SO last night our group held a BBQ to unwind for summer so as many CFR's and "Medics" from the group as were possible were there enjoying the night. I spent most of my evening chatting to a paramedic, that i went on 3rd man shifts with, and his partner when he got an advise text on his phone to a fitting 19yof. I noticed the address...a local camp I'd spent a lot of time at earlier on in my life, because of this he phoned up control and asked if there were any crews booked onto the job...none!
So off we both went, on blues, to the campsite where i recognised basically everyone there!
When we walked into the kitchen, she was laid on the floor, on her side with a sleeping bag draped over her, she'd stopped convulsing but we were informed at this point that she had convulsed around 7 times over the past 45 mins. She could only communicate via squeezing one of the leader's hands which made communication very difficult, she even found it difficult to nod or shake her head.
We managed to get her sat up on a mattress that someone had kindly leant against the wall for us. All the tests came out basically perfect! apart from being slightly tachycardic (fast pulse for those not in the know).
Then it was just a waiting game, chatting to the other guys, trying to cheer her up, and calming her down everytime she had a slight tremor because the AED/ECG recognised if as VF...therefore a shockable rhythm. Fairly sure anyone would get slightly scared at a machine suddenly shouting "SHOCKABLE RHYTHM, ATTACH PADS!"
All in all a good nights work for the pair of us...just goes to show...even when off duty you could end up helping someone. And we managed to get back to the BBQ in time for trifle!
Sunday, 21 July 2013
Monday, 8 July 2013
Airshow Season!
Just come back from the biggest International Airshow which I covered for the first time this year! Next Weekend I'm of down south for a Naval Airshow! Summer has arrived.
Spent my time on one of the 3 First Aid posts where we saw around 40 patients each day. Only one particularly interesting case to talk to you about unfortunately guys!
During the Sunday, the 3 of us manning the post (1 nurse had left earlier in the day leaving us with myself as Advanced First Aider, A technician and a nurse) when a member of RAF personnel came in telling us there was a elderly male who "wasn't feeling himself", I grabbed my bag and went for a brisk walk (of course we never run!). On arrival I was presented with a 68yo Male sat in the driver's seat of his car, ready to drive himself and his wife home. He was extremely drowsy, salivating, had a runny nose, his hands were reddened and swollen, his radial pulse was un-locatable. He has dressed, seeping wounds on his legs from chemotherapy. When asking him questions, his responses were very mumbled and at time incomprehensible. I immediately radioed for one of our ambulances to get him to our Casualty Clearance Centre (CCC) for further assessment/treatment.
Now I knew i had a few minutes to gain as much information as I possibly could. I put my pulse Oximeter on his finger, Sats 98% pulse 112...but ignored this due to his shaking and the trace showing it extremely irregular. I then had a feel of his arms and neck, extremely warm to touch so took his temp through my tympanic thermometer...40.4 degrees. Immediately got the RAF member to stand a bit up the road to wave down the ambulance so there was no chance he'd miss us.
He was rushed into the CCC where he was taken through the Decontamination unit (a big shower unit!) and when I heard back his temp had dropped 2 degrees and was a lot more alert!
That's my weekend done! Can't wait for the next one.
Spent my time on one of the 3 First Aid posts where we saw around 40 patients each day. Only one particularly interesting case to talk to you about unfortunately guys!
During the Sunday, the 3 of us manning the post (1 nurse had left earlier in the day leaving us with myself as Advanced First Aider, A technician and a nurse) when a member of RAF personnel came in telling us there was a elderly male who "wasn't feeling himself", I grabbed my bag and went for a brisk walk (of course we never run!). On arrival I was presented with a 68yo Male sat in the driver's seat of his car, ready to drive himself and his wife home. He was extremely drowsy, salivating, had a runny nose, his hands were reddened and swollen, his radial pulse was un-locatable. He has dressed, seeping wounds on his legs from chemotherapy. When asking him questions, his responses were very mumbled and at time incomprehensible. I immediately radioed for one of our ambulances to get him to our Casualty Clearance Centre (CCC) for further assessment/treatment.
Now I knew i had a few minutes to gain as much information as I possibly could. I put my pulse Oximeter on his finger, Sats 98% pulse 112...but ignored this due to his shaking and the trace showing it extremely irregular. I then had a feel of his arms and neck, extremely warm to touch so took his temp through my tympanic thermometer...40.4 degrees. Immediately got the RAF member to stand a bit up the road to wave down the ambulance so there was no chance he'd miss us.
He was rushed into the CCC where he was taken through the Decontamination unit (a big shower unit!) and when I heard back his temp had dropped 2 degrees and was a lot more alert!
That's my weekend done! Can't wait for the next one.
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