Episode 9 Real Rescues

-Today...

-He was alerting motorists to icy roads outside his home

and that's when it all went wrong.

Are you OK there?

There are warmer places to lay, ain't there?

My goodness, he looked cold.

Now, a small car is ablaze. It looks like it's under control, but then...

BANG!

What causes this explosion? The answer may surprise you.

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

We'll be following the stories of emergency crews

from fire, police and ambulance services.

Today, we are based at the Lewes Police Contact Centre.

Around half a million cases are handled here a year.

Reports of crime come by phone, text and e-mail.

And a call to this centre can have international repercussions.

A little later, we will hear how a call from a worried relative

in the UK led to an arrest within two hours in America.

Now, a tale to make you shiver.

It's sheet ice on the road outside Nik's house,

and he's trying to direct the traffic.

A car's already smashed into his fence

and he wants to avoid another collision.

Little does he know, he's about to become the accident.

It is a freezing cold February morning in West Sussex.

Snow has settled on the ground overnight.

It looks picturesque, but on smaller country lanes

with no grit or sunshine until later in the day,

-the icy surface can be treacherous.

-SIREN WAILS

It's a busy morning for the traffic cops.

RADIO:

Yeah, Roger, received. Thank you.

PCs Bob Blair and Ian Lombard are making their way to an incident,

where a man has been hit by a car skidding on ice.

-It looks pretty icy, doesn't it?

-Looks icy.

Once they turn off the main road,

they quickly see how slippery the Tarmac is.

It is icy, isn't it?

They close the road to prevent any more accidents.

We've closed the road because it's very icy.

In fact, even underfoot, it is quite slippy and treacherous conditions.

So I'm not particularly surprised there have been crashes down here this morning.

We've arranged for the council to come out,

the Highways Department, to come out and grit the road.

At the scene, they have to tackle the last few metres of ice on foot.

Stick to the sides, I think.

Hello there.

A number of vehicles have completely lost control

on the corner at the bottom of a slope.

An ambulance team are already treating the injured man.

Bob needs to find out exactly what's happened.

OK. So that man was standing there to slow people down,

she's come down and bopped him over. OK.

The injured man, Nik, is shivering with cold and pain.

Are you OK there?

There are warmer places to lay, aren't there?

OK, they'll sort you out. There's a bit of hassle at the moment,

because the road is so slippery.

Can you just tell me how you ended up here?

You live here?

And you were slowing vehicles down, is that right? Right.

OK. Right.

I'll just leave you with the paramedics now,

they'll sort you out, get you warm, get you in the ambulance.

I'll speak to you later, OK? All right.

Three drivers all slid into trouble.

Nik was doing his best to prevent another accident

after the first vehicle ended up in his fence.

He phoned for the police and waved for drivers to slow down.

The second car managed to come to a halt without incident.

But the third went into a skid

and hit Nik, before smashing into a trailer.

He's got a nasty gash on his leg, which might be broken.

They're going to edge the ambulance closer.

Just be aware, just the other side of this, you cannot stand up.

-It's the same here.

-Right.

That's what I said, I can't go that way. I have to come down.

-I won't be able to get back up again.

-OK.

The driver of the car that hit Nik is very upset.

He'll be fine. I think he...

There's talk he may have a broken leg, but...

-She said it was his leg.

-I know it's traumatic.

I couldn't stand up, coming up,

so try not to beat yourself up about it, OK?

He'll be OK. He'll be OK.

Right.

Once Nik is safely into the ambulance,

he asks the paramedic to talk to the driver to put her mind at rest.

He said that he saw you coming, you couldn't do anything about it,

and he couldn't either.

The ambulance crew set off carefully to the hospital.

The drivers will be ferried home and will pick up their cars later.

PC Ian tests just how slippery the Tarmac is.

Do you want to do a tandem one?

-Yeah. That is not good.

-It's a grip test.

The road will remain closed until the gritter lorry arrives.

Well, I'm delighted to say we've got Nik and PC Bob Blair with us today.

How are you feeling, first of all, Nik?

Yeah, not too bad. Making progress.

You're making progress, too slow, by the sounds of it.

I still can't move my knee very well. Some pain, but...

It's getting there somewhere.

OK, I've got to say, you looked so cold when you were lying down there.

