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If you're seriously ill or critically injured up here, | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
your life is in real danger. | 0:00:06 | 0:00:08 | |
He's complaining of severe pain. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
Mid-30s, been ejected from a vehicle. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:14 | |
Hospital's an hour away by road, | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
and speed is the only thing that can save you. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
Yeah, Roger, Helimed 99's on route to you, over. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
The Yorkshire Air Ambulance and its highly-trained paramedics are scrambled 1,000 times a year. | 0:00:22 | 0:00:27 | |
-Tell me what's happened. -A child was on the path, a wagon cut the corner and ran over him. | 0:00:27 | 0:00:31 | |
Many of its ex-military pilots flew the SAS into action. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:36 | |
That's not a suitable landing site. This one here is. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
Welcome to the life-and-death world of the Helicopter Heroes. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:43 | |
Today on Helicopter Heroes... | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
A woman's fighting for her life, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
but the chopper's grounded by a blizzard. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:11 | |
The snow is stopping us getting to the hospital. OK? | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
His baby's birth is only hours away, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
but this father-to-be is dangerously ill. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
His wife's pregnant. I just hope he's OK. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
The driver who demolished a bus-stop. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
He's hit the windscreen with his head. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
Did you hear owt crack? | 0:01:28 | 0:01:30 | |
He retired on Friday. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:31 | |
And a new pensioner takes a fall. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
And I begged him not to go. But it didn't make any difference! | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
Apart from the beauty, | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
what brings most people to live in the Yorkshire Dales is the solitude. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
But when winter comes, the very remoteness of these valleys can be deadly. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:55 | |
It's November, and England's most famous dale | 0:01:55 | 0:01:59 | |
is struggling to cope with the big freeze. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
Many roads in Wensleydale are blocked by snow. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:05 | |
And Helimed 99's been scrambled to fly a patient | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
to the James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
Yeah, we've been requested to attend an elderly lady | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
up in Leyburn in North Yorkshire. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
She's been diagnosed as having a heart attack. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
So, with the land ambulance today, in this weather - it's really snowy and icy. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:24 | |
It'd take about an hour plus to get up to Middlesbrough. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
So they've requested our attendance to take this lady up there. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:31 | |
Their patient is seriously ill. Her life's in real danger. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
But drifts up to six feet deep are making travel all but impossible on minor roads, | 0:02:35 | 0:02:40 | |
and more snow is forecast. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:41 | |
But from 2,000 ft, the weathermen appear to have got it wrong. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:46 | |
-Beautiful and clear, isn't it? -It's gorgeous. -Absolutely stunning. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
-Clear as a bell, isn't it? -Absolutely. -A tropical -2(!). | 0:02:51 | 0:02:56 | |
Absolutely. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:58 | |
The woman's being cared for in the back of an ambulance. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
Its crew have driven to a landing site on the edge of town. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:04 | |
-I can't see that wire at all. -I think it's going that way. -Yep. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
The ambulance crews are trained to identify | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
helicopter landing sites, and this is a good one. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:13 | |
It's perfect, apart from a telephone wire. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
-Ready, then? -Shall we come in? Yeah. -Joyce is 90. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
-She was at the Quakers' Meeting House this morning. -Right. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
They were having a meeting. And she came over quite poorly. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:34 | |
Joyce Thompson's lived in Wensleydale for almost 90 years. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
Its isolation is part of what she loves about the place. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:42 | |
Now, it's endangering her life. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
Tony can see from the ECG print-out | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
that Joyce has had a massive heart attack. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
-Get her into the aircraft. I mean, if people can walk up them... -Yeah. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:55 | |
..they can to do it or we can put a sheet under and lift her up. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
I was looking at the ECG. It's a big anterior MI, | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
which basically affects the front part of the heart, | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
the main pumping chamber. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
Saying that, she looks quite all right on it. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
She's quite pain-free at the moment. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:14 | |
Her age is against her. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:16 | |
She desperately needs | 0:04:16 | 0:04:17 | |
to have the block blood vessels in her heart cleared out. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
And the nearest place that can be done | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
is 40 miles away, in Middlesbrough. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
-Have a good flight over here, did you, in this weather? -Beautiful. Crystal clear. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:30 | |
Pilot Steve Cobb is used to taking some weather forecasts | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
with a pinch of salt. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
There's no sign of more snow on the horizon. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
We came this morning. The temperatures were quite low, | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
below -10, which can be a problem for us, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
because we have to have anti-icing in the fuel below that temperature. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
Fortunately, by mid-lunchtime it'd warmed up nicely. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
So now it's about just a mere -6, so...everything's fine. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:55 | |
The sky's clear. We've had some early morning mist, but that's gone now. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
It's a beautiful day for flying. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
But as Helimed 99 takes off, | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
none of the crew know that they're about to experience | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
one of the most difficult flights of their careers. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:09 | |
A mission that could threaten the survival of their patient. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
They say climbing's an addiction, | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
