Episode 15 Helicopter Heroes

When the people of rural Yorkshire dial 999,

help can be a long time coming.

The Yorkshire Dales are as beautiful as they are big.

But if you're seriously injured in a landscape as gigantic as this,

your life is on the line.

But in the remotest parts of Britain's biggest county,

they look to the skies for help.

Look on your left, Matt.

-Can you get in that grass field on the left?

-Yes. Go for that.

From high drama in the peaks...

to high waters in the dales,

the Helimed team's at the heart of almost every rescue...

bringing 21st-century medicine

to some of Britain's most isolated communities

and saving lives against the odds.

Today on Helicopter Heroes, Helimed 99 drops in

at the supermarket after a freak accident...

The forklift's reversed out and it's run over her legs.

She's got quite significant leg injuries.

..the wedding proposal that ended with the groom on crutches...

On his way to his girlfriend's to propose to her.

..a young cyclist's badly hurt...

Mum, don't cry. Don't cry, Mum.

Is it your right wrist that hurts more?

..and an off-road biker's in trouble.

He's come over there on his bike.

Landed down here and his bike's landed on top of him as well.

Air ambulances come into their own

in the wide-open spaces of the Yorkshire Dales.

At 150mph, the Helimed choppers

can cut long road journeys down to size,

but that speed can also be useful in the city.

Helimed 99 alpha.

It's rush-hour in Leeds and Helimed 99 is dropping in

at the supermarket.

-It's Morrison's, I believe.

-Morrison's?

In the suburb of Guiseley, there's been a freak accident.

Clear my side.

Pilot John Slater has spotted a space in the car park.

That's good. Just clearing the pavement. That's all.

All clear. Still clear.

You're down.

But an overeager member of staff could become another casualty.

Stay back! Stay back! Go back!

Go back! Go back!

Rotor blades can kill.

-As they slow down, they can dip down to head height.

-Wait there.

Assistant Suzanne was walking across a loading area

when she was knocked down by this forklift truck.

Just relax. You're doing really well.

Now she's trapped by both legs.

The truck weighs half a tonne.

I'm just cutting your trousers.

Well done.

This lady's been, obviously, at work,

working around the loading area behind this store

and the forklift's reversed out,

she's not seen it, or he's not seen her and it's run over her legs.

It's trapped her legs between the back driving wheel

on the forklift truck and she's been pinned in there for some time.

She's got quite significant leg injuries.

-On a scale of one to ten, if ten is the worst pain...

-Ten.

It is ten at the moment? All right.

Flying doctor Andy Pountney has arrived

to help control Suzanne's pain.

He knows the longer she's trapped,

the greater risk of a condition known as compartment syndrome.

Toxins build up in trapped limbs

and when patients are released,

they can cause cardiac arrest.

Before we do owt to her, let's tell her about it first

because everybody's coming at her and I don't want that.

I want her to know what's going on.

These tourniquets will trap the toxins and prevent them

reaching Suzanne's heart when the weight is taken off her.

I think you're right. If we try and turn that...

Just jack it up and turn it.

We have what we call high-pressure airbags, the rubber mats.

We've got one either side.

We've stopped the wheels rocking backwards and forwards.

Hopefully, it will just drop out then, won't it?

-It's wider at the bottom.

-We'll guide them out.

At last, it's time to start lifting.

Ambulance people, listen in.

Fire guys need to be really quiet while they do this

cos they've got to coordinate lifting both sides.

They need us to be quiet, so only speak if it's necessary clinically, OK?

-Everybody happy with that?

-Ready to turn the wheel when you are.

Well done.

-But it's not enough.

-Can we come up at... Can we come up?

No, keep going. I need at least another six inches.

If you've got it.

-We're struggling with six inches.

-Well, give me what you've got then.

All right. Listening, everybody, please.

What we're going to do, we need some hands on,

we're going to slide the lady backwards, OK?

Ready, steady, move.

Hold it.

She's out.

Finally, Suzanne is free and her heart rate is good.