Were you in shock or were you in pain?

Definitely some shock, but it was so cold.

I'd been laid on the snow for about half an hour or so.

Some people put blankets over and a nice hat, but it was freezing.

Do you see yourself as lucky or unlucky that day?

I'd have to say lucky,

because it could've been a hell of a lot worse.

Yeah. What about you, Bob, do you think he's been lucky?

I think he has been lucky in some ways.

Unlucky he's been hit by a car in the first place,

but lucky the injuries weren't

so much worse and he was run over by the car,

so he's been a reasonably lucky man, I'd say.

There are two ways of looking at it.

He went out there and actually tried to prevent more accidents.

But how often do people that go out and go to help people

or try to prevent accidents get involved in accidents themselves?

It is not particularly common.

However, the advice would remain the same -

always give yourself a good exit if you're going to assist at an accident.

Try and make sure you've got somewhere to jump out of the way

if that's possible.

Nik did exactly the right thing by trying to slow the traffic down.

Unfortunately, maybe if he'd moved from the apex of the bend a bit,

to the straight of the road, if he had time,

it would've been a better place to stand

and just make sure he's got an exit.

Basically, in layman's terms, give yourself space to escape to?

Give yourself some space and somewhere to jump out the way.

I suppose that applies to any road, in any situation.

Whether it's a motorway, dual carriageway

or an A-road, B-road, whatever,

make sure you've got somewhere to get out of the way.

In your opinion, I would have to say,

I don't think I've ever seen roads as icy and as dangerous as that.

-How bad was it?

-It was extremely... It was like an ice rink.

You could not stand up.

Where I'm based, on the south coast,

there was virtually no snow that day.

North of the Downs, there's quite a lot of snow.

In that particular area, it's what we class as a microclimate,

where there's a watercourse that would run over the road,

whether it's melting snow or whatever,

the surface of the road is colder,

so the water instantly freezes, and literally makes it into an ice rink.

It may be for a very short period of time.

Someone approaching that bend may not have been driving on ice,

they approach at the wrong speed and it all goes wrong.

What makes it worse is you decided not to drive as it was too dangerous.

Yeah, it was!

I just know what that road's like, there have been crashes there before.

The week before, somebody took out a pylon

and left a generator there, running our electricity for a week or so.

So it's an horrendous bit of road when it's that cold.

-All right. Nik, thank you. I'm glad you've thawed out.

-Thanks!

I didn't think you were ever going to thaw out, watching that film.

-And, PC Bob, thank you very much for both joining us.

-Thanks.

A man in his 90s has passed out and his lips have gone blue.

The ambulance crew think that he may have had a heart attack.

We're now going to see how his condition is diagnosed

and treated, within hours of the crew arriving at his home.

Senior paramedic Andy Eneas

is working an early-morning ambulance shift

with emergency care assistant Richard Shaw.

They're heading out to a man in his 90s, who has collapsed in his home.

They're suggesting his lips may have gone blue as well.

Not much in the way of information besides that,

other than there is a car on the scene, assessing.

So, hopefully, we'll get more information quite soon.

-'Hello?'

-Hello, ambulance.

-AUTOMATED VOICE:

-'The door is now unlocked. Please enter the building.'

It's immediately clear from John Ashwood's colour

that something is seriously wrong.

He started feeling unwell as he was making breakfast and then passed out.

Rapid response paramedic Tom Hope,

who was first to arrive, updates Andy.

John is complaining of a left-side chest pain,

radiating down the left arm.

He has a cardiac... I mean, he's a dreadful colour, as you can see.

He does have a cardiac history, he had a stent of seven years ago.

Since then, John's general health has been good,

although he is registered blind.

His daughter, Joy, lives nearby and takes care of him.

But his history of heart problems suggests there's a real possibility

he could be having another heart attack NOW.

How are you feeling now?

Much the same?

-So you still feel a bit...? He is very sweaty.

-Mm. OK.

Hello, young fella.

This is my colleague, Andrew, he's going to look after you, OK?

Like I said, we'll pop you in the ambulance, do some tests,

but I suspect it's probably going to be a little trip to hospital.

How does John look, colour-wise, compared to normal?

-Not good.

-Nothing like normal, OK.

So you don't actually remember hitting the floor earlier?

Not really.