and there are many people in Pennine communities | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
who have moved hundreds of miles just to be close to a challenging rock face. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:34 | |
Others think nothing of driving into another county | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
just to tackle a difficult route. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
Helimed 98's base in Sheffield is on the outskirts | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
of one of the UK's biggest industrial cities. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:49 | |
But it's just a few minutes' flying time | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
from the rock faces of the Pennines. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
Crags like this have a deadly attraction for climbers, | 0:05:53 | 0:05:57 | |
and every year, dozens end up in hospital | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
after falls in this unforgiving landscape. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
But today, one man needs medical help in an emergency | 0:06:02 | 0:06:06 | |
that's a mystery, even to him. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
We believe we're going to a place just north of Hebden Bridge. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
Somebody who's been climbing and is now fitting. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:15 | |
We've not been told if they've had a fall or a head injury. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:19 | |
It just seems unusual. And he's not known to be epileptic. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
Because of his location, that's why the aircraft is involved. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
Matthew Troilett felt unwell whilst on a ledge. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
He quickly descended, and began talking incoherently. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
Minutes later, he suffered a fit and lapsed into unconsciousness. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:38 | |
Matthew's mates called out mountain rescue, | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
and Al Day, a Helimed paramedic, turned out to help. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:46 | |
Now Helimed 98's on its way to the rock face near Hebden Bridge, | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
where Matt's been given first aid. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:51 | |
There are some small domestic cables. I'm not sure where they go. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
-Yeah, I'm pretty sure. -You can't see them yet, but they're under the overhang. | 0:06:56 | 0:07:01 | |
-If you look at the rocks. -Oh, yeah. Good spot. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
Paramedics Sammy Wills and Ben Anderson know these hills well. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
But this case is about to stretch their skills to the limit. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
When I got here, he was not feeling very well at all, really. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
He'd not fallen or anything, | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
but he did have a pain in the back of his neck. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
And he was vomiting. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:22 | |
Their patient's 38, and very fit. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
His illness is a mystery. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:27 | |
Definitely not banged his head, or...? | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
-Or stumbled, or...? -He was climbing... -Yep. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:34 | |
But throughout the whole day... | 0:07:34 | 0:07:35 | |
He went to the ground like that, and went. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
-Do we have any oxygen down here? -Yeah. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
Can we just pop him on some anyway? If it IS some sort of neuro challenge. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
Matthew's in a bad way. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:46 | |
He'd come out on one last climbing trip | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
before the birth of his second child. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
He's not had a traumatic episode whatsoever. General unwell. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
Matthew, can you remember what's happened to you? | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
-Yeah. -Yeah? OK. Can you describe to me how you felt? | 0:08:01 | 0:08:05 | |
-Cos you were able to tell your friend that you felt unwell. -Yeah. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
-In what way? -The back of my neck. -The back of your neck. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:12 | |
Sammy's baffled by the cause of Matthew's collapse. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
-Can I just confirm - have you banged your head today at all? -No. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
Have you had a heavy landing? | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
His symptoms don't seem to fit anything obvious. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
No illnesses or passings-out during the week? | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
Do you suffer from migraines at all? | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
Matthew's case just gets more puzzling. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
And has anything like this ever happened to you before? | 0:08:30 | 0:08:34 | |
Nothing whatsoever? OK. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:36 | |
Whatever's wrong with him, he needs to be seen by hospital doctors. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
Now, you're laid on your side. If you want, just roll over and go onto your other side, would be great. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:44 | |
Well, I'd like you just away from the edge. OK? | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
I know, I know it's how you feel. But we'll just keep you safe. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
Watch it going down here. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:52 | |
Getting Matt to the helicopter's not going to be easy. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
But with Al Day's mountain rescue team on hand, it shouldn't take long. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
Although it's only a steep, grassy slope, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:02 | |
it's quite slippy today after all the rain we've had. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
So we're just putting a back-up rope on, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
just to be certain that there's no slips. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
Matt and his mates drove to this crag from their homes in Lancashire. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:14 | |
He knows his wife is about to give birth. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
He's desperate to get home to Burnley. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
-Over you go. Keep going, mate. -Press your head down here, man. -That's it. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:22 | |
Air ambulances must take patients to the nearest suitable hospital. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:26 | |
I believe at this time we'll be taking the patient to Huddersfield Royal. Over. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:31 | |
-Can I not go somewhere else? -What's wrong with Huddersfield? | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
Sammy fears his condition may be very serious. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
His symptoms could be signs of a brain haemorrhage. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
Matt's worried about missing the impending birth. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
Sammy's more concerned about his survival. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
It doesn't matter how you've hurt yourself, | 0:09:52 | 0:09:55 | |
the first law of medicine is that all patients are treated the same. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
But sometimes people are injured in ways that are all too avoidable. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
Quite often, the Helimed team have no idea what to expect | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
when they're on their way to a job. And today is one of those days. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
