Episode 5 Helicopter Heroes

If you're seriously ill or critically injured, every second counts,

especially if you're up high or off the beaten track.

But thanks to these guys, the people of the UK's

biggest county are never more than 10 minutes away from a hospital.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance can do 150 mph

and every day brings a new life or death emergency.

Five million people depend on these yellow helicopters to bring life-saving care from the skies.

When a multiple pile-up closes Britain's highest motorway,

or there's a serious accident on the shop floor,

the highly trained paramedics and pilots of the Helimed team are there to rescue the casualties.

Today, on Helicopter Heroes...

there's a dramatic mountain rescue after a climber falls 40 feet.

And move, nice and steady, nice and slow.

Snow ruins a family Christmas as Grandma is flown to hospital.

It's either find her own transport

or try and thumb a lift from Father Christmas.

There's a dash to save the driver of a car that has plunged into a canal.

No sign of any person at this time. Still investigating.

And a tot is burnt by a mug of hot chocolate.

The arm is red so it could be first degree as well.

Welcome to Derbyshire

and one of the UK's most stunning national parks.

The Peak District is one of the most popular places in the world

for rock climbing, which means plenty of work for these guys.

Like the Air Ambulance, Mountain Rescue on call 365 days of the year,

but they are all volunteers, which means they don't get paid a penny.

At 3.5 miles, Stanage Edge is the longest

and most impressive stretch of gritstone in the Derbyshire Peaks.

And although Mountain Rescue are experts at getting injured climbers and walkers

off its most inaccessible crags, they often rely on the Helimed team

to whizz them the final few miles to hospital.

Today, climber Mark Stone has fallen the height

of three double decker buses, almost 40 ft onto rocks,

and lived.

Helimed 98 has been scrambled.

People who survive such a long fall can suddenly deteriorate and die.

-Fallen how far?

-15 metres.

That's going to hurt.

Finding a casualty from 500 ft is difficult.

There's somebody waving down there, can you see him?

Yeah. They are just waving.

-Are they?

-This looks like the meeting point.

We've got somebody in HV back up here.

HV is high-visibility.

A dash of Day-Glo up here usually means someone's in trouble.

There's someone in HV sat up on the rock.

This is the closest the helicopter can get.

If Mark suddenly deteriorates, he's a long way from the chopper,

down a boulder-strewn slope and paramedic Kate Drye knows it.

-How old are you, Mark?

-36.

-36.

In climbing language, this rockface is described as very severe.

Mark is an experienced climber.

He knows he's seriously hurt, but is willing himself to be calm.

He was leading the climb straight up that slab, went up no problem.

Getting up to just where there's a bit sticking out

and hadn't got any gear in at that point.

He came back off, landed on the ledge, but then toppled backwards

and came back over, off it.

So, sort of hit himself quite a few times on the way down.

Mountain Rescue know this is a serious incident.

Among the 14 volunteers are two doctors.

We're getting the next phase ready which will be to get the stretcher,

a special bell stretcher that we use, essentially because it's indestructible

and then a vacuum mattress, which is a full body splint.

Mark was tackling the face of Stanage with Angela Paul.

Now, Angela has to alert his friends and family.

She's trying her best not to give away the seriousness of the situation.

All right, mate. I'll see you shortly.

All right then, bye.

Mark is in danger. The team know adrenalin can often

carry injured climbers through the minutes after a serious fall.

Does it make any difference at all, do you think?

My shoulder seems to be getting worse...

But his pain is worsening and the team can't rule out a spinal injury.

Coming up - the tricky rescue operation begins.

I could do with as many of you as possible.

Form two parallel lines and pass the stretcher between us.

Helimed 98 is scrambled after a car careers into an icy canal.

Set up a stretcher and have a bit of a mini resus area.

And I'm on patrol with a medic

who cares for some of the UK's most remote villages.

The arm is red so it could be first degree as well.

What could be better than a white Christmas in a beautiful place like the Yorkshire Dales?

But one family's festive season in a snowbound cottage high in the hills,

wasn't as idyllic as they expected.

