Episode 12 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill, or seriously injured in a place

like this - there's only one thing that can save you, and that's speed.

It doesn't matter where you are, this helicopter,

with its highly-trained team of pilots and paramedics

will fly to your rescue at 2.5 miles a minute.

These are Yorkshire's Helicopter Heroes.

When the people of Britain's biggest county dial 999,

there's a good chance help will come from the skies.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance is ready to scramble 365 days a year,

and each one brings a new life-or-death emergency.

Today on Helicopter Heroes...

Holiday rescue. Paramedic Sammy recruits an army of day-trippers to save her patient.

If, at any time, you're not happy,

shout, "Stop, stop, stop."

There's a major emergency as a car crashes into a crowded pub.

Dust and brick everywhere.

Helimed 99 takes a trip to the seaside after a man collapses at his holiday home.

Time is obviously the most important thing.

And a cyclist run over by a tractor fights for his life.

What would you do if you came across a serious accident?

Dial 999, of course. But then what?

Every day, dozens of ordinary people find out they can be heroes too,

coming to the rescue when the professionals just aren't around.

In the Yorkshire Dales, the first sunshine of summer

is bringing the tourists up into the hills.

It's just half an hour's drive from the cities of Leeds and Bradford

to the wide open spaces of Wharfedale.

But on the outskirts of Ilkley, a day-tripper has been badly hurt

in a fall from a landmark called the Cow and Calf rocks.

Patient is not alert.

It could be a small slip and trip,

or it could be a significant head injury.

He's apparently fallen about 10 foot and may not be conscious.

We'll get off see what it is.

The Helimed team's 19-year-old patient is just five miles away

from their base at Leeds Bradford airport.

Helimed to 98. Request a transit to the Ilkley area.

They'll be with her in three minutes.

It very much depends how you land. It's not necessarily the distance you fall.

If you fall 10 feet backwards onto the back of your head, that can be a significant injury.

Emily is 19 and a Canadian.

She's sustained a heavy blow to the back of the head.

Right, all the lads in there, can I have you down?

Dr Steve Rowe is a climber, and mountain rescue expert

who's familiar with climbing accidents.

-This young lady has fallen about 12 foot.

-Right.

She's got a head injury.

Were you climbing up or climbing down?

I was...I was...

-I think I was climbing down.

-You were climbing down.

Emily is clearly confused. It could be a sign of a serious head injury.

She doesn't know her name, what day it was, why she was here.

When you arrived, she was unconscious?

-Yes.

-How long did that last for?

-Probably about three to four minutes.

-OK.

Paramedic James is also concerned about her neck.

-He wants to protect it with a hard collar.

-Have you got a collar there?

There's one coming out.

Can one of you to go down with Sammy and give her a hand with the equipment?

-Yeah.

-Great, thank you.

Breathe through your nose. Out through your mouth. Big breaths.

Got that oxygen nearby to you, not right on you, OK?

The Cow and Calf attracts hundreds of tourists every day.

But its smooth rocks are deceptively dangerous.

She was coming down with her boyfriend.

Luckily for Emily, Janice Lloyd has been cradling her head,

a vital precaution for a patient who may also have a neck injury.

She tumbled down and hit her back on the first rock

and then hit her head on that rock.

I've sat with her, holding her head, for the last 15 minutes.

Janice was visiting the rocks on a family day out

when she found herself using her first-aid skills.

It's my boy's birthday today.

She said it was her sister's birthday,

so I tried to see what day it was.

She was saying she didn't know her name,

I started talking about personal things.

Keep really still. Keep your head really still.

James and Dr Steve have found a nasty wound on the back of Emily's head.

She could have a fractured skull.

Put this collar on. We'll pop that oxygen back on, OK? Just watch the...

That's it.

OK, poppet.

-Is your head hurting?

-Yes.

-Is it the back of your head or the front of your head?

-Back of my head.

OK, sweetie.

-Sammy? Have we got rescue contact?

-They're getting back with an ETA.

One for you, sir.

Leeds and its state-of-the-art trauma centre are only 10 minutes' flying time away.

But Emily is entangled in the rocks and removing her won't be easy.