Yeah.

OK, so next thing, basically...

OK, so you didn't feel right,

you were going to phone your daughter,

and then next thing, you're on the floor?

'They need to investigate what caused John to black out.

'If it is a heart attack,

'they need to get him into hospital as soon as possible.'

Good man, right. We'll give you a hand round with your legs.

You've had an ECG in the past before, obviously, John?

Oh, yes, I have one every year, don't I?

Oh, right. And all to keep on top of these things, yeah?

-A check-up every 12 months.

-Yeah, OK.

-My last one was in December.

-Yeah, OK.

Just turn your wrists over for me.

There you go, look. Already, I can see a bit on the interior there.

'Even before John is fully connected to the ECG machine,

'they spot some abnormalities in his heart rate.'

Have we got all leads on?

'It increases the likelihood that John has had a heart attack.'

Now, your ECG, it may well be normal for you,

but there's a couple of things on there that aren't quite right, OK?

So we've got to sort of try and see whether this is something

new or old, so the hospital are going to decide that, OK?

We'll be going there on blue lights, might be a little bit of noise,

It's just our sort of standard way that we do things, all right?

-I'm going to go and get your daughter, John.

-All right.

She is going to come with us. All the best to you.

-Thank you.

-Take care.

-Thanks for your help.

-No problem.

-Can I just check, John, you've not got a pacemaker, have you?

-No.

The problem is, where he's had heart problems in the past,

we can't say whether this is new, or it might be similar to John's existing.

But obviously, we have to treat it as the worst case scenario.

We've sent a copy of the ECG through,

so they can give us a decision on what they think.

We're off to the lab, mate.

'The decision from the doctors at the hospital has come through in minutes.

'Something very serious has occurred in John's heart,

'but Andy doesn't want to alarm him.'

We're going to somewhere called the cardiac catheterisation lab, OK?

You know you had the stent in the past?

There's a possibility there could be another blockage, OK?

So we'll take you to the lab, and they may do the same sort of procedure you had in the past, OK?

'John's condition will be assessed immediately.

'If he does have a blocked artery, he'll be straight into theatre.

'We'll be back with John later.'

Now, if you call this contact centre like this,

you'd probably only expect the people to have to deal with local issues,

but that's not always the case.

I'm going to introduce you to a woman called Nathalie now.

-I'll make sure she's not too busy. Can I speak to you, Nathalie?

-Yeah, sure.

Because you got a phone call, or the centre received a call,

from a local woman who was concerned about a relative

in the United States. What happened?

Yes, she called in because her sister had recently

moved to the States with her family, husband and children,

and basically, she'd read on Facebook

that she was worried and didn't feel safe at all

because the husband had taken her mobile phone,

threatened to kidnap the children and also assaulted her.

They didn't know where to turn, so they contacted us.

So, what did you do?

What we did is... our Force Control Centre

liaised with the American Embassy,

managed to locate the actual address of this family

and organised for the local police to go to that home address

in the States and arrested the actual male.

And we were able to liaise with the family here and make sure

they were aware of everything that was happening

and how quick things were getting sorted out.

That's fantastic.

I mean, are we talking about a number of days, weeks?

No, from start to finish, it was, like, say, two hours.

Two hours? So, a woman in Sussex rings you,

-and in two hours, a man's arrested in the United States?

-Yeah.

-That is extraordinary. Is it a rare case?

-It can happen.

I mean, you know, it varies, it can be phases.

All of a sudden, you get a lot of those kinds of calls, and another time, you won't.

So over a period of months, nothing, and then...

So, as long as we all work together...

Amazing teamwork between the UK and the United States.

That's right, yeah.

And what happened to the family?

The family was brought back to the UK, the mother and children,

and he's still in the States.

-Mother and children all back in the UK safe and sound?

-Yeah, yeah.

-What a fantastic story. Nathalie, thank you.

-OK.

Knocked off her bike on the way to a job interview,

Bliss Hill's head has hit the windscreen of a car so hard

it's left an imprint in the glass.

'Paramedic Danny Milham and emergency care assistant Ollie Hunt

'are on their way to help a young cyclist who's been in

'a high-impact collision with a car.'

'They arrive to find a rapid response crew already at the scene,

'and the victim clearly in a state of shock.'

