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If you're seriously ill or critically injured, every second counts. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
Especially if you're up high or off the beaten track. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
But thanks to these guys, the people of the UK's | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
biggest county are never more than ten minutes away from a hospital. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:19 | |
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance can do 150 miles an hour | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
and every day brings a new life-or-death emergency. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
The big freeze has hit the UK. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
The emergency services are stretched to the limit. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
And every day Yorkshire's two air ambulances are scrambled | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
to rescue people critically ill or seriously injured in the snow. | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
Today on Helicopter Heroes: | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
A sledging accident leaves a man seriously injured and the Helimed team are forced to become inventive. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:13 | |
He just hit the telegraph pole, he couldn't get out of the dinghy when it come to a stop. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:18 | |
There's a difficult seaside rescue, as icy roads leave a fishing village marooned. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:23 | |
The chopper's stranded in a moorland blizzard. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
That's not a good idea, we'll stay here. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
And a tree saves a lorry driver's life, but he's not out of woods yet. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:33 | |
If it wasn't for them trees, he'd have been going for a swim. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
The freezing weather of January 2010 | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
made Met Office records for all the wrong reasons. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
Most of the UK shivered as many places suffered their worst winter for 30 years and there | 0:01:51 | 0:01:57 | |
was no shortage of this stuff, which meant long hours and hard work for the Ambulance Service. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:04 | |
Arctic weather straight from Siberia has brought the worst winter in three decades to the UK. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:12 | |
And at Helimed HQ they are ploughing the apron the team need to take off. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:17 | |
But some people are enjoying it, | 0:02:17 | 0:02:19 | |
suddenly Yorkshire's developed a passion for winter sports. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:24 | |
Ah, Terrington... | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
But the crew of Helimed 99 are there to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:31 | |
It's come down a hill there, into a telegraph pole. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
Look out for a 20-plus year old male whose gone down the bank on a sledge | 0:02:34 | 0:02:41 | |
and struck a telegraph pole at the bottom. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
There'll only be one winner in that one. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
They might as well be in a car smash as on a sledge, because when you hit something, it hurts just as much. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
Paramedic Glen Powell knows more about sledging accidents than most. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:55 | |
HE LAUGHS I've had it. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:57 | |
Don't show them your injury. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
I had a wrist injury as a result of a sledging accident with my son. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:04 | |
I must say I was encouraged to go faster and faster by my son. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
It was nothing to do with me. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
The heavy blanket of snow over the North York Moors | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
is making it difficult to find the injured sledger. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
There's a quad bike down there. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
There does seem to be a flurry of people there. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
I can't make out if there is any ambulance people down there. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
Casualty's over there... | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
There's somebody stood with both his arms up, waving you in at the top of the hill. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:33 | |
The top of the hill was the only safe place to touch down. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
But it's going to be a long and difficult trek to the victim, who's stuck at the bottom. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
Field's solid. That'll do. Ish! | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
-Where is he? -'It's the Helimed team's lucky day, a man on a quad bike has come to the rescue.' | 0:03:48 | 0:03:53 | |
-Can I get on the back of that with you? -Yeah. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
Hitching a lift to a patient is unusual, | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
but when the snow falls, paramedics have to make it up as they go along. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:03 | |
Glen's on his way... | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
There's another surprise for Glen when he gets there, the patient has run aground in an inflatable dinghy. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:13 | |
He's hit that telegraph as he's come down there. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:16 | |
I just thought it was weird the way it caught his sort of left hip and... | 0:04:16 | 0:04:20 | |
The shops had sold out of proper sledges, so 28-year-old Simon Batty was forced to improvise. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:26 | |
Now, he's paying the price. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
How fast were you going, were you hell for leather? | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
Yeah, did somebody see it? Yeah. Straighten that leg for me. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
The ground paramedics suspect he has seriously damaged his chest and possibly broken his hip. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:39 | |
This could mean there is internal bleeding, which is potentially life-threatening. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:44 | |
That's really hurting you? OK. Did you hear anything go crack or 'owt? | 0:04:44 | 0:04:48 | |
'Simon's sister was among the first to come to his rescue.' | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
Just briefly, I'll pop it back on in a minute. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
Obviously you've got obstacles, the telegraph pole, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
various bits and pieces, cattle troughs and things and | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
he just hit the telegraph pole in the dinghy. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:03 | |
The dinghy took quite a lot of the brunt, but then it's all ricocheted through his body and everything. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:08 | |
Simon desperately needs hospital treatment, the Helimed 99 is | 0:05:08 | 0:05:13 | |
half a mile away at the top of an ice-packed hill, along with Darren and all the medical equipment. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:19 | |
The quad bike is brought back into action. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:23 | |
Roger, bring a spinal board and flex along with you. Over. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
'Meanwhile Glen tries to get Simon's pain under control... It's not going to be easy.' | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
We won't knock you out, but it might make you feel a bit woozy. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