We've got mountain rescue en route -

don't know the ETA cos it's a bank holiday. Significant traffic.

The drama is being watched by dozens of Sunday afternoon sightseers.

But they could be about to provide the Helimed team with the solution to their problem.

Coming up... there's no sign of mountain rescue, but Sammy has a plan.

You're more than welcome to help, but can I just have you at the bottom?

At the seaside, a man is fighting for his life.

Can Helimed 99 save him?

And a day out in the Dales ends in a painful accident.

Now you'd think watching the races down the pub

is a pretty safe way to spend your Saturday afternoon.

That's what the regulars of a West Yorkshire bar thought

until a freak accident.

'They're off and running...'

It's Grand National day, and the nation's favourite race

is underway on TV across the UK.

But punters at a pub

in the town of Castleford are missing the big race.

They've been evacuated after a car crashed into the wall of the lounge bar.

And now the car park is the scene of a major emergency operation.

We've got two females -

one with a femur and query other injury.

One female, query spinal with a leg injury. Two male patients,

both have got a femur and one might have a query back injury.

I actually had my back to where the impact is inside the pub.

But it was carnage in the pub, there was dust and brick work

going everywhere inside the pub.

There were two babies inside the pub which we got out of the way.

Then we've come out and we just saw the carnage there.

We'll go up that way and then move out there, so we've got more space.

Five people have been badly injured. Most have broken legs.

The local ambulance station has turned out every available vehicle.

Now Helimed 99 is on the way.

Initial reports is

there is a female who is unconscious, and there are three or four

casualties at this time.

For pilot JJ Smith, getting close to the pub will be a challenge.

It's in the middle of town.

Luckily, the local chemical works has a big car park,

and they don't work weekends.

The police have just informed us that they require morphine on the scene.

The paramedics and the West Yorkshire division haven't got morphine,

so I'll go and administer some morphine.

Paramedic Paul knows he'll end up with the most serious casualties.

-Have you got morphine?

-Yeah.

-Can we give it to this guy?

-Yeah, no worries.

It's obviously hit the pub at quite a rate.

I don't understand why everybody has got leg injuries.

That will be apparent once we figure out what's happened.

The runaway people-carrier scattered drinkers as it hit the the exterior wall of the pub.

But most of the casualties were inside the vehicle.

Most are young and until they have all been medically examined,

the Helimed team won't know which of them

they'll end up flying to hospital.

Two, three, down!

Teenager Lauren has a broken leg.

It doesn't sound too serious, but the team know

she's shattered her femur - the biggest bone in her body.

Patients can easily bleed to death internally after an injury like this.

Her screaming has eased off a little bit, so hopefully it's kicked in,

but she's upset at the moment.

Most worryingly, blood doesn't seem to be reaching Lauren's foot.

The broken bone has blocked circulation in her leg.

This will be painful for her. For the moment,

she's not got much of a pedis pulse.

We need to straighten it to get blood back in her foot.

We'll do that, put a splint on it and fly her to hospital.

This is serious. If left untreated, she could lose her foot.

Paul and the team must straighten Lauren's broken leg

to release the pressure on her arteries.

It's going to be painful.

Coming up...the struggle to restore blood flow to Lauren's leg begins.

Mountain rescue are stuck in traffic

and a girl with a serious head injury is stranded on a cliff face.

I'd like two lines of people.

And a motorcyclist is badly hurt in a collision with a dry-stone wall.

It doesn't matter how good your doctor is

or how often you get your ticker checked out,

if and when you have a heart attack, is one of life's lotteries.

But every lottery has its winners.

One of them was one of Helimed 99's patients today.

From Whitby in the North to Bridlington in the South,

Yorkshire's beautiful and rugged coastline

attracts thousands of visitors every year.

But it's not just holidaymakers that are lured by the spectacular views.

The East coast is also a popular retreat for people looking for a quiet and sedate place to retire,

and that means the local ambulance service are kept particularly busy.

Today, they need some backup.

Is he short of breath or anything like that?

He is. Has he got a history of heart problems?

At Helimed HQ, flying doctor Andy Pountney is talking to an East coast resident

whose husband could be having a heart attack.

Even with two jet engines, it'll take nearly half an hour

for the Helimed team to reach the seaside.