We have Bliss, 22 years of age, who was on a push bike.

The bike's coming across the road,

the car's come through a green traffic light,

she's collided with the front of the car, bulls-eyed the windscreen...

-Oh, nice...

-..KO'd, got a sizeable lump on the back of her head.

'Bulls-eyeing got its name because of the pattern created

'when someone hits a windscreen.

'In this case, it was Bliss Hill's head,

'leaving the glass with a six-inch wide crater and,

'unfortunately for her, she wasn't wearing a helmet.'

Right, we're going to put this collar round your neck.

I just want you to keep nice and still,

just let me support your head, all right?

Don't try and move, we'll do all the moving round you.

'She's badly cut and bruised on her hands, face and back,

'and she is complaining of a headache and nausea -

'possible symptoms of a brain injury.

'Her neck and spine need to be immobilised.'

I know it's probably a bit sore, this is the worst bit, OK?

'Her friend, Brandon, is by her side and is trying to comfort her,

'but she's clearly in distress.'

I know.

'As the adrenaline wears off, the pain kicked in.'

I know it feels like we're pawing at you...

Whereabouts?

OK.

You're on quite a lot of stuff here, all right?

Whereabouts on your back is it feeling sore?

Lower left, OK.

'The crew use a scoop - a collapsible lightweight body board -

'to ease Bliss off the ground as painlessly as possible.'

Ready, set, roll.

'It's still an uncomfortable process,

'but better than manhandling her on to a traditional stretcher.'

Just snap that one in. There you go.

Everyone ready to roll back and roll? Ready, set, roll.

I'm just going to put some tape across your head

and some tape across your chin.

-Oh, that's really sore on there.

-Just a sec.

You've got a little cut below your eye,

it looks worse than what it is, just because of the blood,

but it's not too bad at the moment.

There's going to be a couple of bumps.

'Once they've got her in the ambulance,

'the crew can do a more thorough examination.'

-Is there any pain when you breathe in deeply?

-No.

OK, have you got any pain in your tummy?

-Nothing at all? And you can wiggle your toes?

-Yeah.

-Everything feels normal?

-Yeah.

Apart from my head, and my lower left back.

'It turns out that Bliss was on her way to a job interview.'

-And where were you off to?

-Going for an interview.

-Oh, right, where to?

-Bingo.

Bingo! Oh, right. The one at Westbourne?

-Yeah, the one just up the road.

-Oh, right.

-OK, we're going to do your blood pressure, all right?

-OK.

'Considering how Bliss is now, it's amazing to think

'that less than 30 minutes ago, she shattered a car windscreen

'with her head, and she survived to tell the story.'

-You've done a good job to the windscreen.

-Have I?

-Yeah.

-Oh, dear.

A proper job.

-Is it smashed?

-Yeah.

-A lot?

-Yeah.

Because she's banged her head and the mechanism of injury,

or the mechanism of the incident,

we're going to immobilise her spine

and we're going to take her to Poole Hospital

for a check-up.

-My head is ever so painful.

-I'm sure it is.

-Do you want some painkillers for it?

-I wouldn't mind.

Can we pull over, Chief?

'Danny's decided to give her some morphine

'to help get her through the journey to Poole A&E.'

Right, then, sharp scratch somewhere here.

'Once the cannula is inserted, they can head off again

'and soon pass the bingo hall where she was due for a job interview.'

Oh, we're outside a bingo hall!

Do you want to quickly do your interview on there?

'For Bliss, it's starting to sink in just what a close call she had.'

Lucky, aren't I?

Yeah, I reckon.

I know helmets, I know people go on and nag about helmets, but...

You still would have had some cuts to your face, but...

Well, I wouldn't have had that great big stonking head, would I?

-No, no.

-I will be getting one from now on, I promise.

'Bizarrely, Bliss admits she'd actually dreamt

'she was going to have an accident.'

I had a nightmare last night that I got run over,

and I never have nightmares, and I got run over.

I'm not usually one to believe those kinds of things, but that's weird.

'Now at hospital, Ollie keeps Bliss chatting

'while she's waiting to be assessed.'

Do you ever play the bingo?

-LAUGHING:

-No!

No? That's not funny, is it?

'Bliss will now be seen by a consultant

'and will find out exactly how bad her injuries actually are.'