It's just 48 hours to Christmas and they've got the festive feeling at Helimed headquarters,

not that there will be much rest for some of the pilots and paramedics.

Helimed 99 is about to be scrambled by Dispatcher Chris.

It's a lady

who's having central chest pain, but the problem they have got

is the land crew that are going on it

are finding it difficult to get through to the patient.

North Yorkshire's shops are packed with people stretching their plastic to the limit

and many are visitors here for a traditional Christmas in a holiday cottage.

But for one family staying high in the Dales, the first white Christmas in more than a decade

has ended in a medical emergency.

We've got an ambulance crew that's on its way

to this location and they're stuck in the snow and can't move anywhere.

We're going to go to the scene where we can get onto the ground.

The hills of the Yorkshire Dales are swathed in snow with drifts up to

four feet deep blocking roads, which means Helimed 99 is the only hope

for a family celebrating Christmas in a remote moorland cottage.

It's back over the grid now.

In the middle of that field, by the telegraph pole.

They've just walked out...

That it could be him, actually, looking at that.

The team's mission is to a farm on the borders of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

For pilot Matt, this is a tricky job.

Fresh snow will create a blizzard as soon as the downwash from his rotors

hits the ground. He must touch down quickly or be blinded.

I'll taxi a bit over towards that pole.

I'll be pulling up, vertically up and straight to the left to get away from those trees.

-OK, mate. Two feet.

-Thank you.

One foot.

The Skelton family from Essex are spending Christmas in the country

but Gran, 77-year-old Elizabeth, is unwell.

She's got a pacemaker and she's 77.

I think the cold and the journey and everything...

She's been having chest pains in the night.

-Hello.

-Hello.

I'm Tony from Air Ambulance.

We're here because of all the snow basically.

What we're going to do, Elizabeth, while we're getting

a history from you, we're going to connect you to a monitor and

check your heart and everything.

You'll have done all this before, won't you?

-Not by these handsome men!

-Steady.

We decided we'd come away for Christmas

so we could keep everyone together because Mother lives on her own now.

She woke me up this morning at about 8 o'clock saying she'd had a really bad night with chest pains

and a very bad headache. She was feeling groggy and poorly and felt she needed medical attention.

What I'm going to do is have a look at your arm and if we can,

pop a needle in and if we need to give you painkillers, we can do.

-Sorry about this.

-That's all right.

I phoned the doctor in Settle and he explained the situation.

He said he'd come out and do a home visit.

The receptionist called to say it was chest pains

and they'd have to send the ambulance out. The next thing we know,

the ambulance was stuck in the snow so they are having to send out the Air Ambulance.

Elizabeth has had heart trouble for years and now her third pacemaker appears to be playing up.

-Take your arm out of your jumper.

-Yes.

You've got a few layers on.

I had these on in bed!

-SHE LAUGHS

-That's how cold it was!

-It's us southerners, you see.

-Well, I wasn't going to say that!

Me and Tony are naked under these suits because we're hardy Yorkshiremen!

-We're tough in some places.

-Yeah...

Darren and colleague Tony Wilkes wire her up.

The print-out charts Elizabeth's heartbeat and it's not good news.

We've completed 12 EDCG and observations

so we're going to pop her onto the roof at LGI and then it's just into the emergency department.

Getting Elizabeth to the helicopter isn't going to be easy.

What do you think she's going to be like between me and my mate just walking steadily?

We're not going to jog across. We're just going to take a start.

-I've put a hat on me. I bet I look funny.

-You've put a hat on?

-I thought she'd stolen the tea-cosy!

-Right, Elizabeth, arm in arm.

Right. We're just going up this way. Follow that chicken initially.

Elizabeth needs hospital treatment, and with the local roads snowed up,

Helimed 99's the only way to get her there.

Let's have a little breather.

-Are you with us?

-Yes.

-No, have another breather because we like you to have another one.

The family have spent several hundred pounds and driven more

than 200 miles for a traditional Christmas in beautiful surroundings.

With Christmas Eve tomorrow, they now face saying goodbye to the eldest member of the party.

This is certainly a change of plan to what we thought.

We were going to be going to Skipton market and browsing all the stalls.