-Where's that big dressing?

-I've got it in it.

You've got it in it already?

Paramedics feared her legs were badly broken.

Now they can see them, it's clear she's been very fortunate.

No bones are broken, but she is likely to need plastic surgery.

We've got a 63-year-old lady, normally fit and well.

Injuries sustained, she's got open injuries to both lower legs,

particularly on the left lower leg and foot,

there's quite a lot of burst, crushed tissue.

Ready, steady, lift.

-Fabulous.

-She developed a bit of a funny rhythm

with her heart as we were doing that.

When you're releasing patients that have been crushed,

there can be concerns with that. So, actually, we'd put

what are called C-A-T tourniquets on her legs which stop any toxins

that have been produced getting washed back into her system.

We gave her some other treatments and things seem to have stabilised.

Her heart rate's back to normal which is good.

Pain, she's pain-free after the ketamine so that was fantastic.

Clearly, she's got some very serious injuries to her lower legs,

but we'll get her down to the major trauma centre

and they can take things further.

Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming.

Suzanne's being flown to hospital in a helicopter

partly sponsored by her own supermarket.

She's got quite significant leg injuries

which we've had some difficulty with in terms of stopping the blood

that's been flowing out of it and getting her ready for transfer.

Controlling her pain's the most important thing, getting her extricated as quickly as we can

and then transferring her to the major trauma centre at Leeds.

I'm going straight back. Helipad departure.

A few weeks ago, Suzanne and her colleagues

presented a cheque to the air ambulance charity.

Now it's helping fund her flight in Helimed 99.

Her rescuers are keenly aware her accident could

so easily have been fatal.

There doesn't seem to be any serious injuries from the knees up.

So, although they are very serious lower leg injuries,

hopefully, that's going to be the extent of it.

We'll be at the major trauma centre in just a minute or two

and they'll be able to assess her further and obviously give her some more definitive treatment.

Suzanne's on her way to A&E,

but her next stop's likely to be the operating theatre.

There's a high risk of infection

and if her leg wounds are to heal,

the sooner they're closed, the better.

It's the start of a long recovery at the LGI for the team's patient,

but she hopes to be fit enough to return to work soon.

It's easy to get away from it all up here.

There are nearly 700 square miles of countryside

in the Yorkshire Dales National Park

and just 20,000 people live here.

But getting around isn't easy, even...

if you have one of those.

The only way to explore much of the Yorkshire Dales is on two feet.

Everything up here is on a huge scale

and nothing comes bigger than the Three Peaks,

gigantic slabs of rock towering over Yorkshire's border with Lancashire.

-All clear?

-Still clear.

Down.

Today Helimed 99 is touching down on the forbidding slopes

of Ingleborough, nearly 2,400ft high,

where a walker needs help.

Hello, there.

-It's a D of E group.

-Right.

They said she fell over, she hit her head on the way down.

I've checked her over.

She's not had anything to eat or drink

and she's been here for about nearly two hours.

The patient's a teenage member of a school party

out on an expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

How are you feeling?

-Really sick.

-Sick?

Did you faint or lose consciousness?

-No.

-No, not at all?

Mountain rescue volunteers are sheltering 17-year-old

Sophie Shelf from the Pennine winds.

Mist keeps descending

and even in summer, hypothermia can be a problem up here.

I was about to walk up the other side to meet them at the top,

to meet them as they came into the clouds this way,

then they called me, so I drove around and came to sort them out.

Called these guys on my way up.

Just need to get to your arm.

Just going to do your blood pressure, OK?

Sophie lost her balance, tripped and banged her head.

This is no place to have an injury like this.

She's just been walking up the hill and I think she's felt faint

and fallen. It's a long way up here from where they've come from.

She's well wrapped up because, you can see, the weather's rubbish,

so I think she's got overly warm as well, fallen, banged her head.

She feels sick and she may well be sick.

If she's sick, that something to worry about with concussions

and head injuries. She's got a lump on the side of her head.

Where have you come from?

-Manchester.