We'll let you know as soon as if we need 99. Over. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
The team are heading to a car crash that's killed at least one person. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:22 | |
Already, the crew are preparing to send a second helicopter. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:26 | |
I'm not sure if there's more than one fatality, | 0:10:26 | 0:10:30 | |
or more than one seriously injured. So... | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
We're going to get on scene. We're only a few minutes away. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
And if necessary, we'll get them over. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
The crash has happened underneath a disused railway bridge. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
It's a very tight spot for pilot Tim Taylor to land the helicopter. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
-Clear left. -Crank your door open, Kate. -Will do, mate. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
If that's all right with you, please, yeah. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
-Katie, you're good at that. -I've cleared mine. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:02 | |
I don't think there's anybody on scene yet, Kate, apart from the police. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
Terrible impact on the front side of the vehicle. Airbags and seat belts. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:14 | |
Everything's gone off, OK. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:17 | |
The car is barely recognisable after a high-speed and high-impact crash. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:23 | |
I think he's hit the bus shelter up there and then... | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
-It's bounced him off? -There's a tyre up there. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
I think this is where his head's impacted the screen there. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:35 | |
It looks like this chap's taken out the stone bus shelter. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:40 | |
The impact on his car's considerable. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:44 | |
There is a bull's-eye in the windshield | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
so he's obviously hit the windscreen with his head. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
No witnesses to this, | 0:11:50 | 0:11:52 | |
just people arriving on scene pretty quickly. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:56 | |
He doesn't seem to have lost consciousness, remembers it all. Half his car's missing. | 0:11:56 | 0:12:01 | |
I came up to the bridge and there was just rubble | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
all in the road and I saw a car down there | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
so I just stopped and cos I'm a student nurse I decided | 0:12:08 | 0:12:11 | |
that there was no paramedics | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
and I didn't know if there was any medical help | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
so I went to see if I could do anything. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
It's your worst nightmare, you come across it, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
when you see something like that, you think it could be fatal. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
There's nothing else you can do. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
But despite this high-powered Audi having left the road, | 0:12:25 | 0:12:29 | |
demolished a bus shelter, hit the bridge and lost two wheels, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:33 | |
amazingly, the driver doesn't appear to be badly injured. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
You can see where he's sat, there's blood up here where he cracked it. | 0:12:36 | 0:12:41 | |
Not the gate post. | 0:12:41 | 0:12:42 | |
It's a massive impact into a bus shelter, | 0:12:42 | 0:12:46 | |
part of the car's up the road under the bridge. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
The rest of it has come to lie down here. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
Luckily not come into contact with any other vehicles. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
It's an Audi, it's a very well-made car and that's probably | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
the only reason this guy's still with us. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
The police have started their investigation | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
but the paramedics and doctors have also been picking up clues | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
as to what may have happened. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:08 | |
His car's done what it's meant to do. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
It's absorbed all the energy and his airbags have gone off. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
At the moment, his injuries don't appear too bad. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
The strength of this car has clearly saved the driver's life. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
But it also makes it much harder work for the fire service to cut through. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:26 | |
It's quite amazing that his car's in such a mess | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
and he's in one piece, so he's a lucky chap. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
It's now nearly an hour after the crash on this Sunday afternoon. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
The accident has caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:42 | |
The driver needs urgent tests in hospital | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
and it's a very short flight in Helimed 98. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
ETA? About four minutes. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
The driver's flown to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:55 | |
Despite his car, a bus stop and a bridge being badly damaged, | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
the vehicle safety features have done their job well. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
The driver wasn't badly injured. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
Now, let's catch up on the case of Joyce, | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
the lady who had a heart attack in the middle of a Dales winter. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
She's on her way to hospital | 0:14:17 | 0:14:18 | |
but the team are about to face a major setback. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
High in Wensleydale, Helimed 99 is racing north to Middlesbrough | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
with a critically ill patient on board. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
Retired teacher Joyce Thompson is 90 and lucky to be alive | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
after a massive heart attack. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:36 | |
Despite the snow that's blocking local roads, | 0:14:36 | 0:14:40 | |
the weather here is perfect. But that's about to change. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:44 | |
Cloudy over there. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:47 | |
Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it? | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
On the horizon, there's the snow the weathermen predicted. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:53 | |
It's late but much more extensive than forecast. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
It's blocking their route to hospital | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
and the treatment Joyce desperately needs. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
We're just newly at James Cook now. We're just flying down in a bit of a snowstorm. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:06 | |
Steve knows that if he's to reach Middlesbrough's James Cook Hospital, | 0:15:06 | 0:15:11 | |
he's going to need a lot of luck and all of his skill. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:15 | |
We just have a little bit of snow down here | 0:15:16 | 0:15:19 | |
we're waiting for it to clear. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
'Helimed 99, approve before continuing.' | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
They've no choice but to circle and wait for a gap in the blizzard. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
We're going to struggle here, boys, getting round this little bit. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:37 | |