The reinforcements arrive. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
They need to lift Simon onto a spinal board. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
The idea is just to keep his back as steady as you can. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
So if you put your hand in, Simon, and hold your other hand. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:46 | |
OK. Lock them together. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
Ready, steady, lift. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:49 | |
Keep coming. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
Back there. That will do. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
Ready, steady, down. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:57 | |
That's it. You can rest it now. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
-Is that better? -Now they can look more closely at his injured leg. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:04 | |
Without an X-ray, they can't tell exactly what's wrong, but it looks serious. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:09 | |
It's just deformed, isn't it? | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
There is a slight deform there. There's something going on there. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
They've still got the problem of how to get Simon back up the hill. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:17 | |
Glen's had an idea and once again it involves the quad bike. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:22 | |
How do you feel about resting board on this... | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
dinghy and towing with quad, using this as a sled? | 0:06:25 | 0:06:31 | |
Yes, sound like a plan. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:33 | |
Does it? With enough of us round it, going slowly. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
Yes. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:37 | |
Simon, can you breathe all right with all this contraption on you? | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
We're getting a nice warm sleeping bag for you. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
We've fastened him into this orange reflective blanket | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
and wrapped him up a bit like a Christmas turkey to keep him warm. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:54 | |
We've put him into the dinghy that he was in, we'll secure him into | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
the dinghy and then we'll tow him with the quad bike back up the hill. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
Obviously it's treacherous underfoot. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:02 | |
If we're holding him and we all fall down and he gets a double injury, we don't want that. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:07 | |
It's untried and not without danger, but it's the only way up. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
Coming up: Simon's journey to hospital begins. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:20 | |
But it's a risky operation. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
Get back to side, mate. Fooled me and all. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
A mini-bus driver has a miraculous escape on the ice. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
If it had gone up in flames, we would have been no chance. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
And a teenage rider is kicked in the face by her horse. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:35 | |
The modern ambulance is a sophisticated vehicle, fully equipped to save lives. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:57 | |
Not only does it have the latest medical technology, it's also crewed | 0:07:57 | 0:08:01 | |
by highly trained paramedics, but what happens when winter hits the roads? | 0:08:01 | 0:08:08 | |
It's breakfast time at Helimed headquarters. Paramedics Tony Wilkes | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
and Kate Coughlan are being scrambled on a seaside rescue. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:16 | |
What I'm going to do, I'll get the coastguard there to get a landing site set up. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:21 | |
In the picturesque fishing village of Runswick Bay an elderly man has suffered a stroke. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:27 | |
Stroke is where somebody's got an injury to the brain, either | 0:08:27 | 0:08:32 | |
a blood vessel's bleeding into the brain, | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
or there is blood clot in the brain. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:36 | |
Research has showed a lot of these patients do really well, | 0:08:36 | 0:08:40 | |
provided they get definitive treatment quite early. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
Local paramedics have been forced to park up and hike half a mile down | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
steep steps to their patient. The road down the cliffs is icy and lethal. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:53 | |
The coastguard are securing the seafront landing pad for the chopper. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
Helimed 99, this is Humber Coastguard. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
For information now our coastguard team are on the scene. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
If you call them direct on this channel for an update. Over. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
Each minute increases the risk of their patient suffering further brain damage. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:11 | |
But the snow could yet prevent pilot Chris Atrill from reaching him. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:15 | |
MUFFLED SPEECH | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
We'll go around the left down here. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
OK. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:22 | |
Tom Taylor is 89. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
He collapsed in his seafront house overlooking the beach. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
Runswick Bay is perched on the side of a 300-foot cliff. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:33 | |
The coastguard have sealed off the beach so the pilot, Chris, has a clear landing pad. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:39 | |
-Are you OK? -You're fine to go. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
Kate and Tony know it's vital their patient gets to hospital as soon as possible. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:47 | |
You will need a scoop or a spinal board to get him out of house. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
But it's not just the roads that are icy. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
The ancient walkways, built with Victorian fishermen in mind, are also lethally slippery. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:59 | |
Whereabouts are we? Hi, mate. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
-He was on the bath side and fell back and hit his head. -Right. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
Tom, my name's Kate. | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
Can you hear me OK? | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
You're going to go to James Cook. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:17 | |
'Tom's in a bad way. He's had strokes before.' | 0:10:17 | 0:10:20 | |
You'll go in the helicopter, because with the bad weather, it's quite hard for the ambulance to come down. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:26 | |
All right? | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
Are you all right with that? Good man. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
Tom and his neighbours are virtually cut off from the outside word, thanks to the big freeze. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:37 | |
Atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
That bank that you came down has been basically shut for a couple of days. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:45 | |
There's no grit now. All that's been used, we just can't get any. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:50 | |
But the weather will also make Tom's rescue complicated. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