And instead of that, well, that's not quite what we'd anticipated.

That's the way it goes, isn't it?

They're putting a brave face on it, but both Elizabeth and her daughter know she faces a lonely

Christmas in a strange hospital many miles from home or her family.

Coming up - Christmas comes and there's no sign of a thaw.

Will it be a hospital turkey for Elizabeth?

I take on the rock face that almost killed climber Mark.

40 feet looks a long way down.

Just landing on the scene.

And a Dales farmer's badly injured by a friend on a quad bike.

Pushes his foot on to the accelerator rather than the brake and then hit him

with the quad vehicle, which has bull-bars on it.

Like most counties, Yorkshire's ambulance control rooms can call in specialist paramedics

trained in urban search and rescue, infectious disease control

and even disaster management.

But sometimes they face a situation even they are unprepared for.

Sunday morning at the air ambulance base in Sheffield.

While most of us are having a lie-in, the Helimed Team are ready for action.

They don't have to wait long for the first call.

A 4x4 is into the canal.

..Inside the vehicle. We've informed patrol that you're en route.

A 4x4 has plunged into a canal near Gall in East Yorkshire

and there could be someone trapped inside.

'Yorkshire Air Desk, Helimed 98. Message, over.'

Roger, have you got an update for us? And also, have we got

a hospital choice if we do end up going, over?

Yeah, Roger, your hospitals are Doncaster Royal 11 Nautical,

Scunthorpe 11,

'York District and then Castle Hill and Pinmouth Hill, over.'

We're en route for reports of a vehicle,

a 4x4, that has gone into a canal

and is now believed to be sinking.

We're not sure if anybody's trapped in the car at this time

so we're airborne to help out when we get there.

Canal water is freezing cold all year round,

so falling in is dangerous, even for a strong swimmer.

The added complication in this kind of weather is with cold water,

you get something called swim failure,

where if you're not used to being immersed in cold water,

your body goes into a kind of shock state,

and even really competent swimmers just find it impossible to swim.

Ambulance crew just going, pulling up.

There's also a safety issue for the paramedics.

When they're near water, they have to wear lifejackets.

We've sent Al forward.

He's already booted and suited. With his jacket on.

Thermal imaging equipment should indicate if there's anyone inside the car giving off heat.

-That's the only reason to be getting off.

-No sign of any personnel at this time. Still investigating.

The sad thing this day and age, I'm just a bit bothered that that's covering up something.

-Do you know what I mean?

-Yes, absolutely.

Even though there doesn't seem to be anyone alive in the car,

the emergency services can't take any chances.

-The helicopter was on its way as far as I'm aware.

-There it is.

If someone's escaped from the car, the police chopper should find them.

But there's miles of canal bank to search.

What the police are doing now are just going up and down both bankings

to check for any heat sources if somebody has managed to scramble out.

With submersion, particularly in cold water,

your body can go into a kind of hypothermic sort of

state, where your heart rate slows right down.

You can survive for quite prolonged periods of time

submerged in cold water. Certainly over, you know, up to an hour.

Firefighters aren't allowed to dive, but they should be able to feel

if anyone is trapped in the driver's seat.

We'll just go into the water and check.

We're going to feel around and check that there's nobody

round this car, underneath the water or underneath the car.

Well, we can't be 100% certain that there isn't somebody in the front of the vehicle.

It's all beginning to look like a false alarm.

There's a load of nuts on the front seat.

It looks like it is definitely...

We'll bring some kit, set up a stretcher and have a mini resus area,

and then we'll load and go if there is somebody down there.

Is the front windows open?

INDISTINCT COMMENT

Eventually, the police decide the car must have been abandoned,

perhaps after a crime. It's been an expensive wild goose chase.

The fire brigade are committed - they have men in the water.

The police are committed for continuity so they need to follow this whole incident through.

And there must be, what, nearly 20 people here on the bank now.

We've felt around with our feet in the foot well. We couldn't find...

We're pretty certain now there's nobody in the car.

And before most of us have finished that Sunday morning lie-in,

some very cold and very wet members of the emergency services are on their way back to base.