-Manchester? It's a long way from Manchester to here.

Paramedics Tony Wilkes and John Baxter know their patient

needs to be examined in hospital.

It's possible her injury is serious.

She wanted to walk down,

it's a long way to walk down,

but I think the safest thing is just to get her off this hill,

get her safe and hopefully she can rejoin her friends later.

We just need to be concerned about this head injury and concussion.

300,000 young people enter the Duke of Edinburgh's Award every year.

One of its aims is to challenge teenagers physically

and encourage them to enjoy the great outdoors.

Sophie's challenge is now over.

-She's going to be taken to hospital for X-rays.

-You all right?

I just felt sick.

Pilot John's an Army veteran who has flown all over the world,

but this take-off will be tricky.

Low cloud keeps enveloping the hillside.

If he climbs, he'll lose sight off the ground

and up here that can be lethal.

But Sophie's soon on final approach to hospital in Lancaster.

This wasn't how she expected her day to end.

She knows she may have to attempt the climb again.

Just make sure you get both feet on that step.

But there is good news awaiting her.

Her head wound turns out to be superficial

and she is soon allowed home

to continue working towards her coveted award.

Yorkshire's landscape has been carved out of rock

over millions of years

and thousands of people still earn their livings quarrying it.

But when they move out, the off-road bikers often move in.

That might be the car. Let's check where the patient is first, shall we?

-Yes. Quite a big quarry, that, isn't it?

-Yeah.

At the bottom of the quarry, looks like a couple of groups of people.

Yeah. Looks like the patient is actually in the quarry.

We'll be landing shortly.

Yep, we're all right.

Just coming down slowly now.

He'd come over there on his bike, landed down here

and his bike's landed on top of him as well.

Scott Powell is in great pain.

Some of the other lads on bikes are not making it easy

for the paramedics to get on with their work and help Scott.

He has little in the way of protective gear.

He's learned a lesson the hard way.

Is it your right wrist that hurts more?

It's important that the paramedics move themselves

and their patient out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

Right. We're just going to get him rolled onto our board,

get a splint on this wrist cos it does look like he might

have a bit of a fracture there.

-Then we're going to load him onto the helicopter.

-It's my hip.

-It's your hip that's more painful, is it?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Paramedic Sam doesn't need an X-ray machine to diagnose

some of Scott's broken bones.

It's my hip, boys.

-There we go.

-It looks like Scott's pelvis is broken.

If so, shards of bone could cause lethal internal bleeding.

This binder will keep them immobile

-until hospital doctors can repair the damage.

-Ready, set and go.

If the pain's got that much better with that on,

I wouldn't be surprised if he has done something.

With Scott being moved to the helicopter,

his mates are put in charge of crowd control.

There are quarries where riding trails bikes is licensed.

This isn't one of them.

We've done a quick assessment as best we can on the quarry where we are.

He's now complaining of quite a bit of pain in his right hip

which has eased when we applied the pelvic binder.

He's got a bump on his head, so he might have a mild head injury as well.

We're going to take him to the nearest trauma centre so that he can get properly assessed by the doctors.

I was stood over there.

I saw him on the floor and he's been in that position ever since.

I kept talking to him. He seems all right. Hopefully, anyway.

Thanks to Scott's mates,

riding has now stopped for the Helimed team to take off.

Off-road biking leads to hundreds of accidents every year

and the crew knows it's unlikely

this will be the last visit to the quarry.

Without prompt treatment, a broken pelvis can kill.

Scott will be examined immediately

and he could be in an operating theatre within an hour.

It's was a little bit difficult on-scene to assess him very well.

With all that noise. And I think we're all a bit conscious that

it was a little bit dangerous, really.

All those kids whizzing past

on their bikes with no helmets on.

I think we're trying to get him

out of what was a bit of a dangerous situation

as quickly as possible.

It will be a long time before he is back on his feet.

One, two, three... Just relax. What's hurting?

Even longer before he's fit to ride a bike again.