Closing in behind us somewhere. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
Let's go a bit further on, a bit brighter. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:45 | |
-Are you OK, Joyce? -I'm tired. -You're tired, are you? | 0:15:45 | 0:15:49 | |
We're just deciding...this snow is reducing visibility a bit. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:55 | |
We can't get through it a minute so we're seeing if it's going to clear. | 0:15:55 | 0:16:00 | |
Steve knows the heavy snow just half a mile ahead of him | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
will not only rob him of sight of the ground, but could also ice up Helimed 99. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:09 | |
We have to make a decision here on what to do. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
How are we fixed for putting it down somewhere where we can meet a land ambulance? | 0:16:13 | 0:16:18 | |
What about the airport? It's only a mile in the right direction, | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
away from the weather. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
Five miles, apologies. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:26 | |
They know it's too late in the day to reach another hospital. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:31 | |
A break in the weather is Joyce's only chance. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:34 | |
99, the airfield is in sight. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
But it's no good. Helimed 99 must abandon its mission | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
and divert to the safety of Teesside Airport. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
We're just the markers passing now. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
Is that the airport? | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
'The end of there. Can you see the edge of it? | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
-'To your right-hand side. If you can park down there, please?' -Roger. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:02 | |
They've made their decision just in time. The snow's now so bad, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:06 | |
Steve has difficulty seeing the airport taxi way. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
I think I have still got it underneath me. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
-We'll go down here and have done with it. -Yeah. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
OK, we've just landed at Teesside Airport. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
There's snow showers stopping us getting to the hospital, OK? | 0:17:22 | 0:17:26 | |
So we've arranged for an ambulance to come pick you up. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
Joyce's life could now depend on a ground transfer through the snow. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:34 | |
It may take time she doesn't have. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
Coming up on Helicopter Heroes... | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
It looks like we're not going out tonight. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
Joyce begins her road journey to treatment | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
but it's going to be agonisingly slow. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
Remember Matthew? The climber taken ill in the Pennines. | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
Let's return to his rescue. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
Matthew's symptoms are worrying. Sammy thinks he may have had a brain haemorrhage, | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
a bleed in his skull, which could kill him. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:18 | |
How long did the episode last for, with the mumbling | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
and the unusual words? | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
-A minute. -One minute? OK. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
They need to get him off to hospital quickly. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:28 | |
Air ambulance paramedic Al Day has joined the rescue | 0:18:28 | 0:18:31 | |
as part of the mountain rescue team. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
We've come up here just to give the guys a hand getting him out | 0:18:33 | 0:18:37 | |
from a difficult spot under the crags on a very steep hillside. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:41 | |
So we've used a back rope, just to make sure everything was nice | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
and safe on the stretcher as we were bringing him out. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
But it was fairly nice straightforward job, really. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
The guys have done well. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
While the team worry about Matthew's health, | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
he's worried about his wife. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
She's at home in Burnley, heavily pregnant. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
He was just doing a difficult boulder problem, exerting himself, | 0:19:00 | 0:19:05 | |
and just came down off it and suddenly said, "I feel... | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
"I don't feel too good." And that was it, collapsed. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:13 | |
His wife's pregnant. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
Lifelong friend, so I just hope he's OK. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
I'm glad these guys are here. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
It's a strange one, but he's in the right hands. It's good. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
You all right? Good lad. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
All the symptoms, excruciating head and neck pain, vomiting, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:31 | |
fitting and a short black out point to a brain haemorrhage. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
Pressure is building up inside his head all the time. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:39 | |
Matthew will soon be off the hillside and into hospital. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:44 | |
A scan is vital to see whether he has a life-threatening bleed inside his skull. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
Matthew was transferred to the Leeds General Infirmary | 0:19:51 | 0:19:55 | |
where surgeons operated for four hours, | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
inserting metal coils into the damaged blood vessels in his head. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:02 | |
He survived but he knows he's been lucky. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:06 | |
It was just... | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
terrible. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
I thought I was going to die, to be honest. So... | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
I feel very lucky, | 0:20:17 | 0:20:20 | |
lucky to be here, to be honest. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
Matthew's heavily pregnant wife, Lisa, is back in Lancashire | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
and he's still in Yorkshire, anxiously waiting for news. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:31 | |
She's been in labour for 70 hours, I think. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
Yeah, I just want to be there. Just to give her a lift, do what I can. | 0:20:34 | 0:20:38 | |
-That's it. -You just scared us all. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
Two weeks later, and there's a new kid on the block. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:47 | |
This is Jake Henry, who's having a little smile and dream. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
He was 8 lbs 3 and he's absolutely gorgeous and a very good baby. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:56 | |
Lisa was still in labour | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
as Matthew was being driven over to be with her. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
He almost made it in time. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
Ended up being rushed in for a Caesarean in the end. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:06 | |
Just desperately wanting to see Matt, really. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:12 | |
But as soon as I got out, I phoned him | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