It might take ten minutes to actually get him down there. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:56 | |
The pilot's wondering whether to be OK or just wait for this. | 0:10:56 | 0:10:59 | |
I will have a word with pilot. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:01 | |
I'll bring scoop up and I'll see you back up here. OK. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
Basically, this chap's in the bedroom in the house, we need the scoop stretcher to get him down. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:10 | |
I'm just going to liaise with the pilot and get the scoop. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
Then we'll go back and see if we can get him down to the helicopter. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
Pilot Chris must keep the engines running, in case a technical fault | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
prevents him lifting off before the tide comes in. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
We'll stay running here for a while, mate, as long as somebody keeps an | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
eye out and makes sure nobody walks in behind me. That's all. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
I told coastguard that we would have to wait here. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
It would be safer to airlift Tom from the cliff top. But that's impossible. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
They're going to have to carry him down several flights of steep stone steps to the beach. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:42 | |
They're icy and it will be a risky operation, but leaving Tom's stroke untreated could kill him. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:48 | |
Coming up: Tom's rescuers face a difficult job carrying him to Helimed 99. | 0:11:54 | 0:12:00 | |
Sledger Simon desperately needs surgery. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
He's stable, but in a lot of pain. We've given him the maximum pain relief we can. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:06 | |
And the team carry out a dramatic house call, only to find someone missing. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:11 | |
The patient's left scene in the response car, apparently on their way to a football pitch. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:16 | |
At 150mph, the Helimed choppers can fly straight over most of | 0:12:30 | 0:12:35 | |
the hazards that get in the way of their colleagues on the ground. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:39 | |
Even in weather like this. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
But there's one deadly danger that can stop even the Helimed team. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:45 | |
At Sheffield Airport, it's the coldest day of the year. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
Temperatures last night plunged to minus seven Celsius. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:55 | |
Just a few miles up the road, whole communities are cut off and driving's lethal. | 0:12:55 | 0:13:01 | |
It's not long before paramedics Pete Vallance and Kate Drye are on their way to deal with the results. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:08 | |
They say a minibus left the road, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
overturned and we believe there are two casualties. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:14 | |
Not sure at the moment whether anyone's trapped. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
Down there, road ambulances are struggling to reach patients, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
but flying in winter has its problems too. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
Navigation's much harder over a landscape of white | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
and there's confusion over the location of the accident. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:30 | |
The grid reference is wrong. It says it is near the Slouch Inn, which is Slouch and Crow Edge. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:36 | |
Received over. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
Pilot Tim's keeping out a weather eye. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
A snow storm could ground Helimed 98. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
We've got snow showers in the area. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
Some out to the west, which are moving our way slowly. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:52 | |
So that might hamper the job at some stage, depending how long we are on the ground for. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:57 | |
Paramedic, Kate, lives near the accident. | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
It's really icy this morning. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
I live up near there and it was icy on my way to work. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
So we could be first on the scene, it depends what the road is like. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
That's if they can reach it. The snow's starting to fall. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
I can't see anything, do you want to just tell them, Kate. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:16 | |
Yeah, 98. There's nothing at the grid by the Slouch, so we are making | 0:14:16 | 0:14:20 | |
our way up to Crow Edge to see if there's anything up there, over. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
This is tricky. Snow is reducing visibility. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
-There it is? -Oh, yeah. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:29 | |
-What a spot that was! -THEY LAUGH | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
-It's a good job you slowed down. -Helimed 98, landing on scene, over. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
The minibus was taking a holiday-maker to Manchester Airport | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
when it left the road and overturned. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
The driver and his passenger ended up hanging upside-down from their seat belts. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:50 | |
What I need you to do... | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
'Kate would like to check out the driver but he reckons he's unhurt.' | 0:14:53 | 0:14:57 | |
I'll pop on here that you had no apparent injuries and didn't feel you needed assessment at hospital. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:02 | |
-All right? -Yeah. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
Despite the shock of the accident, the passenger was fit enough | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
to climb out and hitch a lift to catch his flight. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
He's been really, really lucky. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:13 | |
He's obviously skidded on some black ice, come off the road and it's rolled onto its roof | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
and they've both got out, wandering around, no injuries. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
If we had been in flames, we'd have had no chance... We wouldn't have got out. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
But the weather is getting worse. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
It's like a different world, isn't it? | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
A couple of miles down the road at Penistone, it's virtually clear, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
and you're coming up here, it's like Alaska, isn't it? | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
Snowdrifts and everything else. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
It's afternoon and Tim wants to get out while he can. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:45 | |
Quite heavy snow showers coming in, so we'll either have to wait until | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
it clears but if it doesn't, we'll taxi down the main road until | 0:15:48 | 0:15:51 | |
we're back into clear air, so we can fly back to Sheffield. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
Tim is going to have to work hard. | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