The Yorkshire Coast provides the emergency services with

a major challenge in summer -

on a hot day, the population of towns can triple,

with tens of thousands of day-trippers driving to the seaside.

But today, Helimed 99's heading to the coast for a burns case that

has nothing to do with the summer sun.

We're heading to the northern edge of Bridlington.

We've got reports of a male who's had some kind of flash burn to his face.

A petrol incident. He's got approximately 30% burns on the arm.

Cautious that he might have an airway burn, which obviously...

that develops quite quickly.

The patient is 30 miles from the nearest trauma unit and nearly

60 from the nearest hospital with specialist burns facilities.

If the guy's got more than superficial burns,

we'll probably go to somewhere that's got a burns unit.

The problem with that is that they're all quite a distance away, which is

probably one of the reasons why the crew's asked for the helicopter.

The nearest one is probably Hull, if they'll accept.

James Cook, even as far afield as Newcastle.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

He's had 20mg of morphine IV for the pain.

Initial pain score was a ten out of ten.

It's not about a six out of ten.

Michael Patrick works for a caravan company.

He was doing the gardens, burning the trees, the brush.

Set light to some brush. He put too much fuel on.

And it flared up in his face, burnt his arms and face

pretty bad to start with. But hopefully, you know, the ambulance

was here quickly, the helicopter, and it should be all right.

-There's some blistering to both of his arms.

-Right.

-So is that a little bit more than his face, is it?

-Yes.

-He was a ten out of ten...

-He was a ten out of ten.

And he's now about a six out of ten.

Michael needs expert care. The question is where.

Paramedics have pocket guides to work out which specialist units

are best for their patients, but sometimes the decision's not simple.

I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll speak to Hull.

A pain score of ten out of ten means Michael was in agony

before the morphine took effect, but that's actually a good sign.

The worst burns cause little discomfort

because nerves have been destroyed.

The most dangerous burns are internal -

breathing in burning vapour can scar the windpipe and quickly make it

impossible to breathe.

There's not really much we can do with your lips.

Normally we put clingfilm round, but obviously we'd have to make a hole...

Paramedic Dave Appleby

knows the best treatment for burns is clingfilm.

It keeps the wound clean, reduces pain

and allows doctors to examine burns without removing it.

We're querying second degree burns, or partial thickness burns

to his forearms.

Which we estimate about 10% in the area.

And also some flash burns to his face.

And some swelling to his lips as well, which is about 5%.

it's not quite enough to trigger us

going to the burns unit for this area, which is Pinderfields.

So we've arranged for him to go to Hull, which is a major trauma centre.

They're happy to accept.

Can you hear me, Michael?

About 12 minutes, mate, we'll be there.

With the roads from Bridlington to Hull heavily congested

by holiday traffic, Michael's lucky to be going by air.

Using Helimed 99 also leaves ground ambulances free to deal with

the inevitable emergencies the sun brings to the seaside.

Just coming into the outskirts of Hull now, all right.

Another few minutes.

Doctors at Hull Royal Infirmary

will give Michael more powerful painkillers.

He's kept under observation for several days

before being allowed home.

His burns are serious but heal well, and soon, he's back at work.

Yorkshire is built on rock -

from the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head to the

limestone and grit of the Dales.

So it's perhaps not surprising that the county

has carved its name into the history of modern sculpture.

From Henry Moore to Barbara Hepworth,

local artists have found inspiration here.

And today, their works are on permanent display

in one of the UK's most famous sculpture parks.

But admiring great art here is riskier than a visit to the

average gallery, as one visitor has just discovered.

-Map's running when you want it.

-Yeah, I'll have it.

Paramedics Andy Armitage and Sam Burgess are there to respond to the

most serious emergencies in an area that's home to 5 million people.

Today's case isn't that urgent, but in a place like this, a patient with

a minor injury can present ground paramedics with a serious problem.

The patient has fallen in an inaccessible

part of the sculpture park. They were a bit concerned

when they phoned the patient back to get some more details,

because they've been struggling to get a response from him,

or to get him to make any sense.