But these are classic symptoms, and heart attacks often prove fatal.

It's quite a fair distance for us to travel.

This gentleman hasn't had any previous

kind of chest pain.

He's obviously complained of pain in his chest radiating down his arms.

He's changing colour.

Time is of the essence to get to these patients,

sort out any immediate problems.

If it is a blockage of one of the vessels in the heart,

they need that opened as soon as possible.

Pilot Steve regularly makes this journey east to his apartment by the sea.

They're very popular, especially with the people in Yorkshire.

It's not too far for them to go. I spend many happy weekends there

in my retirement-cum-weekend home.

The sun's out over the village of Skipsea near Bridlington,

where the population triples during the holiday season.

Approaching Skipsea. Chopper going down.

The crew are heading for a caravan site perched on the clifftop.

-Hello.

-You found us?

-Yeah.

-This is Gordon. He's had 300 milligrams of aspirin.

-Yeah.

-Thank you. Hello, sir.

-Hiya.

A local land ambulance crew have just arrived

and rigged 61-year-old Gordon up to a heart monitor.

The results on this piece of paper will tell Dr Andy whether Gordon's having a heart attack.

OK.

It's a pain here. Right here.

If I could have a bounce, but it won't go.

It's here, but the pain, the worst pain is in my arm from here.

Mrs Kellett, do you want to just come through

and I'll explain to you both what's going on?

Someone has a heart attack every two minutes in the UK.

It's time for Andy to tell Gordon if he's one of them.

The tracing that we've done of your heart...

unfortunately, it looks as though you're having a heart attack.

You've had the right initial treatment, that's great.

We'll give you some extra tablets.

We'll pop a drip in your arm, give you more medicine there, OK?

Then we need to fly you over to Hull.

That's the specialist cardiac centre where they can give you

exactly the treatment you need to sort this out.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, yeah.

I've been a bit rushed with the questions -

time is of the essence - that's why we've come, so we can transfer you quickly as possible.

With the doctor by his side and a helicopter close by,

Gordon's got the best possible chance of survival.

But nearly half of all heart attack victims don't make it. The treatment must start now.

It's morphine sulphate.

10 milligrams.

Now, lie back.

Spit that tablet out from under your tongue.

Let's just lay him down flat.

Get his feet up.

MACHINE BEEPS

Gordon's condition is worsening.

His heart is struggling to pump blood around his body.

If this continues, his heart will stop beating.

Patient for Castle Hill, please.

Just nice and steady.

Don't rush.

-OK?

-Swing your feet around first.

Feet round first. You're quite wired up, so just be careful.

There's now no time to waste.

Many heart attack patients die before they even reach hospital,

and the specialist cardiac centre in Hull is still over 20 miles away.

He's in a lot of pain. He feels very weak and nauseous and dizzy.

Time is obviously...

the most important thing.

He's had the basic treatments we can give.

What he needs is an angioplasty to open up where the blood vessels are narrow.

We'll fly him to the special cardiac centre in Hull.

Heart attacks can strike any time, anywhere.

Gordon and his wife, Jackie, moved to the coast four years ago

to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.

ETA is about eight minutes.

The Castle Hill Hospital is a brand new £48 million surgical facility,

which will be able to unblock Gordon's clogged arteries.

This will be the first time the Helimed team have landed there.

All they have to do now is find it.

-That looks like it up there, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

-That copse of trees.

-Yeah.

Gordon's condition is so serious he'll be on the operating table before the end of the day.

You'd have enjoyed every minute if it hadn't been for the pain.

The more time that the artery remains blocked, the more of the heart muscle

that becomes damaged, and it just gets worse and worse and worse,

to the point where the work of the heart becomes insufficient

to sustain it at a decent quality of life.

They'll probably take him into the angio suite straight away,

and reopen that blocked artery that he's got,

and his prognosis then can only be good.

Two months later, and Gordon's beaten the odds.

He's back on the beach.

A bit more grey hair, a few pounds lighter and much fitter,

thanks to a new exercise regime.

He can't believe how minor his heart attack seemed at the time.

I just got this pain, thinking it was heartburn,

and I got this pain down my arm and realised there was something wrong.