Coming up, a grandmother faces Christmas without her family as the snow maroons their holiday cottage.

Got a bit of a cold. And he's got a wheeze.

And a poorly little boy gets help from the skies.

This is Stanage Edge in Derbyshire.

Every year, thousands of people come here to climb.

That rockface there is the Manchester Buttress, and climber Mark Stones,

who we heard about earlier, had almost reached the top when he fell.

Despite plunging 40ft onto rocks, Mark is alive, but he's in severe

pain and mountain rescue doctors fear he may have damaged his spine.

These peaks claim lives every year.

But many, like Mark, regard the risk as part of the thrill

of taking on some of Europe's best climbs.

They're philosophical when an accident happens.

You can limit the dangers, I guess,

just by being as careful as you can.

But, yeah, it is a dangerous sport.

But there's also...

a thrill that goes along with it, which is why we do it.

All right? Just pop this collar, on here. All right, mate.

If you come this side...

-Mark will be immobilised for his flight to hospital.

-We could do with as many of you as possible.

We'll form two parallel lines and then pass the stretcher between us.

But the pain is increasing.

Has that morphine had any effect, do you think?

Erm...

Not a great deal. That's still it.

My shoulders are getting really, really bad now.

Paramedic Kate usually works

in the gently rolling hills around urban Wakefield.

This is an unfamiliar emergency for her.

Just stood back and let these guys do it because they're the experts.

They've got quite a tight team,

so I'm just carrying shoes down the hill.

There's never any shortage of volunteers

when it comes to rescuing victims of climbing accidents up here.

Everyone knows they could be needing help tomorrow.

And move. Nice and steady, Nice and steady, nice and slow.

There's no rush.

Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt and when somebody is misfortunate, they do tend to rally together.

We are fortunate to have people assist us with the incidents that we deal with.

For all its beauty, the Peak National Park begins in the outskirts of industrial Sheffield.

And today, that's good news for the Helimed team's patient.

At 150 miles an hour, Mark will be landing at the Northern General Hospital in less than five minutes.

There was just this almighty crack, which I thought was his head.

Coming up, Mark arrives at hospital

and the full extent of his injuries is revealed.

And this is a beautiful place to live,

but if you need a trauma unit, it's an hour by road.

You need local knowledge to get to the patient

because sometimes you just can't get up the steep inclines.

Now, let's return to the family facing a white Christmas in the Dales without Gran.

She's been taken ill suddenly and now six-foot snowdrifts

are threatening to separate her and her family at the most important time of the year.

High in the Dales, paramedics Darren and Tony have made a decision that could ruin a family's Christmas.

They're flying 77-year-old Elizabeth Oxlade to hospital,

leaving her relatives snowed in at their remote holiday cottage.

Wave to your fans, Liz!

Elizabeth and her family travelled from their home

in Essex for a Christmas break in the Yorkshire Dales.

During the night, she felt unwell and Darren and Tony fear her pacemaker is malfunctioning.

We're transferring this lady to the LGI in the centre of Leeds.

We'll take her down straight to the emergency department where she'll be seen

by the doctors and nurses. They'll give her a thorough examination.

I feel sorry for her relatives who've got to make their way to Leeds to come and visit her,

either to pick her up or to stay overnight.

As you can see out of the window, these country lanes are absolutely snowed in.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to take her back there.

So it's either find her own transport

or try and thumb a lift from Father Christmas.

Even if she's fit to be released, it could be a very lonely Christmas for Elizabeth.

She's putting a brave face on her emergency flight

and few people get to experience the dramatic landing in the heart of Leeds City Centre for themselves.

-Did you enjoy your flight?

-It was worth not being well for that!

Don't be telling anybody!

This type of weather, the helicopter comes into its own, really. It's really nice to be able

to give a hand to the land crews who are obviously struggling

a lot at this time to get to where the patients are,

especially out in the isolated country locations.

Even if Elizabeth is given the all-clear,

because of the state of the roads,

she might not be able to get back to the holiday cottage

to enjoy Christmas dinner with her family.

Doctors at the LGI examine Elizabeth within minutes of her arrival in A&E.

They decide her pacemaker is doing its job and she can return to her holiday cottage.