So they've asked us to go down to see

if we can help assess this patient before the land crews get there.

It looks like there's a good mile or two walk from where they'll

be able to park, to where the patient is.

There's always the risk of hypothermia in patients

if they're exposed to the elements for a long period of time.

Outside is bitterly cold.

But there certainly could be a problem coming.

-Hello.

-Hi.

Hello, sir. What's your name?

-Nigel.

-Nigel. And what's happened today, Nigel?

Just jumped over the wall and twisted my ankle really badly.

We managed to get help, me

and my wife, then I must have blacked out for a couple of minutes.

It's cold and the team's concerned Nigel may have mild hypothermia.

He's been lying here since he fell half an hour ago.

Slowly he seems to be coming round.

Just going to take some blood and check what your blood sugar is.

Just cos you've had this unresponsive episode.

Visitors with first aid training have been caring for Nigel.

As we approached them, we realised that the chap had fallen.

And he wasn't actually responding to his partner,

which was quite alarming.

We managed to get him to respond and lift him up

and elevate his feet, just so that he was in a position.

And because we all had mobiles it was easy to ascertain

the exact position and location.

Are you wanting anything for the pain, mate?

-No, I'm fine.

-You sure? OK, I'll just have a quick look at your ankle.

Staff are used to accidents like this,

but for most visitors, the art is worth the risk.

There's only public footpaths to this area.

There's no official roads, no hard roads,

no real hard paths in this area at all.

So it's the most difficult to get to.

It's surrounded by farmland on all sides,

so it's completely inaccessible.

That's why we've had to get the air ambulance to come.

We're just going to put a splint on his leg.

Really just assist him across.

We'll get him up and just assist him across

into the aircraft. Get him warmed up.

We're going to take him to meet the land ambulance.

Nice and steady.

When you sit up, just have a couple of minutes to gather yourself again.

That's easier said than done in a landscape of 500 acres.

Andy and Sam will walk their patient to Helimed 99,

protecting his ankle from further damage.

They're going to airlift him a mile to the waiting ambulance.

Can we bring that up to the step?

That's it. Mind your head just as you stand up.

We need your bulk about there. That goes down there.

Nigel's ankle is treated in A&E and he soon heads home.

For Andy, it's another successful end to a rescue

but this paramedic has had his mind on other things lately.

-Mother!

-What?

-I need you to come and put this flower on.

After months of planning, it's his wedding day...

Can't see without my specs.

# Give me joy in my heart... #

In front of a church packed with family and friends

at Wibsey in Bradford, Andy's tying the knot with fiance Chrissy.

After ten years as a single paramedic,

it's a flawless start to married life for 37-year-old Andy.

But the course of true love doesn't run so smoothly for everyone.

We've just had a call from one of our neighbouring ambulance services -

the East Midlands - for a road traffic accident in Immingham.

The accident has happened on the outskirts of the port -

a car and a lorry head-on.

Craig Mitchell was on his way to propose to his girlfriend

when the accident happened. Now his life is on the line.

The fact that he's got two fractured femurs, you know,

he could have catastrophic bleeding.

At the moment, he's got a GCS of 15, which is fully conscious.

But that could soon change, dependent on his injuries and his condition.

'Just a very quick update from the scene regarding landing.

'Try to organise a landing site behind the fire entrance.

'There are some large power cables to one side. Over.'

That's received. Thanks a lot for that.

-Normal car underneath an articulated lorry.

-Head-on.

Head-on. Seat belt on. Everything like that on.

He's got obvious right femur. Query left.

I've got a fracture here. Open left femur.

Left humerus. Right femur's gone.

-Are we querying pelvis?

-Yes.

-We tested him about two minutes ago.

OK, lovely. I'll just...

Craig had the ring in his pocket.

It's being kept safe by paramedics.

And again.

Now his proposal must wait.

Before he can walk down the aisle, he'll need surgery.

Looks like both of his main thighbones have been broken.