So I rang the doctor.

Like all men, I thought he were playing up a bit.

SHE CHUCKLES

I was trying to make fun of it, really,

when they came, not realising how serious it was.

Not thinking it could happen to me, if you know what I mean.

Thank goodness the air ambulance got me to Castle Hill.

From start to finish, I would say 30 minutes. Everything done.

Absolutely brilliant.

Thanks to his rapid flight to hospital,

Gordon can now look forward to many more years of sea air,

but he knows it was a close thing.

I feel lucky,

and I've been given another chance and I'm happy to be back here.

Coming up, paramedic Paul is trying to save his patient's leg

after a car crashes into a pub.

I heard the screech of brakes and such a bang, it were unbelievable.

And out in the Dales, Sammy is worried for the safety of a biker,

as his motorcycle threatens to injure him for a second time.

Is that bike safe where it is? Just cut that and just get rid of it.

Most of us like to think we'd help others in an emergency.

And when tourist Emily fell down a rock face,

a fellow day-tripper rushed to her rescue.

But that was just the beginning of a story

which proves there's no shortage of good Samaritans out there.

19-year-old Emily had just eaten a picnic with her boyfriend

when she fell 12 feet off the Cow and Calf rocks

on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

She may have fractured her skull, and is in urgent need of a flight to hospital.

OK, poppet.

Paramedics Sammy and James are worried her condition may deteriorate.

Force 82, sats 100, BP 112 over...

Sammy's wired up their patient to a heart monitor.

Her vital signs are good, but that's no guarantee.

But there are also fears for Emily's spine.

She must be painstakingly transferred to a rigid stretcher

before she can be moved from the spot where she fell.

We'll pop the base of the board in here,

straighten her out onto the board and slide out.

Day-tripper Janice Lloyd, a qualified first-aider,

has been nursing Emily's head since her fall.

Now she can't bring herself to leave.

We were walking the dog,

and we saw her fall from quite a way up, so we just ran up the cliff.

It's a quarter of an hour since the local fell rescue team was alerted,

but there's still no sign. Dr Steve knows he may have to improvise.

What I'd like is two lines of people here, facing each other, yeah?

So sightseers who have been watching the drama

are about to find themselves drafted into the rescue team.

I'm setting up what's called a hand-over-hand,

so we're setting up to pass the backboard

through two lines of people, down the hill.

That saves anybody moving on the rocky ground, so everybody is stable

and they can pass the backboard in a stable fashion, rather than us trying to walk with it and tripping.

It's the best way of getting someone off the hill.

Dr Steve is a climber who knows this is how

it's often done amongst Yorkshire's mountaineers.

But most of the volunteers here were out for nothing more adventurous than an ice cream.

We're about to move her off the rocks.

They can't wait any longer,

and slowly, Emily begins the trip to hospital.

Under-18s, you're still more than welcome to help, but can I just have you at the bottom?

Sammy doesn't want any children injured in this rescue operation.

How's the head, there, Emily?

My head is still sore where I told you.

No, we'll move. We're going to swing the feet round that way

and pass it to the line of folks, OK?

If, at any time, you're not happy, shout, "Stop, stop, stop."

And everything will stop, OK?

Are you OK there, Adam? Got it? OK.

One slip could result in an even more serious injury to Emily,

and there are risks for her rescuers too.

This is a steep slope, and the rock's unforgiving.

Really steady, lads. Nice and steady.

Just safely take your hands off.

At last, Emily is off the rocks.

Her boyfriend called for help, but when he realised Janice

was a first-aider, he reluctantly took a back seat.

So everybody lift it up.

Feet first, keep coming, keep coming, keep coming.

OK, peel off there, mate. Peel off.

Now Janice has to say goodbye to her new-found friend.

You'll remember my son's birthday, won't you?

Emily is still confused,

and she's already booked in for a CT scan at the Leeds General Infirmary,

where a medical team are already on standby to treat her.

She's been stable since we got her off the hill. We'll get her in the aircraft,

get her connected to the monitor and over to Leeds General Infirmary to get checked over.

For pilot Andy, this flight will be very short but complicated.