And, as it turns out, Bliss, you were only in hospital

-for a day or so, wasn't it?

-Yes, it was, yeah.

I know that you were on your way to a job interview.

How far, exactly, were you from the job interview?

-About 300 metres, and I didn't quite make it.

-Oh, no!

So you were really

-worried about that, presumably?

-Well, yeah, but I would hope that they would understand,

seeing as I got run over.

So the police said they were going to call, they didn't need to call,

because what actually happened at the end?

-Did you get the job?

-Yeah, I got the job.

-Were they quite understanding?

-Yeah, they were very understanding.

You would be, wouldn't you?

When you go to work now, do you take a little bit more care?

I've been all right now, I just had sore hips to begin with,

but I don't do too much running around now.

It's quite a different job, explain what it is - you're not a bingo caller, are you?

No, I hand out the cash prizes.

-Which is a nice job, presumably?

-I make lots of people happy.

I bet the old ladies love you.

-Hello, Bliss.

-Hello.

Well done, you.

I had to come and see you because as soon as I heard bingo caller,

I always fancied myself as one of those.

She's not a caller, but...

You might have to help me out, what is this one? 13.

Unlucky 13.

-Oh!

-I think you're very lucky, to be perfectly honest,

to hit a windscreen at that speed.

-Thank you very much, I'm glad you're OK.

-Thank you.

Well done, Bliss.

Still to come on Real Rescues, the moment of impact

the car fills with what looks like smoke,

but does that mean it's on fire?

He's fallen off his ladder not once, but twice.

This time, he's banged his head and knocked himself unconscious,

but Paul still wants to get up.

No, mate!

-Just lie there and listen.

-All right.

Now, the invention of airbags has been a major development in road safety.

Since they were made a feature in modern cars in the early 1990s,

many lives have been saved.

But for firefighters, the presence of an airbag

is a warning sign for them to take extra care.

J54, Papa One in attendance.

'It's early evening,

'and Southampton's Green Watch fire crew are heading to a car fire.

'The car's engulfed in flames.

'They're shooting ten feet into the air.

'The surrounding area of this busy street has been cordoned off.

'Car fires can be unpredictable.

'The fuel tank, electrics, tyres and even burning car batteries

'can be potentially lethal once they heat up.

'The crew are wearing breathing apparatus as they go in.

'The synthetic materials inside the car can generate deadly fumes once alight.

'As they move in close to hose the flames, suddenly...

'..there's an explosion.'

Startled, firefighter Ben pulls away,

'but within seconds is back in there fighting the flames.

'The car driver, 19-year-old student Adam,

'and his mate, Chad, can only look on in shock.

'They've had a lucky escape.

'It's a good job they got out of the car fast

'when the cigarette lighter burst into flames.'

I was driving along and we could smell burning plastic.

And we looked down and our cigarette lighter was smoking,

loads of smoke was just

coming out of the cigarette lighter. Then we saw there was a small flame,

so we just literally jumped out of the car,

tried to get water from somewhere, but we couldn't.

Then when I turned round, my car was just in massive flames!

'Fires like this can reach temperatures of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit,

'around six times the temperature of boiling water.

'It's taken just minutes for the car to turn into an inferno.

'Even the wing mirrors are melting.

'Once the fire's out,

'the crew have to contend with plumes of thick, toxic smoke.'

I'm about to investigate, but looking at the vehicle,

the fire started in the driving compartment, it hasn't started under the bonnet.

The chap concerned,

he got out of the car with his friend.

Unfortunately, he left his phone in the car,

which has obviously been destroyed,

but his friend had a phone and called us straightaway

and waited for our arrival.

'The source of the earlier explosion is still a mystery.

'Watch manager Sean Foster is cutting open the bonnet

'to see if there are any clues in the engine bay.'

It wasn't a tyre that's actually on the vehicle,

there's some wheel trims in the back.

It could have been gas exploding,

it could have been a number of things.

I thought it was a tyre, it's not a tyre.

But Ben Carter, who was closest, has his own theory.

It was the airbag charge going off in the steering wheel - it went "bang".

Made me jump a little bit, yeah.

That'll teach me for getting too close.

The explosion in that car fire was caused by the airbag inflator cylinder.

What's that? It's that thing that makes the airbag inflate.