Also, possibly, his pelvis as well. That whole area,

that's a lot of blood loss that could possibly be going inside.

His stomach's now becoming very tender as well,

so we think maybe he's also injured himself in that way.

So possibly quite a lot of blood loss that we can't see is actually

happening within the body.

Could I just ask you what your pain score is out of ten

at the moment, please?

-About a 12.

-About a 12.

Despite air-bags, safety cells and pre-tensioning seat belts,

very serious leg injuries are still common among motorists.

In an impact, the driver's weight is transferred to his or her feet

and the thighbones often break under the strain.

Just putting a bit of traction on you, sir.

You'll feel a bit of pulling on your right leg, all right.

Once it's gone, Craig, it feels a lot better...

Sammy's using a traction splint to re-align the broken bones

in Craig's legs. It'll reduce his pain

and eliminate the risk of internal bleeding.

We've popped a pelvic binder on, a traction splint,

he's had some fluids.

Pain management is ongoing, with morphine,

but we're just going to load him on board now, onto the aircraft.

OK then, chaps. Ready when you are.

That's it, Craig. Have you ever flown in a helicopter before?

We are coming in from Immingham,

so we'll have an approximate ETA of 15 to 20 minutes.

99 lifted, routing Hull.

'99 desk, Roger that.'

Craig's on his way ten miles across the Humber to hospital.

By now he should have been asking his girlfriend's father

for his blessing to their marriage.

He just told me that as we were loading him onto the air ambulance,

so he's travelled all the way from Leeds this morning to propose.

But unfortunately he won't be getting down on one knee for a while.

But now his rescuers have another big question to consider...

BP's not too good.

Their patient's blood pressure is dropping,

it could be a sign of serious internal bleeding.

Surgeons at Hull Royal Infirmary

have been alerted to Craig's arrival.

After X-rays and scans,

it'll be straight to theatre for a major operation.

-How am I doing?

-You're doing good.

-Thank you.

-All right. You're welcome. I'll come round with you.

Craig's girlfriend is yet to hear the news of his accident,

or the reason for his journey.

His proposal is going to have to wait.

Especially if he wants to go down on one knee.

With injuries like his, that could be six months away.

A serious accident can tear apart a relationship.

But not this couple.

Hello, darling, you all right?

Craig's being nursed back to health by Claire Hoyle,

the girl whose hand he didn't have a chance to ask for.

The call from Emergency Services was an awful shock.

It's not the kind of phone call you ever expect to receive, so,

erm, my friend Matt drove me straight over to Hull and, yeah,

it was the longest journey of my life, really.

Craig's condition was causing the trauma team at Hull Royal

serious concern. There were real doubts about his survival.

His mum, too, was called to his bedside.

One of the emergency doctors came out and explained Craig's injuries

and what, you know, what they'd managed to assess of his state.

"His vital signs are starting to drop so we need to take him

"straight through to emergency surgery."

At that point they actually let me and Craig's mum through into the,

erm, the resus area to go and see him.

So that was the first point we got to see him, and he was

surrounded by doctors and hooked up to all sorts of machines and things.

Despite his injuries, Craig's thoughts were still with Claire.

One of the emergency doctors came out and asked to speak to me

privately, so as soon as he said that my heart kind of stopped because

I thought he was going to tell me something terrible had happened.

Erm, so he took me off to a separate room and said,

"Before we take Craig up to theatre he's asked me to tell you something."

And he actually said,

"He wanted you to know the reason why he was going to your parents was

"to ask your dad's permission to marry you."

Craig had specifically said,

"I want Claire to know in case I don't make it."

The good thing about what happened in all of this is obviously that

we're going to get married.

It's given us both something to look forward to and focus on other than

Craig's injuries and, you know, the terrible thing that happened.

Craig's still not been able to go down on one knee

but this is one bride who won't regret an unconventional proposal,

as long as the groom can stand at the altar.

The dales and moors of Yorkshire

were once covered by one vast forest.

Then man came along and the trees were swept away.