and told him we had a little boy cos we didn't know what we were expecting. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:20 | |
I think we were about an hour away when I got a phone call from Lisa, | 0:21:20 | 0:21:24 | |
just saying that we'd had a little boy and... | 0:21:24 | 0:21:29 | |
..we both burst into tears. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
So yeah, it was fantastic. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
I thought he was going to die. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
So to all be home, | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
and be reasonably well just two weeks later | 0:21:40 | 0:21:43 | |
is incredible, really. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:45 | |
We're just so grateful for everybody that helped. | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
Doing it yourself is one of the UK's most popular hobbies. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
Problem is, it's also one of the most dangerous pastimes. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
And every year, thousands of handymen and women | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
land themselves in hospital. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:15 | |
Every day, the Helimed team defy the DIY enthusiasts' worst enemy... | 0:22:20 | 0:22:25 | |
gravity. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:26 | |
It's responsible for a lot of accidents, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
especially those involving ladders. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
Helimed 99 is on its way across the Pennines | 0:22:31 | 0:22:33 | |
to an accident in Lancashire. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
If he's fallen from a height and landed on his chest, | 0:22:36 | 0:22:38 | |
he's likely to have sustained other injuries too. | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
But anything that includes any sort of loss of functionality | 0:22:41 | 0:22:46 | |
to his chest wall, broken ribs, fractured sternum, collapsed lungs, | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
all those things will impede his breathing and can be potentially life-threatening. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:54 | |
Flying Doctor Andy Poutney and the team are on their way | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
to a man who's fallen from the roof of a terraced house | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
in the village of Hurstwood near Burnley. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
In the foothills of the Pennines, landing sites are in short supply | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
and Dr Andy and paramedic Darren have quite a journey to their patient. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:12 | |
Hello. How are we doing? | 0:23:12 | 0:23:14 | |
Steve Baldwin was trying to fix a leaky roof | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
when the ladder slipped and he fell 30 feet. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
He initially fell on to his chest. Just had a quick listen, | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
he's diminished sounds on his right side. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
He's pain all across his chest here from where he's fallen on to it. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:33 | |
He's badly injured his leg and the local ambulance crew | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
fear he may have a collapsed lung. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:39 | |
Hiya. You've got pain in your leg and your chest, is that right? | 0:23:39 | 0:23:43 | |
-Yeah. -Does your breathing feel worse than normal? | 0:23:43 | 0:23:46 | |
Just keep your head still for me. It just feels tight? | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
He landed on an edge here, on one of these edges. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
Down on that side. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
At the back? OK. When you did that, did you hear owt crack? | 0:23:55 | 0:24:00 | |
-I didn't hear nowt. -You didn't hear owt? OK. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
Neighbours heard Steve's cry as he fell. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
He just slipped to this way and he went down there, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:10 | |
and hit his chest... | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
on that corner there. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
-Any pain where I'm touching, Steve? -No, no. -None at all? | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
-No pain here in the top, no? -No. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
Steve's wife warned him not to climb up. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
Especially not in his first week of retirement. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
He retired on Friday, and he was helping my daughter | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
because my daughter's roof was leaking. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
OK, mate, you just take nice, easy breaths, mate. Not big deep ones. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:40 | |
So he went up to try and fix the roof. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
And I begged him not to go, but it didn't make any difference. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
Doctor Andy wants to see exactly where the fall occurred. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
Even small details can give a clue | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
as to the kind of injuries he may have suffered. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
-He realised he was falling... -Yeah. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:03 | |
-..and tried to jump off the ladder. -Right. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:06 | |
-And he landed on that small wall. -That high one there, yeah? | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
We've got significant concerns. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
He's fallen a long way, he's got a lot of pain in his chest. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:14 | |
He's shifting a lot of air in and out of his chest, which is good, | 0:25:14 | 0:25:17 | |
it means the lungs haven't totally collapsed down. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
He's also tender at the top bit of his abdomen, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:22 | |
particularly where the spleen is. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
That can bleed and it stays within the capsule of the spleen, | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
and it suddenly just... They can decompensate very quickly | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
so we have to keep a close eye on that. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
The team are playing it safe. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:36 | |
Steve's spine has been immobilised | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
and they're carefully monitoring his breathing and blood pressure. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:42 | |
A sudden drop could indicate internal bleeding. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
Steve's going to be flown to hospital for scans and X-rays. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
Any fall over six feet can be fatal, and he plunged five times that. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
Dr Andy fears his patient's condition may be deteriorating. | 0:25:57 | 0:26:01 | |
It sounds like there's less air | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
moving into the right side of his chest than the left, | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
and that could indicate a collapse of the lung | 0:26:05 | 0:26:08 | |
or some blood in there. | 0:26:08 | 0:26:09 | |
But given it was down towards the bottom, | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
I'm concerned as to whether blood's collecting in the lungs. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:15 | |
These skies are unfamiliar to the Helimed team | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
who usually safeguard the other side of the Pennines. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
But the trauma unit at Blackburn Hospital also covers | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
part of West Yorkshire, so pilot Steve knows the lie of the land. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
-All right, Steve? -Yeah. -Lovely. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
It looks like Steve's been lucky and tests in A&E confirm that. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
Apart from a nasty gash in his leg, | 0:26:35 | 0:26:38 | |
most of his injuries are superficial. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
He'll soon be home to resume his well-earned retirement. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
There's a power tool for everything these days, | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
ready to tackle any DIY job at the touch of a button. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
The trouble is, unless you let go, it will keep on working, | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
with sometimes painful results. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
-Facial injuries inflicted by machinery, mate. -Oh, right. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
Details of the accident are sketchy, | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
but it happened near Kendal in the Lake District. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
This grid they've given us is basically on top of the hill. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
Pilot Tim Taylor keeps the chopper at low level | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
to try and offset a strong headwind. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
-Six minutes, Steve. -OK, John. That were like Alton Towers, that one! | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
Tom Green is a builder with 30 years' experience. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
But when it comes to power tools, | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
even the most experienced operator can make a mistake. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
-All right? -Oh yeah. -How are we doing, boss? | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
He went to work this morning, he's a builder, | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
and he was using a metal whizzer that apparently locked, | 0:27:39 | 0:27:43 | |
and kicked back into his face | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
and cut all his mouth around the front of his facial area. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:52 | |
Tom is stable, and the wound's been covered by a large bandage, | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
but his wife Gill is understandably worried. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
'We only live up the road. He was working on a neighbour's house.' | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
This is the first time that anything like this has happened, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:07 | |
so, yeah, it's a bit of a shock, really. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
We're going to get him out and settled on the aircraft. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
He has a full thickness laceration to the top lip, | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
and may have damaged some teeth behind. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:19 | |
So we're just looking to try and get him | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
straight to the plastics or the Max-facs unit. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
Obviously, he's somewhat unhappy with it all, and so would I be. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:29 | |
We've checked with Lancaster, which is relatively near to us | 0:28:29 | 0:28:34 | |
as the crow flies, as such, and they have Max-facs services there, | 0:28:34 | 0:28:38 | |
maxillofacial, so they'll be able to get him seen rapidly | 0:28:38 | 0:28:42 | |
'by a surgeon and get him fixed up.' | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
Just relax back, mate, if you can. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
There's a little headrest behind you. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
Still pain score nil? | 0:28:50 | 0:28:52 | |
The flight to Lancaster Hospital will take just over 10 minutes. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:58 | |
Out of here through the gap, anyway. We can track down that. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
For the Helimed team, it's another patient transported | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
to expert care in the fastest possible time. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
But for Tom, it's just the start of a long road to recovery. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:11 | |
Builder Tom didn't waste any time getting back to work. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
But plastic surgery takes months, even years to heal. | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
Not days and weeks. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:22 | |
When the grinder went in my face, it went in the corner of my face, | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
from my nose, right in the corner and ran straight down. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:32 | |
Through both lips, and just to the edge of my chin. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:39 | |
And it was just completely wide open. | 0:29:41 | 0:29:43 | |
I've used a grinder 1,000 times and then... | 0:29:44 | 0:29:48 | |
I just thought, "Will they be able to put my face back together?" | 0:29:48 | 0:29:53 | |
Tom was in theatre for over an hour | 0:29:53 | 0:29:56 | |
while a team of surgeons battled to stitch his face back together. | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
The result was what he wanted, | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
but his love of food had to be put on hold. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:05 | |
I'd just have, like, mashed potato | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
and put it in the back of my mouth on one side with my finger. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:12 | |
For about a week or two. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
And then I just started to pick up and get stronger, | 0:30:16 | 0:30:20 | |
and was able to have soup and things like that. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:23 | |
Even though Tom's physical scars have faded, | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
the memories of the accident remain imprinted in his brain. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:30 | |
When I picked the grinder up, | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
probably two weeks after I had the injury, | 0:30:33 | 0:30:35 | |
I started to wear a big face mask. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:40 | |
A visor. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:41 | |
And just kept it well away from me, | 0:30:41 | 0:30:43 | |
and I never, ever use it at face height. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:46 | |
People who like water will tell you the best day of your life | 0:30:51 | 0:30:54 | |
is the day you take delivery of your first boat. | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
The second best day is the day you get rid of it, | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
because owning a boat entails so much hard work | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
keeping it shipshape, you barely have time to sail it. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
Boating's not all about sipping gin and tonic. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:10 | |
Running aground on a mud bank is a constant risk. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:13 | |
And when happens, it's tempting to get on with a bit of marine DIY, | 0:31:13 | 0:31:17 | |
otherwise known as bottom scraping. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:21 | |
But today that's gone badly wrong. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
This boat owner is trapped underneath its hull. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:28 | |
And it's airborne. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:29 | |
It's a boat-related incident, so it's on that river, is it? | 0:31:30 | 0:31:33 | |
-That's where I've marked it, near there. -OK. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
Yeah, we've just been called to the south of Gainsborough | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
where a female's been involved in a boating accident | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
and gone underneath the boat, | 0:31:42 | 0:31:44 | |
and now has got some neck, head and back injuries. | 0:31:44 | 0:31:48 | |
The accident has happened on the River Trent, | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
very close to one of the Trent Valley power stations. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
And that means problems for pilot Andy Lister. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:58 | |
Right, I have got some wires around, haven't I? | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
So we'll have to keep an eye on them. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
I've got the ones crossing the river down to the right. | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
Andy wants to get the helicopter down as close as possible, | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
but he's surrounded by high-voltage pylons. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
I've got a boat tied up on the side. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
You have the wires right where we probably want to land. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
I've got the big ones. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
Big ones, set down there, set down there, and big ones there. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
Do you want me to it put down in this field, and you hop over the fence? | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
More wires to negotiate first. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:32 | |
A specialist fire brigade river rescue team have already arrived | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
and are in the water trying to free the boat's owner. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:40 | |
We've sent members of our urban search and rescue team | 0:32:40 | 0:32:43 | |
with specialist equipment across to the boat. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
The hidden dangers of this section of the River Trent | 0:32:46 | 0:32:50 | |
are well known to locals. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:53 | |
This is called the Martin Rack, and even though | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
when it's covered with water it is only about two-feet deep, | 0:32:55 | 0:32:58 | |
So, of course, both boats bottomed out. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:00 | |
As the Helimed paramedics arrive, | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
the river rescue team manage to pull | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
their patient out from under his cruiser. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:08 | |
He has crush injuries, a serious head wound, and is in great pain. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:13 | |
I noticed this guy in question was using the opportunity, | 0:33:13 | 0:33:17 | |
while the boat was out of water, to clean it. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
It's literally sitting on its keel. | 0:33:20 | 0:33:22 | |
Then I just saw the boat flop over on its side. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
MAN CRIES OUT IN PAIN | 0:33:25 | 0:33:27 | |
Paramedic Ben Anderson begins treating 51-year-old Steve Courtney. | 0:33:27 | 0:33:32 | |
Do you want it now? | 0:33:32 | 0:33:33 | |
He needs a special splint for his crushed pelvis. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
Can you get me the pelvic splint out of the cupboard | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
and I'll meet you at the fence. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:42 | |
And morphine to kill the pain. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:44 | |
-We're giving him another five and then we'll have to ring. -Yeah. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:48 | |
Ben has given his patient the maximum amount | 0:33:48 | 0:33:52 | |
of morphine a paramedic can give. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
But it still hasn't killed the pain. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:56 | |
But they have to get him off the river tow path | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
and on his way to hospital. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:01 | |
The fire brigade have thought ahead | 0:34:01 | 0:34:03 | |
and make the journey as easy as possible. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
He'd been trapped for quite a while | 0:34:06 | 0:34:08 | |
underneath the boat. | 0:34:08 | 0:34:09 | |
The fire service has been able to release him. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:11 | |
We've given him the maximum amount of morphine we can. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
We're getting permission for more. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
'You've been authorised to give | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
'another ten milligram's of morphine if need be, | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
'authorised by Dr Reedy at Lincoln County. Over.' | 0:34:22 | 0:34:26 | |
We're allowed to give 20 milligram's of morphine autonomously. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
Above and beyond that, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:31 | |
it's down to the discretion of the receiving hospital. | 0:34:31 | 0:34:33 | |
We can ask their permission. If they're happy with it, | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
they give us permission to give an extra dose of morphine. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:41 | |
He's had 30 milligrams and it's quieted him down now. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
One of the things we have to watch out for | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
when giving that amount of morphine | 0:34:46 | 0:34:48 | |
is that his resps don't drop too much. | 0:34:48 | 0:34:50 | |
After an initial assessment in Lincoln, | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
Steve's injuries proved so serious, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:56 | |
he was transferred to a bone specialist in Nottingham. | 0:34:56 | 0:34:59 | |
-How are you? -Fine. You? -Very well. -Good to see you. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:02 | |
Two months later, trauma surgeon Darren Ford has a progress report. | 0:35:02 | 0:35:07 | |
If one looks at the model here, | 0:35:07 | 0:35:10 | |
this part of your pelvis has been pulled apart | 0:35:10 | 0:35:14 | |
and has broken through the centre part here on the side. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:18 | |
Steve's pelvis is held together with bolts and plates. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:21 | |
They've done their job well. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
The pelvic region itself is absolutely A1, so that's good news. | 0:35:24 | 0:35:29 | |
Been to see the physiotherapist for the first time, | 0:35:29 | 0:35:32 | |
they've given me some tortuous exercises to do. | 0:35:32 | 0:35:36 | |
But everything's looking really good | 0:35:39 | 0:35:41 | |
and if I can get rid of the pain coming through my foot | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
I'll be playing on the right wing next week. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
So Steve is on the long walk to recovery, | 0:35:48 | 0:35:50 | |
but after all he's been through, you may not be surprised to hear | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
he's decided to sell his river cruiser. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:56 | |
Gardening is the UK's most popular form of DIY, | 0:36:00 | 0:36:04 | |
and mowing the lawn is the chore most likely to land you in hospital. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:08 | |
Today, Helimed 99 has been scrambled | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
to the victim of a gardening incident in North Yorkshire. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
There's an ambulance by the house. | 0:36:18 | 0:36:21 | |
79 year old Joan Sidney is being cared for by a local ambulance crew. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:27 | |
Several of her fingers have been severed. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
-How we doing? -You all right? -Very good. -How's you? | 0:36:33 | 0:36:37 | |
-Not too bad. How are you lot? -This is Joan. -Hiya, Joan. | 0:36:37 | 0:36:41 | |
-Explain what's happened. -Hi. -Hi, Joan, sweetheart. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
-Joan's been doing her lawnmower. -I've seen it in the garden. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:48 | |
She's got her hand in. She's cut into the hand. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:51 | |
I was going to cut mine tomorrow, but I'll give it a miss. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:53 | |
The paramedics are hoping surgeons can re-attach Joan's lost fingers. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:58 | |
They're now on ice. | 0:36:58 | 0:36:59 | |
The longer the fingers are detached, | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
the less chance they can be successfully re-implanted. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:05 | |