Well, earlier, Louise spoke to Martin Lusk from East Sussex Fire,

and he's an expert in airbag safety.

Hi there, Martin.

So these cylinders, they can literally go off

in a blink of an eye, can't they? How quickly?

If they're going to react to a car crash,

they will take about 50 milliseconds.

-50 milliseconds?

-Yeah.

-Which means?

It will take you about 100 milliseconds to blink,

so half a blink, they're out.

-Before you've even realised.

-Yes.

In a modern car, how many airbags are there?

Well, in this car, you have obviously one in the steering wheel,

there's one for the passenger on the side,

you've also got side airbags in the side of the seats.

In other cars, they can be in the rear pillars,

or might even be in the front pillar, so you get a curtain go across.

-And they have saved many thousands of lives.

-Absolutely, yeah.

You've got concerns about babies, particularly,

in the front seat, haven't you?

Yeah, with the front seat, babies sit in those rear-facing seats.

Never, ever put one in the front seat.

-If it's got an airbag?

-If it's got an airbag.

Because the force that the airbag will deploy,

it'll be very close to where the seat is, and it can kill the child.

And when they're a bit bigger, in those different booster seats,

they can sit in the front?

That's fine, the distance then is fine,

it's purely the rear-facing seats.

Tell me quickly as well, what about other things?

Things on the dashboard and people sitting in here.

Yeah, check with your manufacturer's handbook,

find out where your airbags are, and in this particular case,

it has an airbag here, it will deploy from this area.

Don't stick anything to the dash there,

because when it opens, it's going to fly off. And don't put your legs up there.

You see a lot of people travelling with their feet up on there.

-I might have done that.

-Ah.

Don't do that, it'll be very, very painful for you if it goes off.

I now see why, thank you.

What about best driving position, then?

OK, we're looking for at least ten inches between

where the airbags deploy from and your chest.

You can achieve that by moving the seat backwards and forwards

to a comfortable driving position.

Most steering wheels will move as well.

So, this one, it's a simple unlock here.

Not only does it go up and down, it can go in and out.

You'll get a comfortable driving position,

find what that is for you, make sure there's at least ten inches

from there to your chest, you'll be fine.

One of the other things I've noticed - we have some footage of this -

is that when an airbag goes off, there's a smoke effect. What's that?

The construction of the bags, they're nylon,

and they deploy so quickly, like we've said,

that without having something like talcum powder around it

to lubricate it, they could burn, so it's purely that.

It's a lubricant to allow the bag to deploy properly.

It's talcum powder, or something similar, and inert.

And does that confuse people sometimes,

when they've been in an accident?

It can appear like there's a car fire.

Of course, there can be a car fire following an accident,

but 99 times out of 100, that's going to start in the engine compartment.

You would recognise the difference, the smell would be plasticky,

you'll probably hear it as well, to be honest with you.

If there's just a little bit of light smoke in this area,

it's probably talc.

Lots of really useful information,

-I shall never travel with my feet on the dashboard again!

-Please don't.

I know you're really busy, you're on call,

-so I'm going to leave you, but thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

We've been following the story of John Ashwood.

He's in his nineties and he's had what looks like a heart attack.

But he's not going to A&E. He's been taken straight to the heart unit.

The ambulance has taken John straight in

to the hospital's cardiac catheterisation lab.

The medical team are assessing his condition.

And it's soon confirmed that John has suffered a heart attack.

Seven years ago, he had surgery to insert a stent,

a small artificial tube to open up a blocked artery.

Now, another clot has occurred in exactly the same place.

They're going to try and remove it straightaway.

Sharp stretch of the wrist.

This can be a very risky procedure for someone of John's age.

Doctor Ali Darna inserts a catheter into an artery in John's wrist

then directs it all the way up the arm and then down into the heart.

Right, take a deep breath in for me. Deep as you can.

And hold your breath in there.

He can follow its progress on a monitor in the theatre.

Here, he can clearly see John's beating heart

with the blood flow to one artery blocked.

It's standard practice for the patient to stay awake

throughout the whole procedure.

The catheter reaches the blockage, it sucks the clot clear,

leaving the blood to flow free once more.

Next, Doctor Ali inserts a tiny balloon which will inflate

once it's in place within the artery.