But there's one corner of North Yorkshire

where the woods are making a comeback.

Huge plantations of spruce and pine are now growing

where moorland farmers once eked out a living.

Forestry is big business here,

and the trees have brought the tourists too.

But when people get into trouble in the woods,

getting help can be very difficult.

'We're going to someone who's collapsed in the woods.'

It looks quite a big wood, so we don't know where they are in it.

The land crew's struggling to get to the patient.

So we're going to try and land as near as we can to the patient

so hopefully we can help.

-Right, where is it?

-Looking ahead, we've got the...

-Yeah, got that.

-Slightly hidden.

The helicopter's really useful for looking for patients from above.

In woods sometimes it can be difficult until you go

right above them and you can see through clearings down to them.

I'm thinking it's this corner on here.

Below them they know their patient has collapsed and needs help fast.

Yeah, got somebody running out there.

But even though this area's been cleared of trees,

the stumps mean pilot Chris is struggling to find anywhere to land.

Quite furrowed, these fields.

I know, mate. That's the problem, there's a lot of stumps in there.

There is actually. You might have to watch your belly.

Yeah, well, we're not going to put her down where there's stumps about.

Logs like these could easily puncture

the bottom of the helicopter.

-Stumps all over here.

-I know, mate.

So the only option is to land outside the forest

and face the tricky walk back in.

Struggling to land in this clearing due to tree stumps.

From there we'll have to relocate further away and walk in, over.

Beautiful clearing but unfortunately too many tree stumps

that could actually puncture our belly,

some of them hidden and disguised with loads of debris.

So it was safer and our only option, really, to land away and walk in.

-Hang on, I'm doing me fireman's technique.

-Very good.

-Thank you.

Oh, I don't want to get stung either.

-You see, I've taken me jacket off!

-In fact, Sammy, Sammy?

-Yeah.

If you come further along this way there's a wire fence down there.

Come down to me just here.

-Oh, some nice fresh blackberries.

-Yeah.

The ambulance is half a mile...

-So, a 4x4 could get down there, couldn't it?

-Gate's locked.

Hello!

Myra Minns had been out looking for wild mushrooms

when she suddenly collapsed in front of her friends.

We were just standing there facing one direction and she...

I just heard her say, "Oh, I feel..."

And then she fell backwards.

-Sit back down a second.

-We don't want you going again, do we, love?

She was lying flat, she was in the recovery position,

and then she gradually, er, came to very slowly.

Seems to be shivering a lot too, that's the shock probably.

The ambulance crew has had a tricky walk from the road,

and that route involves a very steep hill.

Yeah, just, erm, wondering how long MRT are going to be, over.

The nearest we could get to here

was about three quarters of a mile, car park in the woods.

So I parked the response car there, the ambulance crew parked behind me.

We then walked down here,

so we're about three quarters of a mile from the ambulance,

but she's not going to get up that hill, it's too steep,

so hence this is why we asked for assistance to get up the hill.

When you stood up there, I thought

you were going to go back down again on me then.

-It's not exactly the best of...

-No, it's not.

So, what we'll probably do is lie you down on our stretcher

and then we'll carry you to the helicopter.

But then a change of plan.

This volunteer rescue team has found a way in,

and they'll be able to carry Myra back out.

I think it might be, that's your ambulance.

She's fainted previously.

Had some investigations at hospital

and they've not put it down to anything,

so it's an ongoing problem.

Cos she can mobilise a bit and the helicopter's not that easy to

get to in that field, we've got MRT here.

They've got through the locked gates,

as they managed to do quite well.

There's doctors looking after her,

so she's probably going to go in the MRT, the Land Rover,

to the land ambulance,

and then they'll take her up to a local hospital.

Myra's fungi walk shouldn't have ended like this.

At hospital, doctors are still baffled

as to what caused her to collapse.

But while she's now back enjoying walks in Yorkshire's forests,

she's decided to take it all a little bit easier from now on.

Paramedics spend a lot of time working

alongside their colleagues in the Fire Service,

but it's not often firefighters ask them for help.