Hundreds of sightseers have chosen to stay at the rocks to watch him take off.

The tail's coming round to the left.

OK, I'm coming up the back of that.

I'm not going to hang around here.

He must make sure he has somewhere to land in the event of an engine failure.

Paramedic James knows Emily's vital signs are good,

but patients with head injuries can deteriorate quickly.

The young lady's sustained what appears to be

a significant head injury.

She's fallen on her head,

so we're just assessing her conscious status en route.

Once Helimed 98 is airborne,

Andy is directly under the busy approach path

to Leeds Bradford Airport.

If you can avoid the approach lanes...

There are two on approach to the left. If you look to the left, you'll see...

Oh, there's an EasyJet or something coming in.

At Leeds General Infirmary,

the fire-fighting team have stayed on to oversee the latest arrival on their rooftop helipad.

Soon, Emily will be in the LGI's resus unit.

Ooh, Emma, it's started to rain.

We'll strap you in, keep you nice and warm.

Dr Steve's description of Emily's fall will ring alarm bells for trauma consultants.

Landing on the back of your head is one of the worst ways you can fall.

For Emily, the next hour will be critical.

Coming up, doctors at Leeds General Infirmary give their verdict

and Emily's treatment begins.

And a young tourist helps out as Dad is flown off to hospital.

He slipped on a stone and he fell.

Now let's return to the scene in Castleford

where a car has ploughed into a crowded pub,

leaving several people badly hurt.

Dozens of people were watching the Grand National

when a car smashed into the wall of a pub in Castleford.

Five people have been badly hurt,

and Lauren, a passenger in the car, needs urgent treatment.

She has no pulse in her foot.

Her broken leg has shut off circulation.

Paramedic Paul must straighten her leg,

or she could lose her foot.

Despite pain relief, this process will be agonising for Lauren.

At last, it's over.

And it's now safe to fly Lauren to hospital in nearby Wakefield.

She's been hit by a car on her left-hand side.

She's sustained a fractured femur. She's had ten of morphine...

The Helimed team know this incident could have been so much worse.

Part of the pub wall was demolished in the impact.

Flying masonry narrowly missed customers in the lounge.

Heard the screech of brakes and such a bang - it were unbelievable.

It were frightening, the noise.

Bricks went flying, two babies...

Well, they got the brunt of it inside.

Broken legs are common injuries in car crashes,

especially among drivers and rear seat passengers.

The huge forces created by a frontal impact

are often transmitted down fragile leg bones.

-Where are you taking me?

-Your mum and dad's gone to Pinderfields

at Wakefield - that's where we'll take you.

So when we get there, in about three minutes' time, your mum and dad will be there. OK?

Lauren's nearly ready for her short flight.

Less than an hour ago, she was a passenger in the car.

Now she's in need of urgent treatment, including an operation to reset her leg.

One, two, three.

-Where are we going?

-It's all right, darling.

It's taken less than five minutes to get Lauren to Pinderfields Hospital at Wakefield.

Doctors are waiting to examine her injuries,

but it'll be several months before she's able to walk again.

And for the regulars of the pub,

few will forget the day when real life interrupted

one of the UK's greatest sporting dramas.

Coming up, a Canadian tourist reaches hospital,

and it's feared she may have fractured her skull.

Fingers crossed she's going to be OK.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of the UK's most beautiful landscapes.

From spectacular waterfalls to picturesque villages,

it's a special place.

But if you're seriously injured or critically ill,

the remoteness of these valleys could threaten your survival.

And that is where the Helimed team come in.

When the sun shines, holidaymakers and trippers alike head for the hills.

One in five houses up here is a holiday home.

There are 10,000 kilometres of footpath to track,

100,000 hectares of open land to roam,

and the local lanes mean it's a cyclist's paradise.

But when the roads fill up, the Dales can be a dangerous place.

It's May Day bank holiday

on the outskirts of Skipton, there's been a serious accident.

We're going to a cyclist who has been in a collision with a tractor,

when he was out and about

near Skipton, North Yorkshire.

Apparently, this cyclist is unconscious,

which obviously doesn't bode well.

Gavin Williamson is a veteran cyclist.

He was out for a spin when he came off his bike and went under the wheels of a tractor.

Now he's fighting for his life.

Gavin's neck is broken, both his lungs have collapsed

and his pelvis has been fractured.

He's bleeding internally.

We're going to get Gavin onto a board, get him into the ambulance

so we can have a good assessment.

He's had some pain relief - that should sort him out with his pain for the minute.

Ready, steady, roll.

Paramedics Tony and Ben don't need to talk.

They both know this case is critical.

What they and their colleagues do over the next 15 minutes

will make the difference between life and death for Gavin.

The police are aware of the seriousness of his condition too.

The investigation into the accident has already begun.

We've got the holiday traffic making its way home. It'll cause chaos,

but the main point is preserving the scene

and making sure that we do everything professionally,

and with the least disruption for all around.

The accident is causing chaos in the Dales.

The Skipton Bypass is a notorious bottleneck,

with traffic already backed up for miles,

but the congestion could yet save Gavin's life.

Tony knows he must reinflate Gavin's collapsed lungs quickly, or he'll die.

It's a difficult procedure in the air,

but relatively easy in a ground ambulance,

and the accident has left the road to nearby Keighley

and its trauma unit free of traffic.

Gavin and Tony will go by road.

This patient definitely had the full load of a tractor on top of him.

We've decompressed the chest. A positive result in the ambulance.

ETA ten minutes.

As pilot Andy and paramedic Ben take off,

they know Gavin's chances of making it to hospital are no better than 50-50.

As Tony fights for his patient's life,

Gavin's family are told to expect the worst.

Over the next four weeks, he'll come close to death several times,

but a month later, and against all the odds,

he's out of hospital and back on his feet.

Memories of his accident, though, are never far away.

When I came round, my wife and doctor were telling me

about all my injuries and I couldn't believe it.

I were just lying virtually flat on my back for three weeks,

and this last week, I came round.

I couldn't believe all the injuries.

Broken ribs and shoulder blades and pelvis and things like that.

And my two punctured lungs.

Unbelievable.

I still can't believe how I survived. Nobody can.

Gavin says his days of cycling on the roads are now over,

but he'll miss the Dales. No wonder -

time moves slowly up here and it's hard to escape history.

There are 2,000 listed buildings in the Dales,

many of them tourist attractions, from stately homes to abandoned abbeys.

With scenery like this,

it's no wonder 9 million people visit the Dales each year.

But for the emergency services, that can be a problem.

Up in the Dales, the flying paramedics need strong stomachs.

The updrafts that eddy around the rugged landscape mean

Pat and Sammy are used to getting a rough ride,

and air sickness is a real threat.

The weather is

a little bit bouncy at the moment.

We've got gusts of 25 to 30 knots,

so it's going to be a bit of a rough trip up there.

Whey!

It sounds like the Helimed team's life-saving skills are urgently needed.

Helimed 99. Our ETA remains at 14:48.

Do we have any more details? Over.

Control to Helimed 99.

Initial reports we got with the solo motorcyclist...

Come off his vehicle, hit a wall, then the vehicle has hit him.

The motorcyclist is reported to have removed his own helmet.

There's also haemorrhaging from the nose and inside the mouth.

He is conscious. He is talking. Over.

Helimed 99, much appreciated.

Thank you for the update. Over.

The winding lanes of the Dales are very popular with bikers,

but this one has found out one very dangerous aspect of riding up here.

Dry-stone walls are full of character, but deadly objects to hit.

-Everybody else all right? It's just him?

-It's just him.

Friends have lifted biker Lee's beloved bike

off his body and on to the wall itself.

Sammy fears that if it falls, it'll crush her and her patient.

Is it that bike safe where it is?

She sets the fire brigade to work.

Yeah, if you just cut that and just get rid of it.

Lee's condition sounds serious.

He's hit the wall hard,

and bleeding from the mouth and nose can indicate a very serious injury.

Thanks, guys.

His back wheel was skidding. The next thing you know,

he's heading for the wall. Next thing you know, he's come to in the bottom of a ditch.

He's complaining of a lot of pain in his right shoulder and his back.

Right, sir, whereabouts are you hurting at the moment?

Right arm, right leg.

Your right arm, right leg. OK.

We're getting a plan together of how we're going to get you out of this tight spot.

-You might feel a board just coming in behind you.

-Mmm.

But he seems to have retained his sense of humour.

So you're normally fit and well, then?

-Is that right?

-Fat and well, yeah.

-Pardon?

-Fat and well.

-Fat and well?

-Is that what you said?

-Yeah.

Give over, lad.

His leathers seem to have protected him from the worst of the impact,

but Pat and Sammy can't be sure until they've examined him from head to toe.

Can you feel it touching your legs?

-Yes.

-Can you wiggle your toes?

-One, two, three, lift.

Yorkshire is one of the UK's biggest networks of ambulance stations

and the chopper crew often find themselves beaten to the patients by local land ambulances.

Where Helimed 99 wins is the time it takes to get patients to hospital.

We're going to lift on three again.

-Are we all ready? All ready, Sam?

-Yes.

-One, two, three, lift.

-LEE GROANS IN PAIN

Smashing.

It's time to move Lee from the ditch in which he came to rest.

Lee's not cracking jokes now.

The pain from his injuries is agonising and his body temperature is dropping.

On the floor. Onto the floor.

-There we are, Lee.

-Excellent, firemen.

Thank you very much. Can we get him straight first? Don't disappear.

The cause of the accident is a mystery, but Lee's medical history could contain a clue.

Although he's only 36, he's recently recovered from a stroke.

Lee, how does it feel now you're over the ditch?

Take a deep breath for me.

LEE GASPS

Take a deep breath, Lee.

Have we got a blanket or something we could just put on him?

He's getting cold this side.

The police up here can't stretch to helicopters.

But their 150-mile-an-hour Subaru patrol cars

would give Helimed 99 a run for its money.

They're making petrolhead Pat jealous.

Can I have one of your Subarus?

-You can, yeah!

-Thanks. PAT CHUCKLES

Patients are sensitive to turbulence too,

and air sickness is no joke when you're strapped down in a helicopter.

This is to stop him being sick in the aircraft.

Soon Lee will be in hospital.

His injuries are significant, but there's evidence it could have been much worse.

He's had a significant impact to his head.

To damage a helmet and split it - that's a pretty hefty impact.

We play it safe with heads. Everybody gets checked out.

He doesn't think he was knocked out,

but he's a bit shady about what has happened to him.

He's actually quite a young man to have had a stroke as well.

So did he have a stroke that made him lose control of his bike?

That's what we want to get checked out.

Lee soon recovered from his accident,

and it hasn't put him off days out biking in the Dales.

Not one town in the national park has a population of more than 3000,

and there's no major hospital.

The Dales cover nearly 700 square miles,

but fewer than 20,000 people actually live here.

That means the population of a small town

is spread across an area bigger than some counties.

We're heading up into the Yorkshire Dales

up to a place called Kettlewell,

right on the banks of the river Wharfe,

where apparently somebody has fallen there with a leg injury.

I think we've been requested cos it's a bit difficult for a land crew to get close.

We're going to have a little scoot along the river to see whether we can find this guy.

Simon is in agony.

The sooner the crew of Helimed 99 reach him, the better.

But there's a problem.

Landing in this terrain is always treacherous,

but on this busy sunny day,

pilot Andy has onlookers to worry about.

They're walking across the field underneath us.

They walked straight into the field as we were going to go into that bit.

One of them walks into the field where he's about to land,

and on their second attempt, it's livestock that get in the way.

I'll try to avoid the cowpats.

Once on the ground, paramedics Tony and Al get to work

with the local ambulance crew and mountain rescue.

Hi, folks. Are you all right?

-Hi.

-You all right?

This is Simon. It looks like he's dislocated his left ankle there.

Dad Simon was enjoying a day out with his family by the river Wharfe.

He and his young son had a close escape.

He was carrying Harry, my little brother,

and he slipped on a stone and he fell and Harry went under the water.

Someone helped to get Harry out.

Then they helped my dad out and the ambulance came.

Ah!

Get it in between your teeth. You're doing really well. Big breaths.

Keep breathing it in. We're just strapping your up.

Deep breaths, steady. SIMON GROANS IN PAIN

Simon is still in a lot of pain.