The following day, after a tricky drive on freshly ploughed roads,

the family are reunited, just in time for Christmas.

Seven weeks later, and Elizabeth is back home in Essex.

She and daughter Hazel are recapturing the festive spirit,

but with turkey sandwiches rather than a full Christmas dinner.

I have pains in my chest.

I knew that I had to have it... I had to be looked at.

The doctor said he was going to have to call out the paramedic to come to you at the holiday cottage.

She said, "They're going to be coming, but they might be a while because the weather is so bad."

The phone rang again and they said, "Unfortunately that paramedic got stuck in the snow.

-"They can't get to you..."

-The snow was so deep!

The phone went again and it was the doctor saying that they'd got stuck in the snow as well!

"The only option now is to send the Air Ambulance.

"They're the only ones that can get through." It just seemed a bit surreal.

Waving to this helicopter with Mum in it going off to Leeds hospital!

It wasn't at all the plan we'd had for the holiday.

It was just totally the opposite of what I'd hoped would be happening.

He lifted up and it was just...

so smooth.

Not bumpy. I wasn't scared.

Then when they get to a certain height, they suddenly shoot forward.

Incredible feeling.

Elizabeth's granddaughter Kate was able to capture a rare shot

of the Air Ambulance taking off in the snow.

It moves forward - incredible feeling.

Unlike most patients who travel in the Air Ambulance,

Elizabeth was able to sit up and look out of the window.

It wasn't actually a heart attack...

..but it was probably stress that was caused.

Maybe through walking the previous night in the thick snow,

carrying a heavy bag, I had pulled a muscle or strained myself,

and that's what had caused it.

They were very thorough and put my mind at rest

and made sure that I was really fit enough to go back.

In the end, Liz was able to get back and join her family for Christmas dinner.

-It all had a happy ending luckily.

-Thanks to...

-Thanks to the helicopter heroes!

-Helicopter heroes!

Coming up, climber Angela returns to the rockface that almost killed her mountaineering partner.

He hit the bottom with an almighty crack.

Imagine living here in the Yorkshire Dales, some of Britain's

most beautiful landscape right on your doorstep.

But if you have a serious accident, it can be an hour's drive to your nearest major trauma centre.

And if that happens, the person you really want to see...

is this guy.

Pete Shaw is a community paramedic.

He works from the local doctor's surgery, bringing emergency health

care to around 3,000 people living around the market town of Leyburn.

He's among the most regular users

of the Air Ambulance, for obvious reasons.

Roads like this must make your job a nightmare. How do you find people?

Part of the problems we have are the narrowness of the roads, the road conditions, the weather conditions.

We have a high influx of people during the summer - tourists

with caravans and suchlike, which slow us down a little bit.

It's high summer and Helimed 98 is on its way to help out Pete

and a very young holidaymaker.

'You're going to Reeth bakery

'where a five-month-old male

'has been scalded by hot milk.'

Unusually in this age of mobile phones, the call has come from a phone-box.

But then signals tend to be unreliable in this part of the world.

'Helimed 98, just south of Rosebury, got a task in the Richmond area.

'I'll be routing west with that location. I'd like to go on route with Teesside.'

A young family on a walking holiday stopped at a cafe for a drink when disaster struck.

Their baby grabbed hold of Mum's hot chocolate and burned himself badly.

Bremington and Reeth,

and Reeth is the last of the three that are close together.

The village green in Reeth makes a great landing site

for pilot Andy Lister, and the helicopter causes quite a stir.

All looks good my side. Site appears to be secure.

Ground paramedic Pete has already calmed baby Joel down and the local doctor is also there.

-How are you?

-Fine. How are you?

-Nice to see you.

-And you.

-How we doing?

-Little lad.

Dr Dawson's in the car. I've given him some Calpol.

Little lad put his arm into...

hot chocolate. Difficult to tell with the rest

of the arm because it's red, so it could be first degree as well.

-Hello!

-He's a lot calmer, isn't he?

Yes, magic Calpol!

Magic Calpol.

He seems to be fairly happy.

What we'll do is wait while the helicopter's sorted

then we'll bob you in a seat in the helicopter, just sitting up.