Blowing snow is robbing him of the visual references he needs to stay straight and level. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:05 | |
He looks calm but he's under stress. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
Can you hit the heater switch, Pete? | 0:16:08 | 0:16:10 | |
Yeah. Do you want it vent high? | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
'Eventually, he has no option. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
'They're not going anywhere.' | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
No. That's not a good idea, we're staying here. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
Helimed 98 is stranded in a blizzard, 500ft up in the Pennines, | 0:16:22 | 0:16:27 | |
next to a road that's rapidly becoming impassable. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:31 | |
Shall I send for my husband and a flask of tea? | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
-Anybody got any cards? -THEY LAUGH | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
We're stranded at the moment, on the top of a hill in heavy snow showers. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:44 | |
So we'll be waiting here until it clears. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
At the moment, visibility is such that we're unable to lift safely to head back to Sheffield airport, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:55 | |
so we'll either end up with | 0:16:55 | 0:16:57 | |
an igloo or we'll get back to Sheffield some time before knocking off time. | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
Checking the forecast. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
But after an hour in an unheated cabin, that igloo's looking tempting. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
Just seeing where Captain Scott's supply depots were positioned over the Pennines. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
It's not often these guys need rescuing, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
but in this weather, four-wheel drive beats flying any day. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
Conditions are getting worse. We've got this for at least another two or three hours. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:26 | |
But that's the way it goes, isn't it? | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
As the weather gets even worse, the police come to the rescue. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
These tarpaulins will protect Helimed 98 until it stops falling. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:37 | |
The crew find somewhere more comfortable to sit out the blizzard. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
Oh, dear. I've got Pete's hand in the air. Wait a sec. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
We're used to going out in the elements. You wrap up, | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
so you've got plenty of layers on - thermals, fleece, jacket. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
But once you get damp, then you soon start to feel that. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
And there's a good reason there's a warm welcome at the inn. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:02 | |
'We needed a call-out 14 months ago, | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
'when my mother-in-law was badly injured in a fire up here.' | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
The paramedic came first and they called the air ambulance. They did a wonderful job. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:12 | |
At last, three hours after their emergency landing, | 0:18:12 | 0:18:16 | |
and with less than an hour of daylight left, | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
the crew leave the log fire to thaw out Helimed 98. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
We've got a clearing at the moment. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
The weather is temporarily clear. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
We still have snow showers coming in over the hills so we'll keep an eye on those, | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
but we'll make a break for it and get back to Sheffield now. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
Look at that. A Crimbo-card shot. | 0:18:35 | 0:18:38 | |
White out! | 0:18:38 | 0:18:40 | |
It's been a long day, but at least Helimed 98 | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
will be back at base and ready to save lives again tomorrow. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
Coming up... | 0:18:53 | 0:18:55 | |
A difficult seaside rescue reaches its climax, | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
and high in the Dales, a trip to the shops ends in a nasty crash. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
There's a sort of sensation pulsating down her right leg as well. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
Now let's go back to the snowbound slopes of the North York Moors, | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
where a man on a makeshift sledge has had a terrible accident. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:18 | |
The worst winter for 30 years has brought the sledgers of North Yorkshire out in force. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:25 | |
The icy conditions mean that Helimed 99 has to land at the top of a hill, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:31 | |
half-a-mile away from 28-year-old Simon Batty, who has run aground in his rubber dinghy. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:36 | |
Simon's injuries are potentially life-threatening, | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
and getting him back up the treacherous slope to the helicopter is a problem. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:44 | |
But paramedic Glen has had an idea. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
Nice and steady, nowt fast. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
Towing a patient by quad bike definitely isn't standard procedure and it could be risky. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:54 | |
The only other option is to call out mountain rescue and they're at least an hour away. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:59 | |
Any delay in getting Simon to hospital could put his life in further danger. | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
It's great, it works every time! | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
I'm glad Glen thought of it. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
It's Glen's idea. If it snaps and goes back down, I don't get blamed for it! | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
It's hard to believe this is North Yorkshire, not the North Pole. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:21 | |
At last they make it, without mishap. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
Excuse me, would you pull this dinghy out for us when we lift it? | 0:20:27 | 0:20:32 | |
Just go straight up to start with. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
On lift. Ready, steady, lift. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:36 | |
Feet first. A bit higher than that. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
-Feed it on, keep it up. -Keep going, keep going. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
Lovely. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:48 | |
Breathe in. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:52 | |
And out. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:53 | |
In, and out. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:56 | |
We're going to take this chap down to York District | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
to get him checked over. He needs an X-ray. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
He's stable, but in a lot of pain. | 0:21:01 | 0:21:03 | |
We've given him the maximum pain relief we can | 0:21:03 | 0:21:05 | |
and he's still in a lot of pain | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
so we're querying some fractures, we don't know where, | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
but he is now stable. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:11 | |
Within minutes, Simon is on his way to the best care available. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:15 | |
Glen is relieved his plan has worked | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