SIMON MOANS IN PAIN

It looks like he might quite badly have affected his lower leg,

his ankle.

Any little movement, because it's so unstable,

is probably like a real sort of jar, and really uncomfortable.

'We're going to splinter his lower leg with the ambulance splints.'

Then we'll lift him over on to one of our stretchers,

and carry him up to the air ambulance,

and put him in there and get him off to hospital.

One, two, three, lift.

SIMON GROANS

The nearest hospital is 45 minutes away by road.

That's a very long time when you're in agony.

The Helimed 99 gets there in just 12 minutes.

That means a rapid end to Simon's ordeal in the Dales.

Hi, Simon,

I'm one of the A&E doctors.

You've broken it and it seems to be in the wrong place as well,

so it needs to be put back. OK? I'll see you there.

I'm pleased to say all our patients

intend to revisit the Dales when they're well.

Now let's catch up on the case of 19-year-old Emily,

the Canadian who fell 12 feet down a rock face

on a day out in West Yorkshire.

On the roof of Leeds General Infirmary, the crew of Helimed 98

are on the last stage of a complicated rescue operation.

19-year-old student Emily has a head injury,

sustained when she fell 12 feet from rocks at a beauty spot in Wharfedale.

She tumbled down,

but hit her back on the first rock and hit her head on that rock.

For half an hour, Emily lay where she fell

as the Helimed team waited for fell rescue experts to turn up.

I'd like is two lines of people facing each other.

In the end, flying doctor Steve had to recruit a human chain

of volunteer day-trippers to carry Emily to the chopper.

Now she's on her way to the resus unit to undergo tests

for a fractured skull.

Emily couldn't even remember her name after the fall,

a classic symptom of a serious head injury.

I've been reassured by how she's been on the way in.

She's perked up quite a lot. She's making more sense when speaking.

Initially, she didn't remember her date of birth -

now she's able to repeat that, so fingers crossed she's going to be OK.

Everyone has agreed Emily's case is a refreshing reminder

that when someone is hurt, it often brings out the best in others.

Lucky there were so many people there to give us a lift off.

Mountain rescue had just arrived as we were leaving,

so it would have meant she was on the rocks for a little while,

but all well co-ordinated. It worked really well.

Can you feel me touching you?

The wound on the back of her head could conceal a depressed fracture of her skull.

Consultants will use the combination of simple co-ordination tests

and hi-tech imaging to make their diagnosis.

This young lady wasn't climbing per se,

she was scrambling around. But there are some of the hardest climbs

in the country around this area,

so the potential for doing yourself an injury is great.

Emily will spend most of the night under observation.

But the following morning there's good news.

Despite the 12-foot fall that knocked her unconscious, her skull was not fractured.

It means the Canadian student can go home, as long as she takes it easy.

And on this visit to the Cow and Calf rocks,

she won't be doing any climbing.

Emily wanted to come back despite the painful end to her last visit

for one simple reason.

I do have...

complete amnesia from the time of my fall.

Apparently we had a lovely lunch on the top,

it was a sunny day.

I don't remember packing the lunch, I don't remember eating it.

I do have photos, though, that I had taken, so I did see

that I had a nice time before my fall.

But one thing Emily does remember is the help she received from Janice Lloyd,

the first-aider and fellow sightseer

who came to her rescue after seeing her fall.

'What a lovely woman.'

I'd just like to thank her.

She was so...I'm so grateful for the way she took action immediately

and held my neck, in case there was any damage with my spine.

Yeah, what a lovely woman.

Emily is determined to thank Janice personally

and to repeat her picnic lunch at the Cow and Calf,

this time taking home her memories of eating it.

It could have been so much more severe than it was,

so I feel very lucky to look at that drop

and see what the outcome could have been.

When Helicopter Heroes comes back,

a pleasure flight ends in a terrible crash,

and the pilot's wife is trapped.

Is all this blood loss from head injury?

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know this hurts.

He's a bright guy, a character.

But it so happens this patient works for NASA.

A new home owner has an unexpected visitor.

I've been here three months. I haven't even unpacked.

And a former flight attendant determined to become one of the Helimed team.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]