How's that pain, Mr Wood?

Has it? Good. Well, the artery's nice and open.

The balloon is moved inside the old stent to open it up,

allowing the free flow of blood

and helping prevent any future clots building up.

You've been extremely good, sir.

You've been a star patient.

It's taken just 25 minutes.

John has gone through the whole procedure without a complaint.

So, this chap has had a stent put in before.

And in this view here, you can see the stent

that he's had put in before.

And it's completely blocked. So the first thing we did

was put a wire into the artery,

and we sucked out the thrombis, the clot that was causing the blockage of the stent.

With a thrombectomy catheter, with an export catheter,

and that's clearly restored flow in the artery

and those diagonal branches.

And as he's got some stents in there already,

I elected not to put any more stents in,

and just let the artery take care of itself.

And that's the final picture,

the anterior part of the heart, which is there...

..is not working as well as it should be, but it's not surprising,

and that should gradually recover over the next few weeks to months.

Doctor Ali is pleased with the results so far.

Very well indeed. I was quite concerned, obviously, because of his age.

But having said that, at the age of 92, he's got the most risk

and the most benefit from this procedure.

John will remain in hospital for a few days,

where he'll be carefully monitored.

I want to have a chat to Adam.

Not about something that happened here, but something when you were off duty.

You saw an injured person.

Yes. It was after I had my interview to work here.

I was on my way into Brighton,

saw a gentleman on the side of the road who had an injury

and because of my specialist training, I pulled up on the other side of the road

got my first aid kit and my warrant card,

ran across the road and started treating him,

because he had a bad head injury,

and then the person that had done this, he then came back,

so my gentleman found the strength to attack him again,

so then it became a matter of restraining him

at the same time as trying to treat him as well.

So you're sort of dealing with two people,

one that's injured and two people having a fight as well?

Yes, yes. Unfortunately so.

Fortunately, the other gentleman had left,

so it was just a matter of calming my guy down

and dealing with his injury.

-Not what you would expect.

-Not on the day after an interview, no.

-And it nearly got worse than that, didn't it?

-It did.

There was a parking warden...

Because I'd left my car on the other side of the road,

a traffic warden went to go and give me a ticket,

so I had to hold my hands up

to show I was obviously dealing with somebody that was injured.

-Tell us about the hands. They were covered in blood?

-Yes.

They were covered in the gentleman's blood.

And then the ambulance crew arrived and he was taken care of.

I think that's a good excuse to get off a parking ticket.

-Yes, absolutely.

-And it wasn't all bad at the end of the day.

When did you find out you'd actually got the job, then?

It was about two weeks later,

and then I've used that every time in interview now.

So, it's a good little experience.

We've had lots of talk about interviews today. Thanks and congratulations on the job as well.

-Lovely, thank you.

-Thank you.

Accidents at home are a major reason for calls to emergency services.

Around 600 people a day are treated after DIY disasters

and we've seen our fair share here on Real Rescues.

There was Ian Larn, building a marquee in his garden

and stabbed his hand with a knife, cutting into an artery.

And there was Robert, who fell down the stairs while painting

and broke his ankle.

OK.

HE LAUGHS

Now we've got Paul Adams.

He's fallen off his ladder twice in one day

and he is sure where the blame lies.

With the ladder.

It's a sunny afternoon on the South Coast.

A perfect day for catching up on DIY.

But at one house, it's gone horribly wrong.

Ambulance crew John Leatherbarrow and paramedic Jason Papworth

have been called to a man who's fallen from a ladder

trying to fix his guttering.

When they arrive, there's plenty of evidence of the accident,

but no sign of the casualty.

KNOCKING

-Hello.

-Hello.

They find Paul Adams inside being treated by David Meeson,

the first to arrive in the rapid response car.

So this is Paul.

-He was on step ladders outside...

-OK.

..and he's fallen backwards. He's hit his head on the Tarmac.

Paul is conscious now, but after staggering back into the house,

he passed out for two minutes.

Luckily, his daughter had just arrived and she dialled 999.

He's got the head wound on the back of his head.

His jaw was painful on the left-hand side.

He is a much better colour than he was.

And he's a lot more with it than he was originally.

Paul's daughter was shocked to learn

it wasn't the first time it had happened that day.