He seems fairly happy so we won't disturb him too much.

We won't start poking at him or anything. Pete's already done a good job, so we'll leave it at that.

This is Joel's first holiday with Mum, Dad and his sister.

They'd been staying at a youth hostel for a few days,

but it looks like they might spend their last night in hospital.

-He's definitely lost a proportion of skin.

-Hello, little man!

-What's your first name?

-This is Joel.

-Hello, Joel!

-Joel's young ears must be protected from the roar of Helimed 98's jet engine.

Squash them first and then they expand to fit his shape.

There we go, Joel. Excuse me, little man.

Beautiful Joel, five months old, has got a scald to his arm.

Because it potentially goes all the way round, we don't want it to swell

and compromise his circulation to his hand. So we're ready to go.

As they begin the journey to the James Cook Hospital,

mum Deborah is a little bit nervous.

But Joel is taking the whole thing in his stride.

In fact, he's so chilled out, he falls asleep in the helicopter.

Hello, gorgeous.

He's had a little sleep on the way in.

The land paramedic already on scene had already dressed and covered up

the wound, so we haven't seen the scald.

But treatment had started and Joel was quite comfortable,

so comfortable he fell asleep on the flight!

They made a good job of dressing it on the scene so we've not done anything with that.

We've left it as it was, just literally transported him

to James Cook Hospital, and the consultant is looking at him now.

Hopefully there are no major problems and he should be discharged later today.

But it's winter when Wensleydale becomes the most difficult place to work.

The holidaymakers may have gone, but the weather up here is harsh.

Some parts of Pete's patch are nearly 2,000 ft above sea-level and the snow can last well into spring.

Snow can be quite difficult.

Sometimes the roads get cut-off completely and you can't get through.

We are about 1000 ft higher than the Vale of York so they may have rain,

we'll have snow and ice.

Some of the roads are quite steep so you have to have local knowledge to take alternative routes to get

to the patient because sometimes you just can't get up the steep inclines.

Sometimes, if that doesn't work, the locals are very helpful.

We'll throw some kit into the back of the Land Rover or on the back of record to get to the incident and

have the foresight to think, "We'll have trouble getting the patient out

"so let's get the helicopter and get them airlifted direct", which is a good resource to have.

It's February and Helimed 98 is heading up to Pete's patch again.

The paramedic up there, he works one of the loneliest patches in North Yorkshire.

Quite isolated. He's on his own quite a lot.

We've got reports of a gentleman who has been trapped against a wall by some farm machinery.

It is the end of the worst winter in 30 years in the Dales.

Some roads were blocked for days by snow

and farmers faced losing valuable livestock.

It was the quad bike that kept many in business.

But now that the snow has gone, one farmer has discovered the downside of the quad.

The gentleman was working in a field about half-a-mile from here

and a guy with a quad-type vehicle came and spoke to them,

pushed his foot on to the accelerator rather than the brake

and hit him with the quad vehicle which has bull-bars on it.

It impacted with his lower legs and and ankles.

'Roger, have you got an ETA?'

98, 20 seconds.

98, just landing on scene.

Pete has called in the Helimed team because his patient badly needs surgery.

Both legs are crushed and infection is a real risk.

It is difficult to say. Definitely one.

The other one doesn't look as bad,

but he says it's painful so, you know...

-Treat as both.

-Treat as both, yeah. He's changed his mind about the pain relief.

-He wants something a bit stronger.

-They've got morphine on board.

-They've got morphine.

William Atkinson is in agony.

This land ambulance would take an hour to reach a trauma centre.

Helimed 98 will take 15 minutes.

Ready, steady, lift.

WILLIAM GROANS

William's wife and son raced to see him when they heard about the accident.

Thanks to paramedics like Pete,

medical help does come quickly, even in remote areas like this.

But not every patient gets a high-speed trip to surgery.

He's been extremely unlucky, William.

He's been on his farm and a relative of his

has lost control of a heavy quad bike.

He's got fractures in both ankles at the moment. He's been quite lucky.

Although it's a nasty injury, he's been very lucky, really.