and Simon's sister is making the best of a bad situation. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:22 | |
This is the best view you'll ever get of the snow. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
I always wanted to ride in a helicopter, but I never thought that it would be this way. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
-At the expense of your brother's leg. -Yeah. -You can say what you like, he can't hear you! | 0:21:28 | 0:21:33 | |
-It's normally me that's the accident-prone one. -Right. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
Did you witness the actual accident? | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
No, I didn't. I rang him and his friend answered and I said, "Where's Simon?" | 0:21:39 | 0:21:44 | |
He said, "He's had an accident, can you get here?" | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
I'm like, "I'm at the top of the bank, you're not in the dinghy at the bottom?" | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
He was like, "Yes, we are." | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
Everybody mucked in. Did you know the gentleman with the quad? | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
Really lucky that we had that there. | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
I don't know what we'd have done if we hadn't. We'd have been there another half-hour at least. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:04 | |
He did a sterling job, did that lad. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
-Keep him up, keep him up. -Everybody happy? | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
Simon will soon know what damage the telegraph pole has done to him. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
Simon, you're trussed up like a Christmas turkey, mate! | 0:22:13 | 0:22:17 | |
Whatever his injuries, he's going to take a long time to recover. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
'Coming up... | 0:22:28 | 0:22:29 | |
'I visit a very lucky man in hospital | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
'and the team race to rescue the victim of a heart attack, | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
'but no-one is home.' | 0:22:36 | 0:22:37 | |
The patient has left, seen in the response car apparently, on the way to a football pitch. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:42 | |
There's one good thing about winter by the seaside. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
Thanks to the salty air, the snow doesn't usually hang around, | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
but in Runswick Bay on the Yorkshire coast, | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
the weather has still managed to put the skids under the local paramedics. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:17 | |
Helimed 99 is waiting on the beach to carry out a life-saving airlift. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:23 | |
Tom Taylor has suffered a stroke and is trapped | 0:23:23 | 0:23:25 | |
in his seaside cottage by the wintry weather that has made | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
the steep hill down to his home impassable. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
One, two, three. Up you come. We're up. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:35 | |
It's good to see what you look like now. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
He badly needs clot-busting drugs to prevent further damage to his brain. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:42 | |
-Which way do you want to go? -We're going to James Cook. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
Doctors at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
are already on standby. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:50 | |
Blood pressure 89 over 52. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
Oxygen saturation is 97%. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
It's icy underfoot | 0:24:01 | 0:24:02 | |
and this is a dangerous journey for patient and rescuers alike. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
We're going to bring him down now so I'll just get the helicopter ready. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:10 | |
-Have you got enough manpower? -It looks like it, yes. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
Pilot Chris is concerned about the time the rescue is taking. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:17 | |
He's watching the sea | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
and he doesn't like what he sees. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
I've been watching it near the rocks. It's not moving any further away. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
It's probably going out. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:26 | |
Runswick Bay was built around a network of alleyways and steps, | 0:24:26 | 0:24:30 | |
when reaching the beach on foot was all the local fishermen cared about. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
-You watch your back, mate. -Just bring him down there. -Are you sure? | 0:24:36 | 0:24:40 | |
Now, its antiquated layout is making life difficult. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
Do you want me to take that, sweetheart? You sure? | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
But at last, Tom reaches the beach. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
Tom's son will fly with him. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:52 | |
Watch your feet, OK? | 0:24:52 | 0:24:54 | |
Pilot Chris has been nervously watching the tide for 45 minutes. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:59 | |
He's relieved to be preparing for take-off. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
Tom's son is a former soldier who has served in Iraq. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
He's used to helicopters, but this is the first time he's taken off from his own front door. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:11 | |
Helimed 99 to Staithes coastguard, just thank you very much for your assistance. Over. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:17 | |
'This is Staithes coastguard, you're more than welcome.' | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
Kate knows Tom's chances of a full recovery will be much better once he's reached Middlesbrough, | 0:25:21 | 0:25:26 | |
and the journey will take just ten minutes, | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
a fraction of the hour-and-a-half it could have taken in these weather conditions by road. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:33 | |
He's got quite a big history of strokes, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
so he'll need a good examination before | 0:25:38 | 0:25:42 | |
they decide what to do next, really. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
He's invincible, I think, to be honest. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
Tom has had a remarkable life. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:49 | |
More than 20 years ago, at an age when most people are thinking of retirement, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
he and his wife adopted six orphans from Brazil and brought them up here. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:59 | |
All from the same village, | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
and she kept going back and forth and adopting children. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
Basically we have been living here for the last 16 years, | 0:26:04 | 0:26:08 | |
so it's been nice, very nice. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:12 | |
Tom is taken straight to the hospital's specialist stroke unit. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:17 | |
Over the next few weeks, his condition improves | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
and he's moved to a nursing home, | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
where he receives regular visits from his large adopted family. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
Sadly, six months later, Tom passed away. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:29 | |
'Coming up... | 0:26:38 | 0:26:39 | |
'I gate-crashed visiting time to meet a very lucky patient, | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
'despite 11 broken ribs.' | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
I've fractured my hip, | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
which I've had to have pinned and plated. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
When the weather is like this, normal life can come to a standstill, | 0:26:55 | 0:27:00 | |
but the UK's number one killer doesn't care about snow and ice. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
Heart disease can strike at any moment, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
even when the roads to your local hospital are blocked. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:11 | |
And when that happens, | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
you had better hope the Helimed team are around. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
Yorkshire's air ambulances spend most of their time | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
flying to the rescue of victims of traumatic injury, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
but the big freeze means they can be called in for any medical emergency | 0:27:22 | 0:27:26 | |
and for one man with a heart attack, | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
help is about to come from the skies. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
They're on their way to a village near York. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
A call | 0:27:34 | 0:27:36 | |
from the other side of York. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:38 | |
A patient having a heart attack. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:41 | |
Land transit would be up to two hours, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
so we've offered to go and collect the patient. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:48 | |
Helimed 99 touches down at the bottom of the patient's garden, but there's a problem. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:54 | |
He's not at home! | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
The patient has left the scene in the response car apparently, on their way to a football pitch. | 0:27:56 | 0:28:01 | |
He didn't know anything about this. Over. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
So it's back through the garage and time to get some directions. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:08 | |
Which way is the football pitch? Do you know where that is? | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
VOICES TALK ON RADIO | 0:28:14 | 0:28:17 | |
Helimed 99 finds the football pitch and the patient. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:20 | |
Helimed 99 on the ground of the new location. Over. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
Peter Wilson's flight to hospital may have been slightly delayed by a communications breakdown, | 0:28:26 | 0:28:31 | |
but he'll be undergoing life-saving treatment far faster than if he'd gone by road. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:36 | |
Doctors in Leeds General Infirmary's angioplasty unit quickly opened up the blocked arteries in his heart. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:44 | |
He could be at home | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
within as little as two days and that's from a major heart attack. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:51 | |
I don't think, really, we could ask for better than that. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:54 | |
Thousands of motorists ended up stuck in snow drifts | 0:28:54 | 0:28:58 | |
or marooned miles from home as snow blanketed Britain, | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
but even light snowfall can prove lethal. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
It's breakfast time on the North York Moors, | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
but in the wilds of Eskdale, ice on a steep hill has caught out an unwary lorry driver. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:14 | |
A tree is all that's preventing his truck | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
plunging down a 30ft drop to the river below, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
and the driver is trapped. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
They've come down to deliver meat in the village and have arrived down the slope. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:28 | |
When they hit the bend, the vehicle slid and rolled down the embankment. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
It's come to a halt on the tree. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
50 miles away, the crew of Helimed 99 are on the case. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:37 | |
Whether there is any other vehicle involved, I don't know. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:40 | |
Darren Axe and Tony Wilkes know the extreme cold | 0:29:40 | 0:29:43 | |
could have serious consequences for anyone caught out in the open. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:47 | |
Hypothermia is a real risk today. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
Helimed 99 is heading east across the icy Vale Of York. | 0:29:56 | 0:30:00 | |
We're on our way towards Whitby, Egton, which is out in the middle of nowhere. | 0:30:00 | 0:30:06 | |
Unfortunately, it's a fair distance out, over 45 miles. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:10 | |
At best speed, that will take us about 20 minutes to get there. | 0:30:10 | 0:30:14 | |
Below, fresh snow is making blue lights and sirens next to useless. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:18 | |
No-one can drive quickly on these roads | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
and even ambulances have been caught out by the conditions. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:24 | |
The crew are four minutes away from the incident. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:28 | |
Crikey, we're only three minutes behind them. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
Yeah, Roger. Thanks for that. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:32 | |
ETA is about 45 minutes. Over. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:34 | |
Might be first on the scene, then. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:36 | |
Yeah. Look at that one. That's a good one, isn't it, mate? | 0:30:36 | 0:30:39 | |
This is the area patrolled by the 1960s policemen in the TV drama, Heartbeat. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
It's an idyllic landscape, but even today the locals are a long way away from a major hospital. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:51 | |
It's a really beautiful part of the world, and even at this time of the year with the snow down, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:57 | |
it's really scenic. The problem is, the roads can be treacherous. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
Obviously they're just country lanes, a lot of them, | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
and they don't get gritted, so driving can be particularly hazardous. | 0:31:04 | 0:31:08 | |
It's quite common to have quite nasty road-traffic collisions up here, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:13 | |
especially when the weather is as it is today. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:15 | |
At least the White Horse on Sutton Bank is white today and not grey! HE LAUGHS | 0:31:15 | 0:31:19 | |
Because of the speed at which we go, | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
it's a long and arduous trip for the ground ambulance crews, | 0:31:21 | 0:31:25 | |
especially in weather conditions like this. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
-We're going to pull straight up, mate. -OK. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
Local paramedics have arrived first. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
-It's Neil, 49. -Right. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
We think he's had a skid with a car. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:47 | |
-He's all right, actually. -Is he? | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
He just said he was trapped by the steering wheel, that's all. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
Yeah, that's fine. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:55 | |
It looks like the driver has had a lucky escape, | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
but he's not out of danger yet. | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
A single tree is supporting several tons of lorry. | 0:32:00 | 0:32:04 | |