And this is his second fall, because he fell off earlier today,

and he's got a graze on his leg and stomach

from falling off earlier.

So he went back for seconds?

The ladder, it was from the top and not as he was coming down

-and halfway down?

-No...

-Guttering height?

-Yes.

My head was about...top of the bungalow, where the guttering is,

and I went down, then I hit my head on the Tarmac.

I managed to get up and you came along.

The medics can't rule out serious head or spinal injuries.

-I can walk.

-No, mate.

-HE LAUGHS

-Just lie there and listen.

-All right.

HE LAUGHS

The problem is, you've had this fall, haven't you?

We know you've got the head wound and your jaw's painful,

-so you must have taken quite a knock to it, mustn't you?

-I did.

So as a precaution, the sensible thing is to put you on a firm board

and put a collar on and just as a precaution,

until you've been seen at the hospital, just to do that.

OK, I understand.

Paul's obvious improvement is a relief to his wife and daughter.

He's so much more with it than he was.

Before they put Paul on to the spinal board,

Dave needs to do a thorough examination of his head and spine

to check for further injuries.

-Can you tell me if you have got...

-There, that's the most pain.

-You have got some pain.

-I have there, just there.

OK, well, I'll just carry on down, just to...

Pain in his spine means he could have suffered

a life-changing injury. They can't take any chances.

When we get the board in, all right?

-Yes.

-What we're going to do is we'll do all the moving.

-OK.

-So apart from your thighs and stuff,

there was nothing from the previous fall, apart from these grazes?

-No.

-So it's your second fall that's...

-Caused the problem.

-OK.

My jaw really hurts, down here.

-Whereabouts?

-Round there.

-Just that side?

I couldn't speak at first because my jaw was all...

I thought I'd broke my jaw.

OK, how's your vision?

It was bad at first, for the first 20 minutes, half an hour.

I was, sort of double vision and...

The symptoms are worrying.

Paul will need a thorough check-over in hospital.

Ready, set, slide.

There we go.

No, not yet!

HE LAUGHS

Paul's not blaming anyone for the accident but himself.

He knows exactly why he fell, not once, but twice.

Trouble is, I've got this flimsy step ladder.

I know it's flimsy. I already fell off an hour before.

At that point, you didn't think,

I really should go in for a cup of tea and give up on this for today?

THEY LAUGH

I should've thrown them away a long time ago.

You just thought, I really must have an ambulance visit today?

Paul's taken straight in to A&E, where consultant Peter Richmond

will investigate exactly what injuries he suffered.

Let me just pull this back a second.

Squeeze my fingers really tight.

Push me away. Pull me towards you.

Spread your fingers out like that for me and keep them spread out.

Just to let you know, I fell off the ladder about an hour before as well

and hurt my elbow and thigh.

THEY LAUGH

But I'm not bothered about my thigh and elbow.

-That's telling you something, wasn't it?

-Yes, it was, yes.

I should've said today wasn't the right day.

-Ready, set...

-Roll.

Next, Peter presses along Paul's spine,

checking each vertebra for a spinal injury.

-Any pain up here?

-No.

-Coming down here?

-No.

-All the way down here?

-No.

You're sore in there?

-Not too bad.

-The top there?

-No.

-Coming over this side...

-Yes.

-You're sore that side?

-Slightly.

-Have I hurt you?

-A little bit.

-Whereabouts?

Mostly all round here.

For some reason, it's not bruising or anything, but we need to take some X-rays.

-I'd like you to stay in the collar until we've got the X-rays.

-Yes.

-I think you've been lucky.

-Yes, I have.

It seems Paul has escaped any serious injuries,

but before he's allowed home,

his back will be X-rayed to double-check.

-See you later, buddy.

-Cheers.

Well, Paul is back on his feet after being treated for whiplash

and bumps and bruises. He's counting his blessings

and has vowed never to use his step ladder again.

-What about you with DIY?

-I'm useless.

I once spent half an hour trying to drill some holes in a cupboard,

going for it hammer and tongs,

sweating and then realised, I had it on reverse.

So what was bruised, your ego?

Definitely my ego, thank goodness, no accidents in the kitchen.

-Thank goodness for that, hey?

-That's it for Real Rescues.

-Join us again next time. We'll you see then.

-Bye-bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd