an oxygen cylinder, a casualty care kit, and an automatic electronic defibrillator.

We quickly learn that the air ambulance is en route too, and are asked to make radio contact. As we change radio channel to enable comms with the helicopter two walkers appear – one of whom says “are you looking for me?” A bright red helicopter roars low overhead. Everything is happening at once. Geoff talks to the walkers, and ascertains that one of the men is our casualty, whilst Hamish and I try to talk to “helimed 09”.

It appears that the casualty (a diabetic) had been out walking by himself, and had “overdone it a bit” and as a result his blood sugar had dropped. Another walker found him unconscious – had raised the alarm with the help of a passing fell runner – which is how we came to be called.

We walked the two men to our Landrover, and the now landed helicopter. The helicopter paramedic checked the guy out. This was there sixth job of the day, and the crew were really feeling the heat in their cockpit (in very hot weather their air conditioning diverts to protect all of the helicopter’s computer systems leaving the crew to slowly cook – see helicopters aren’t that glamorous!)

The casualty is very embarrassed by all the fuss, and is given a clean(ish) bill of health by the paramedic. No helicopter ride for him today, instead a bumpy ride down to the village in the Landrover. We arrive back at the hut to discover the now stood down team touchingly waiting for our safe return. The fact that they all chose the nearest outdoor seating area to the hut (the beer garden at the George) is purely coincidental.

Sunday 23rd July 2006 – Callout

Sunday afternoon, we should have been on our annual Rope Rescue exercise at Teggs Nose, but due to a double booking, we have the day off. It's 4pm and I have just finished cutting the hedges in my garden when my phone goes off to say we have a callout. It is at Lyme Park, not far from my house and I still haven’t unpacked my rucksack from the last callout, so I just had to get changed and jump in my car.

I arrived at Lyme Park, just as Colin and Neal were parking up. There was no sign of the team Landrover, so we made contact with the Park Wardens, who directed us up to the top car park. Here we met another Warden, who told us that a man had broken his leg about a mile down a track from the top of this car park. We loaded up and started to make our way down the track.

Quickly we heard the siren of one of our Landrovers and they headed past us down the track. We followed on foot. Soon after Andrea appeared behind us in her Landrover, we jumped in and we made our way to the RV. Things were moving quickly, Chris and Neal were putting on the stretchers. I helped Chris get his rucksack on top of his half of the stretcher and we set off.

We made our way up the bed of a river until we reached the Casualty Site. Geoff and Phil were with the casualty, while Chrissie, Nigel and a few others had set up the Cas Site. We were in the river bed of a steep ravine and the man had slipped at the top and fell down into the stream at the bottom. He had a suspected broken leg, but fortunately no other injuries considering his fall. We quickly started to assemble the two halves of the stretcher ready to transport the man back to our Landrover. It’s been a while since I have had to put the stretcher together, and I start to put the fixing bolt in the wrong place. Chris points out the error of my ways and we quickly get it put together. It seems odd that considering the number of times I put this thing together in my probationary training that I could get it wrong. I guess this is why we repeat training over and over to try to get these things right first time. I put on a harness for one end of the stretcher and we take it over to the casualty, who by now has his leg in a vacuum splint and is ready to go. He shuffles his way on to the stretcher and eight of us pick him up and start down the river bed. It is rough going, but soon we have him down to the Landrover.

With a bit of careful manoeuvring we load him in and drive him up to the main car park. The other vehicles follow on, we take the opportunity to get a bit more exercise and make out way up on foot.

After a short wait for a road ambulance, he is taken off to hospital and we all make our way home.

Thursday 27th July 2006 – Callout

It’s mid afternoon and I am in work. I am in the middle of a major project on our IT network and I am just at a crucial point working with a contractor when my phone starts bleeping. It’s a callout. There is no way I can leave, so I will have to let the others deal with this one.

Half an hour later I have managed to get things to a point where I am not needed anymore. There has not been a stand-down so I set off to catch them up. I get about half way when the stand-down finally arrives.

A man had a suspected Heart Attack in the middle of Bleaklow. We had been requested to support the Glossop team, as they were facing a long stretcher carry to get him back to the road head. Fortunately, the Air Ambulance was able to get to him and took him to hospital.

Friday 28th July 2006 – Team Meeting

End of the month means Team Meeting night. We are in the Function room of the George tonight. It is the usual reports from Finance, Training, Vehicles, Radios etc etc. Geoff has quite a few callouts to discuss in his Team Leader bit. We also have a new probationary member – Ryan. Welcome and good luck.

After the meeting ends we decide to go downstairs to the bar to explain to Ryan how the team operates!

Saturday 29th July 2006 – Collection and Callout

Saturday morning and we have been kindly invited to attend the “Family Fun Day” at the new Go Outdoors store in Stockport. We get to do a bit of bucket rattling and they are also giving us the proceeds from the activities taking place throughout the weekend. My job is to collect a Landrover, make sure I get all the collecting buckets and signs etc and make my way down to Stockport, leaving my car at Hayfield to be collected later. All is going well, the only thing I have managed to forget is my camera (so no photos from me today - Luckly Ken remembered his). Things are going too well, when suddenly I hit standing traffic in Hazel Grove. I knew I should have gone the other way! I crawl through the traffic and finally arrive slightly behind schedule to Ken and Andy looking at their watches.

We quickly get on, set up our stuff and get the buckets out. The staff at Go Outdoors were fantastic, offering us coffees and helping out in any way they could. Shortly after we were set up, Ian arrived with his “Search dog in Training”. She is a lovely dog and got far more attention than the three of us ever would.

The Search and Rescue Dogs Association or SARDA is a separate part of Mountain Rescue. Each member has to be part of a Mountain Rescue team and must have served at least one year as a full member to learn their Mountain Rescue skills before beginning to train a Search Dog. Ian’s dog now 18 months old and he has been training her every day since she was eight weeks. He has had to train her in general obedience, pass a livestock test (to show she does not chase sheep etc) and then be trained in searching. This starts by getting her interested in playing with a toy, then hiding it and getting her to look for it. It then progresses to getting a person (know as a “body”) holding the toy and getting them to hide with it. The difficult part is to then train the dog to return to the handler and bark to indicate that they have found something. If you want to know more about Search and Rescue dogs, or would like to body for them, have a look at www.sardaengland.org.uk.

So anyway back to the story! We had been collecting for about an hour when suddenly all our phones started bleeping – Callout. We gave our apologies to the manager of Go Outdoors, who kindly offered to have one of his staff man the collection bucket while we were away, and set off back to base. Unfortunately I have not done my blue lights training, so it was a frustrating 40 minute drive back through the traffic which I had just driven through an hour earlier.

When I got back to base, the incident was a Duke of Edinburgh student had a broken ankle on the top of Kinder. A fast response party had already been deployed and a second was waiting to go up. As soon as I arrived in the car park they jumped in and we set off.

I treated them to a bumpy display of my off road driving skills, before depositing them at Moorgate, to walk the rest of the way with all the heavy equipment. By now an Air Ambulance was on it’s way and soon after, Janet appeared in the other Landrover with a third party, who disembarked and quickly made their way off towards the Cas site. This left Janet and myself to wait with the vehicles until they all arrived back. Fortunately it was still a warm day, as in all the rush, I hadn’t had time to get back to collect my gear and I would have to wait around for over an hour in shorts and my trusty red team issue polo shirt.

It turned out that Mike had again been able to respond quickly and had been sent out in the fast response party, so here’s his version of events again:

“Saturday lunchtime, another callout; this month is quite unusual for the team, we seem to have busy periods when it is very bad weather, and July is usually one of our quieter months.

I hot foot it down to the hut, I’m first to arrive so I open up. Mobile 1 arrives along with several other team members. Nigel is running the show today – he wants a fast response team out asap. A member of a Duke of Edinburgh training expedition has fallen and broken his ankle on the edge path, more worryingly he is now complaining of pins and needles. He needs his ankle stabilising sooner rather than later. Four of us jump in the Landrover and head on up to Moorgate. An air ambulance has been requested but is not available.

We pass a large group of mountain bikers who open the gate for us (thank you). At Moorgate we start emptying the Landrover of all the extra kit we need; today we need vacuum splints, entonox, cas bag (a light sleeping bag), and a cas tent.

I get a strong feeling of déjà vu as not long have we left the Landrover than the air ambulance appears overhead! We are almost in exactly the same place as we were on 21/7 when helimed 09 arrived.

We carry on to the cas site, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘ambulance chasing’. Helimed is having some difficulty locating the cas site, when it does it has to land some distance away from the casualty – they request our assistance for the carry to the helicopter.

We arrive on site, Nigel checks out what is required off us – we need to carry the casualty about 500 metres over some difficult terrain using helimed’s spinal board (not the easiest thing to carry). Nigel suggests we wait for our stretcher which is already being carried up the hill. As the arrival of our stretcher may take some time he agrees to give it a go with the spinal board, which we do. I’m glad we didn’t have to carry much further – the spinal board is only really designed for short carries over nice smooth ground.

This is beginning to become a regular event meeting up with helimed – the pilot recognises me from the 21st.

We retire to a safe distance to watch the take off. If you want to get the true experience of being close to a helicopter taking off from a bone dry Kinder go out to your back garden and have your friends and neighbours hurl sand, grit and peat at you with great force. Ouch!”

Meanwhile back at the Landrovers:

It’s been about an hour and a half since the teams left. Janet and I have put the world to rights and explained what is going on to about a dozen different groups of walkers and bikers. One group even wanted to know if they could buy ice creams from our big white landrovers! The cheek – do they not know that we are an important rescue service! We have heard on the radio that the casualty is now on his way to Chesterfield hospital in the Air Ambulance and that the team is escorting another member of the party back down the hill to collect their car. They soon arrive, we load up and make our way back down to base. When we arrive, most of the other team members have gone as the job has been stood down and they will have had an afternoon of waiting around. We finish off clearing up the kit and I finally head back over to collect my car and drive up to the Lakes to catch up with my family for the rest of the weekend.