William is one of many Dalesman with good reason to thank the Helimed team and local paramedic, Pete.

It's rare for a month to go by without him calling in a helicopter and it's largely down to geography.

The vehicle that you use is great for getting you

to a patient, but transporting the patient is another matter.

This vehicle get us to the incident, but then we need the foresight to think about calling

in the Air Ambulance and we have a good working relationship with the Air Ambulance staff.

Sometimes they will phone me directly and ask me if they are needed.

We are on first-name terms!

Many homes in Wensleydale are holiday cottages owned by people

from the big cities keen to grab a slice of country life at weekends.

But the Dales are still home to a hardy local population, including pensioners who remember

the area around Leyburn when sheep-farming dwarfed the tourist trade.

They often need Pete's expert medical care.

Today he has been called to the house of a 94-year-old man whose nose won't stop bleeding.

-You're a bit bruised, Jim.

-Yeah, I bruise easily.

-Do you know what brought it on?

-No.

-Have you knocked yourself?

-Just sat here reading.

-Right. When did you fall?

I didn't fall. I just bruise easily.

-Right.

-On the back of my hand.

-OK.

-It swelled up.

It has swollen up, hasn't it?

Jim has a history of nosebleeds.

I'm just applying a bit of direct pressure to the gentleman Jim's nose

just to see if I can...

stem the bleeding.

If I can't get it to stop, then I will have to take Jim down to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

This is one of the potential side-effects of taking blood thinning drugs.

Unfortunately, I've been unable to stop the bleed so he will have to go to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Jim's nose bled all the way to hospital and he was kept in for several days.

Meanwhile, Pete is on another job.

It is a patient who has fallen off a bike and has a head injury.

That's all the information I've got so I suspect it might be a push bike.

It actually turns out to be more unusual than that.

Removal man Eamonn Barton was lifting something out of his van

-when a bicycle balanced on top fell on his head.

-Can't see a definite cut.

-Looking good.

-Oh, there's a little bit...

-Oh, yeah.

-What's your first name?

-Eamonn.

-Right, Eamonn, what we're going to do...

This looks a bit sinister, but it's not. It's a blunt needle.

I'm going to turn it into something like a jet wash

and just flush the top of your head just to flush anything out so you might get a bit wet.

-OK.

-All right?

Once Pete has cleaned the wound, he can see it's deeper than he first thought.

It's open enough to glue it.

-It would benefit from closing it.

-Yeah.

If we don't close it, you've got a bit of a gap.

-It's not drastic, but you've got a gap and if we don't close it...

-Infection.

We're going to go up to Leyburn.

Eamonn will be taken to the local medical practice. He won't have stitches.

Instead, the wound will be glued together with special adhesive.

Here in the Dales, even a relatively minor illness

can mean the services of the Air Ambulance are needed.

Often, a 999 call involves someone on holiday from the city

with the problem that would be routine at home, but potentially life threatening here.

A weekend at Gran's cottage in the country means fun for the average three-year-old, but Jacob Lawson

is not enjoying his stay - he's suddenly become ill.

The words "floppy" and "baby" don't sit well together.

It could be any one of a number of things. You know,

meningitis, he could have some sort of febrile convulsion.

They are heading for the tiny community of Redmire.

It is going to be the big field to the north side of where the ambulance is.

-It's past the bungalows, isn't it? Definitely there.

-OK.

Jacob's medical history is an added concern for the Helimed team.

Hiya, Pete. How are you doing?

Pete has already pieced it together.

GCS was three when I got here until I pinpricked him.

-Then it went up to 15.

-Great stuff.

These are the grandparents. The parents are on their way to London.

So... They are in London so they called us in.

Jacob has been through a lot in his short life, including open-heart surgery.

No wonder Gran and Grandad are concerned.

Peter and flying paramedic Al are going to play it safe.

Jacob is going to hospital for an expert opinion.

-Right, are you ready?

-Right. OK.

Jacob's gran and grandad moved to Redmire to become more

self-sufficient, but the downside of living up here is the isolation.

The nearest major hospital is more than 40 miles away in Middlesbrough.

Gran is going with Jacob to reassure him.