Firefighters are struggling to remove the steering wheel so he can be freed from his cab. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:10 | |
Looks like he's been a really lucky chap. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
He's skidded off the road, hit this tree, | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
which has stopped him going down any further into the river. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:18 | |
He's just got minor injuries. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:20 | |
The driver has been lent a woolly hat by the local policeman to keep him warm, | 0:32:20 | 0:32:26 | |
but he hasn't got time to get cold. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:27 | |
Within minutes, he's out and fit enough to scramble back up the ravine | 0:32:27 | 0:32:32 | |
that could so easily have killed him. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:34 | |
His rescuers know he's a lucky man. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:37 | |
-This way, love. -Steady on, lad! | 0:32:37 | 0:32:40 | |
He's been lucky. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:42 | |
He's hit that tree. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
If you can call it lucky! | 0:32:44 | 0:32:45 | |
-What do you reckon? -If it wouldn't have been for them trees, there, | 0:32:45 | 0:32:49 | |
he'd have been going for a swim. | 0:32:49 | 0:32:51 | |
Without his delivery, the local shops will be short of meat today, | 0:32:51 | 0:32:55 | |
but he'll soon be back at work after a precautionary check-up. | 0:32:55 | 0:32:59 | |
The demand on the emergency services during the big freeze doesn't just drop because it's Christmas, | 0:33:01 | 0:33:07 | |
and winter is doing its best to put the skids under the Helimed team. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:11 | |
The electric trolley that lifts the chopper out of its hangar can't handle the snow. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:19 | |
It may be Boxing Day, but Helimed 99 is soon airborne. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:24 | |
We've got a visual of the vehicle. 99 over. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
The accident happened at stables in North Yorkshire. | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
14-year-old Fern Edwards was saddling her horse when she was kicked in the face. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:35 | |
It's Boxing Day and the weather is obviously chilly. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:41 | |
It's a fair run out for us, but apparently the nearest ground vehicle | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
is over 40 minutes away, whereas we're a 12-minute flight, maximum. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:50 | |
Fern has suffered serious injuries and needs urgent plastic surgery. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:56 | |
Has she got any bleeding or...? | 0:33:56 | 0:33:57 | |
It's actively bleeding out of the wound itself. It's started to clot. | 0:33:57 | 0:34:01 | |
Any significant injury above the collarbone | 0:34:01 | 0:34:05 | |
dictates that they need to be immobilised on a spinal board | 0:34:05 | 0:34:10 | |
and transferred to hospital in that way. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
Let me just have a quick feel at your neck. Tell me if it hurts. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
Is that OK? | 0:34:16 | 0:34:17 | |
Fern's mum is terrified. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:19 | |
Her daughter is an experienced horsewoman | 0:34:19 | 0:34:21 | |
and accidents like this are very rare. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
Can you open your eyes at all? | 0:34:24 | 0:34:25 | |
SHE GROANS | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
Is it too sore to do that? | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
Her right eye has swelled up quite a lot since we arrived. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:32 | |
The force needed to inflict the kind of wounds Fern has suffered | 0:34:32 | 0:34:36 | |
means she could also have sustained injuries to her neck. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
Bring her right up. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
Try not to put any weight on. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:43 | |
With the roads around the stable still treacherous with snow, | 0:34:43 | 0:34:47 | |
ground paramedics know Helimed 99 is the best way to get Fern to hospital. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:51 | |
Flight confirmed, and clear left. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:55 | |
Clear behind. | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
The road journey to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
could take twice the usual time today, | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
even on a traffic-free Boxing Day. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:04 | |
By air, it'll be less than 10 minutes. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
OK, 080 is your bearing, 16.6 miles. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:13 | |
In Middlesbrough, a surgical team called in from home | 0:35:13 | 0:35:17 | |
is already preparing for Fern's arrival. | 0:35:17 | 0:35:19 | |
They'll operate immediately to repair her injuries, but the risk of infection is high. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:24 | |
It'll be an anxious Christmas week for her mum. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
In just three hours, one day during the big freeze, | 0:35:28 | 0:35:32 | |
nearly 1,000 people dialled 999 for an ambulance, | 0:35:32 | 0:35:35 | |
so many that one day the service had to enact their disaster plan | 0:35:35 | 0:35:39 | |
designed for a major plane or train crash. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:43 | |
Up in the Dales, the greatest demand comes as a slight thaw tempts locals to head out for supplies. | 0:35:43 | 0:35:49 | |
Today, that has led to a serious accident. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
Helimed 99 outbound... | 0:35:53 | 0:35:56 | |
east to Wensleydale. | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
Helimed 99 is flying through the spectacular scenery of Wolfdale. | 0:36:00 | 0:36:06 | |
In the summer, Bolton Abbey is a major tourist attraction, | 0:36:06 | 0:36:10 | |
but today the roads are too dangerous for sightseers. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
You need four-wheel drive on these roads, and Kate knows her colleagues down there often don't have it. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:20 | |
It's pretty difficult to drive in these conditions because you want to get there as quick as you can | 0:36:20 | 0:36:25 | |
but there's no point crashing your ambulance | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
and needing a crew to come out for you. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:29 | |
The team are on their way to help out a ground crew at a crash involving a car | 0:36:29 | 0:36:33 | |
and a van on a minor road near the market town of Middleham. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:37 | |
This is racing country and it's the first day the local trainers have been able to exercise their horses. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:45 | |
This winter has been particularly bad really for the amounts that's come down, | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
but generally you do, at some point, get snow up here. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
It's the time of year when we do get requests off land crews, particularly struggling on the roads. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:59 | |
Any time of year we can get road-traffic collisions, in particular up here, | 0:36:59 | 0:37:03 | |
but these weather conditions make it more likely. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
If you do get yourself caught out with these sub-zero temperatures, | 0:37:06 | 0:37:09 | |
obviously it wouldn't take very long before you find yourself having real problems. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:15 | |
A crew from one of Yorkshire's most isolated ambulance stations, | 0:37:15 | 0:37:18 | |
Bainbridge, a village with a population of just a few hundred, | 0:37:18 | 0:37:22 | |
is already on a scene at a remote junction. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:24 | |
The domestics just at your 1 o'clock. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
Even on dry roads, this area is more than 45 minutes from the nearest hospital | 0:37:28 | 0:37:33 | |
and more than an hour from a trauma unit. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
Worryingly, the motorist is getting strange pains in her legs. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:41 | |
-She's got a pain score of five. -But is it spinal or muscular? | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
She's not that sure really, she's not given much away. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:47 | |
But there's a sort of like sensation pulsating down her right leg as well. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:51 | |
-Hiya, pet. How are you doing? -We're doing OK. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
Zoe Gomm works for a company that provides animals and stunt riders for movies. | 0:37:54 | 0:38:00 | |
She worked on the film The Da Vinci Code, | 0:38:00 | 0:38:03 | |
but today she's been injured on a trip to the shops. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:06 | |
No numbness, no pins and needles. | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
Feels worse than it was? | 0:38:09 | 0:38:10 | |
Yes. I can't twist that way. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
I knew once I had hit it in the car, I could feel it. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
I'm just worried because my legs have gone with it before. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:19 | |
Zoe's car isn't badly damaged, but the crew know | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
that doesn't necessarily mean she's not badly hurt. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:26 | |
Basically she's got back pain. | 0:38:26 | 0:38:27 | |
She's got previous back problems, so we're not sure | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
if it's just exacerbation of previous problems she's had. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:34 | |
But erring on the side of caution, the land crew's immobilised her and we're going to fly her to Lancaster. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:41 | |
The roads to the hospital she'll be flown to are blocked with snow. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:44 | |
That doesn't matter to Helimed 99. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
Thank God I didn't have my little one in the car. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:49 | |
-That's a blessing. -Isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:51 | |
Zoe's new to Dales' winters | 0:38:51 | 0:38:54 | |
and this weather. | 0:38:54 | 0:38:56 | |
We're very cut-off because we've got a massive hill each end, | 0:38:56 | 0:39:01 | |
so it wasn't gritted. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:02 | |
I didn't get out for three or four days when the snow first came, | 0:39:02 | 0:39:05 | |
but this last week it's been quite horrendous, but I just continued out in it really. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:11 | |
There's nothing else you can do. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
BP is 124 over 70. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:16 | |
Pulse oxygenation is 99% on air with a pulse of 75. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:22 | |
In 10 minutes, Zoe will be touching down on the helipad | 0:39:22 | 0:39:26 | |
at Lancaster Royal Infirmary where her back will be scanned. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:29 | |
For her, the flight is much more comfortable than the road journey, | 0:39:29 | 0:39:34 | |
but the big freeze is likely to make the team's job harder for some weeks yet. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
It'll be April before the last snow melts from the hills of the Dales. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:42 | |
Helimed 99 battling with the snow there, | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
and I'm pleased to say all our team's patients recovered, | 0:39:48 | 0:39:51 | |
but in North Yorkshire, hospital doctors are waiting to examine a man | 0:39:51 | 0:39:55 | |
seriously injured in a sledging accident. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:59 | |
'Simon Batty is stranded with serious injuries | 0:39:59 | 0:40:03 | |
'after crashing his rubber dinghy. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
'His sister, Claire, is witnessing one of the most unusual rescues Helimed 99 has ever carried out. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:12 | |
'A farmer on a quad bike has been commandeered to tow Simon up the icy slope to the waiting helicopter. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:19 | |
'It's exactly one week since Simon had his freak sledging accident. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:27 | |
'He's recovering in York Hospital and Claire has brought | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
'Simon's little girl, Sophie, to see her dad too.' | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
So tell us then about this day | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
that led you to be here in this hospital bed now. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
Claire suggested going sledging at the weekend | 0:40:39 | 0:40:42 | |
so I thought, "Oh, it's a good idea." I had been watching it on the news. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:46 | |
I haven't been sledging for years. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:48 | |
What did you end up taking as your sledge? | 0:40:48 | 0:40:51 | |
I took my rubber dinghy that I bought in Tenerife! | 0:40:51 | 0:40:54 | |
I had been there about two hours. I just decided to get back on it and have another go. I just took off. | 0:40:54 | 0:41:01 | |
You were literally just flying down. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:02 | |
A free-for-all really. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:04 | |
I couldn't do nothing about it. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
I just saw this great telegraph pole coming towards me, | 0:41:06 | 0:41:09 | |
hitting it, sort of wrapping around it, | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
and it's sort of like, as I wrapped round it, | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
it sprung me off and from then on I just couldn't breathe. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:19 | |
I knew I was in quite a lot of trouble. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:22 | |
I knew myself that it was probably a helicopter job | 0:41:22 | 0:41:27 | |
because of just where we were. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
I thought, "There's no way they're going to get me out of here." | 0:41:29 | 0:41:33 | |
There was still people sledging, hadn't realised what had happened, | 0:41:33 | 0:41:36 | |
still coming down the bank. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
So myself and my husband, Mark, | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
we tried to stop any further accidents happening | 0:41:41 | 0:41:43 | |
or anybody ploughing into him because that would have made his injuries much worse. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:49 | |
They dropped me off near York Hospital and as soon as I got to the hospital, | 0:41:49 | 0:41:54 | |
I was straight on the morphine and that was it. A bit blurred from there. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
You know this could have been so much worse, don't you? | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
Just by the 11 ribs, it's an absolute miracle how he didn't puncture them. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
If he had done in those conditions, in the situation, it could have been a lot worse. | 0:42:05 | 0:42:11 | |
When Helicopter Heroes comes back... | 0:42:11 | 0:42:14 | |
A 12-year-old boy fights for his life after his mum's car hits a bus. | 0:42:14 | 0:42:19 | |
He's been unconscious all the time. | 0:42:19 | 0:42:21 | |
A farmer is badly injured after an explosion in a barn. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:25 | |
It's 300 metres blast radius. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:26 | |
-Knock knock! -One of the UK's toughest sports claims a casualty. | 0:42:26 | 0:42:31 | |
Did you fall and hurt yourself anywhere else? | 0:42:31 | 0:42:35 | |
And there's a mercy mission in the snow to save a sick little girl. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 |