It looks like the lawnmower's cut through part of that wrist | 0:37:05 | 0:37:09 | |
so we need to go to James Cook up at Middlesbrough. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
They've got clever doctors who'll probably be able to put it back on. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
But there's problem. Helimed 99 is behind the locked gates | 0:37:15 | 0:37:20 | |
of a school sports field. They desperately need them opened. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:23 | |
We might have to do the lock on the door. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
But the police have the answer. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:30 | |
The gate's up, sweetheart. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:38 | |
At last, Joan is on her way to hospital. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:42 | |
The lady had put her hand into a lawnmower and it severed the hand | 0:37:43 | 0:37:48 | |
so I was just trying to stop the bleeding and get her comfortable | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
in the trolley and try to get her sorted out for you guys. | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
Got the big trees to your left. | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
Plastic surgeons at the James Cook Hospital | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
in Middlesbrough are on standby. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
Within minutes of her arrival, she's in the care of a surgeon. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:11 | |
Sadly, her fingers were too badly damaged to re-attach. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:16 | |
The good news is, Joan's thumb was saved. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
I decided I'd spend the day gardening. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:23 | |
I'd almost completed the mowing. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:25 | |
I released the bit of grass | 0:38:25 | 0:38:28 | |
and the whole thing came round, quickly. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:31 | |
Very quickly. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:33 | |
And consequently... | 0:38:33 | 0:38:35 | |
But thank God for the air ambulance. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
Thank God for that. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
The dangers of doing it yourself. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
Let's get back to the story of Joyce, | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
the elderly lady whose heart attack came at the worst possible time, | 0:38:48 | 0:38:52 | |
in the snowbound Yorkshire Dales. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
At Teesside Airport, Helimed 99's been forced down by a blizzard | 0:38:56 | 0:39:00 | |
that blocked its flight to hospital in Middlesbrough. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
Get out the barbecue. Looks like we're not going out tonight. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:07 | |
90 year old Joyce Thompson has suffered a heart attack | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
and desperately needs surgery to relieve a blocked artery. | 0:39:10 | 0:39:13 | |
-But she's staying cheerful. -Have you had your dinner? | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
-Not yet! I was just going to have it when this call came in. -Oh, dear. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
You've got to have a certain degree | 0:39:23 | 0:39:25 | |
of visibility to move, but as you can see | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
there's nowhere to go at the moment. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
-Have you got something for your head? -I have. I've got a hat. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:39 | |
-A beanie. -Yeah! | 0:39:40 | 0:39:41 | |
Now Joyce must endure a road journey to James Cook hospital | 0:39:44 | 0:39:47 | |
through an early rush hour created by the sudden blizzard. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
Time is not on her side. | 0:39:51 | 0:39:54 | |
At least a land ambulance has arrived quickly. | 0:39:54 | 0:39:57 | |
-Hiya, mate. Thanks for coming. -No problem. -Thank you. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
This is Joyce, 90, no pain, no anaesthesia, she's not wanted any. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:09 | |
Although Joyce is remarkably stable, her rescuers know | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
her condition could deteriorate at any time. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
Dear me, how disgraceful! | 0:40:16 | 0:40:18 | |
It's a good job it's misty. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
It's a good job you're all gentlemen. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
Swing your legs round. | 0:40:26 | 0:40:28 | |
Joyce is on her way to treatment at last. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:33 | |
James, Tony and Steve must seek shelter with the neighbours. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
The Great North Air Ambulance has also been grounded, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:40 | |
which means the kettle's on. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:41 | |
I've been invited | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
into the Great North Air Ambulance operations room, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
hoping the weather's going to clear. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
We're just waiting, looking at the weather | 0:40:48 | 0:40:52 | |
and deciding what plan B is to get us home. | 0:40:52 | 0:40:56 | |
We don't know whether we'll be able to fly back, | 0:40:56 | 0:40:58 | |
or maybe a taxi, or maybe we'll be stuck up here. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
The Helimed team pride themselves on getting through. | 0:41:01 | 0:41:04 | |
They may be smiling, but their thoughts are with their patient. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:09 | |
It's the next day by the time the weather's cleared sufficiently | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
for Helimed 99 to return to base. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
Meanwhile, at James Cook Hospital, | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
Joyce is recovering after angioplasty, | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
a procedure to open out a blocked blood vessel in her heart. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:26 | |
And a few days later, she's back home in Wensleydale. | 0:41:26 | 0:41:29 | |
I was at a friend's meeting house. I'm a Quaker. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:35 | |
I was just sitting quietly, thinking about the poor souls | 0:41:35 | 0:41:40 | |
who'd fallen on the ice and hurt themselves. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
One minute I'm thinking about people who've broken their femurs | 0:41:43 | 0:41:48 | |
and the next I'm poorly myself! | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
Joyce was a wartime WAF and she loves flying. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:56 | |
She won't be forgetting her flight in a hurry. | 0:41:56 | 0:41:59 | |
Looking out the window, it was like a greyish haze | 0:41:59 | 0:42:03 | |
with a few black marks here and there | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
where the fences and walls were for the fields. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:11 | |
I couldn't resist looking out until Tony pressed me down. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:17 | |
You'll let me know if you get any pain or anything, won't you? | 0:42:17 | 0:42:20 | |
'It was his kindly smile, an encouraging smile. | 0:42:20 | 0:42:26 | |
'I couldn't hear anything with these great what-nots on my ears.' | 0:42:26 | 0:42:31 | |
I felt confident. Actually, the whole way through, I felt puzzled. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:39 | |
It was a bit bewildering. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:40 | |
But I never had any doubt about where I was going. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:45 | |
It was only afterwards, when people stopped milling about, | 0:42:45 | 0:42:49 | |
I thought, "Ooh, I wonder..." | 0:42:49 | 0:42:52 | |
Despite the drawbacks of living in one of the UK's most remote valleys, | 0:42:52 | 0:42:56 | |
Joyce has no plans to move out of Wensleydale. | 0:42:56 | 0:43:00 | |
I'm delighted to tell you Joyce has now fully recovered | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
and is looking forward to another Dales' winter. | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:43:24 | 0:43:26 |