He still thinks he's going by road.

Nanny in my car.

No, this isn't a car.

This a helicopter, isn't it?

We are inside one. We were looking at them this morning, weren't we, flying through the sky?

Let me adjust this so it is the right size for your little head. There we go.

-There! We've got headphones on.

-Jacob has been thrown direct from the heart of Wensleydale, the valley

famous for its cheese, to an appointment with heart specialists at the James Cook hospital.

How are you doing, Jacob?

Are you all right?

Is this fun? Yeah.

For local paramedic Peter, it's another successful case.

The Helimed team makes sure a patient quickly gets expert care

and he can carry on caring for the people of the Dales.

Jacob is not complaining either.

He has perked up thanks to an unexpected ride in a helicopter.

Did you enjoy that, Jacob?

Despite the worry his illness caused his gran and grandad, not to mention

mum and dad on a weekend break in London,

Jacob soon recovered and continued his break in the Dales.

You'll be pleased to hear all Pete's patients are on the mend.

Let us get back to the Derbyshire Peak District where a very enthusiastic climber

is desperate to get back to the rock face.

Mark Stones has been flown to Sheffield's Northern General hospital with multiple injuries

after surviving a fall that would have killed most climbers.

But he is not out of the woods yet. Over the next few days,

surgeons operate on his shattered leg and shoulder.

But despite falling 40 ft from the forbidding Manchester Buttress

in the heart of the Peak District, they can find little else wrong with him.

Back on the rock face, Mark's climbing buddy, Angela Paul will never forget the day Mark fell.

He landed on the ledge and was like this for a couple of seconds.

I thought he was going to be fine and then all of a sudden he just tumbled backwards. Just stumbled over.

Somersaulted a couple of times

and hit the bottom with an almighty crack.

It's six months since Mark had his accident

and now he's returning to Stanage Edge for the first time.

I climbed the first bit,

got to the ledge, got to the second bit to the crack.

I had one hand here, one near the top.

It was wet so I took a hand off to get a grip and the next thing, I'm just falling.

I remember tumbling back.

I could see black, white as I was tumbling down and I felt my face smash.

I thought, "I should be dead or unconscious, but I'm not."

I got up and come and sat down.

I took my shoe off and I saw my foot.

-I knew it was broke.

-All I could see was all this blood coming from his face and I thought, "Head injury."

Then he said, "Oh, my foot really hurts, my knee really hurts."

A lot of the blood from his face...

Because he had bitten through through his knee as it turned out.

So, as you fell, your teeth actually hit your leg?

Yeah, that's when I felt the smash.

The Derbyshire mountain rescue volunteers know this area inside out.

As soon as Angela spoke to them, they were on their way.

As soon as I said, "We're just next to Manchester Buttress," they knew exactly where to come.

It was brilliant because we saw them pull up and they came running up the hill, which amazed me.

They had two massive great rucksacks and they were running!

I'd walked up here and nearly had a coronary when I got here!

Very few people who fall 40 feet onto rocks survive without a major disability.

But the prompt medical treatment he received from Mountain Rescue Doctor Steve Rowe

and his colleagues probably made a big difference to his recovery.

When we got to see Mark, he'd walked a little way from the edge

but said his heel was very, very painful, couldn't rested on the floor which made me suspect

he had a fractured heel bone which later turned out to be the case.

He'd also dislocated his shoulder, had a nasty gash on his knee

which I think he got from his teeth going into it as he fell.

Hopefully, your injuries are certainly on the mend,

but you can get the shoulder back to full fitness.

Has it put you off climbing or will you climb again?

-Yes, once I've had it sorted it out, yeah.

-So, you will be leading him from now on, Angela!

When Helicopter Heroes comes back...

..there's a serious farm accident and a nine-year-old boy is fighting for his life.

He's climbed over it, swung on it and pulled it down like that!

A Yorkshire horse whisperer is trampled by a bucking bronco.

His legs were up in the air and his head was on the floor.

Helimed 99 lands on the lawn after a visitor runs over a friend.

I was holding my hand!

And the team rescue a cyclist who came off at 60 miles an hour.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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