That's what's happened today. An appliance on a training run

has come across an even more pressing emergency,

a badly injured child.

'99, go ahead.'

RADIO CHATTER AND BEEPING

'Potentially an open fracture to the femur and not the lower leg, over.'

'Ooh, ah, that's a big one, isn't it?

'99, Roger, received. Open femur. Roger, received.'

-'Nearest hospital?'

-'LGI, won't it?'

Helimed 99 is on its way to a village near Selby

in North Yorkshire.

The young patient is still lying in the road

where the fire crew found him.

They immediately alerted his mother.

The crew's report is telling us that he's got an open femur fracture,

which is quite serious obviously for anybody,

but for a child to break a femur is quite a big impact.

So they've, er, called for our assistance.

When we get there we'll see how bad it is.

Whether or not we'll go to a trauma centre or a local hospital

will be dictated by the condition of the patient.

-Oh, there it is, you know, in the town there.

-Yep.

Oh, there's a fire truck as well,

so really we're looking at that field on the far side, aren't we?

Helimed 99, visual, we've seen, landing, over.

A broken femur can cause severe internal bleeding.

The ambulance crew which took over his care has already begun

treating his injury.

We've got William here, eight years old, he's come off his push-bike.

He's got no neck pain or deficit or anything like that, but he has

got what we believe is an open fracture to the top of his femur.

Did his leg look deformed particularly before you

-splintered it?

-It did, it's swollen.

Not particularly deformed due to where the wound is as such.

-All right, William?

-Yeah.

He's been very brave. That's the wound.

-So you were on your bike, were you?

-Yeah.

William has had the very best care since seconds after his accident.

All firefighters are medically trained, and his rescuers

immediately recognised the seriousness of his injury.

We're doing some local topography and checking the village streets.

We've got a new driver, so we were testing her,

and we just happened to come across it maybe 20 or 30 seconds after.

So we're all First Aid trained, so we've got an instructor

on as well, so it worked out really well for young William.

Just going to take that off your face one minute. That O2's out.

-We'll leave that off two minutes when we get you settled, all right?

-OK.

-So you been in school today then?

-Yeah.

-Oh, yeah?

Have you done anything interesting?

-Not really.

-Oh, yeah.

-Now is that OK?

-Yeah.

-Great stuff.

Mum, don't cry. Don't cry, Mum.

William seems more embarrassed

by his mum's tears than his own situation.

-That were hard work.

-Heaviest patient today, that.

I bet the stretcher weighs more than you.

You need the blanket over you, don't you, to make you look the part, yeah?

If we tuck you under like that.

The firefighters have abandoned their training run

in case they're needed, and now William's on his way to

Helimed 99 in the capable hands of his rescuers.

It looks like the bone, if it has broken,

it has come out through the skin then popped back in again.

So although it's not actually showing

it's still classed as an open fracture

because the skin's been broken.

Erm, and because of that, the LGI have said they're happy to take him.

Right, you're just going to feel yourself going into t'aircraft.

He doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain, but that could be

because the crew already have reduced it,

they've straightened it, which helps with pain relief,

and they've given him a spot of morphine as well, so he's doing well.

What I'm going to have to do, so your mum can have some, is put these on.

So you're not going to be able to talk to us

but sat in this seat here's going to be Graham.

I'll keep a good eye on you, William, don't worry.

RADIO CHATTER

-OK to start in the back?

-Yeah, we're OK.

It's been an eventful afternoon for him, his mum and the fire brigade.

William's injury may require surgery.

Helimed 99 is flying him

direct to the trauma unit at Leeds General Infirmary.

By coincidence, his mum has only just returned

home from the same hospital with her other son.

His appointment was at least routine, not like William's.

Leeds, Helimed 99 Alpha now landing altogether. Helimed 99 Alpha.

In the next hour, doctors will determine

whether William does need surgery.

Broken femurs in children are not as common as they are in adults because

the younger a patient is, the more flexible his or her bones are.

And the hospital has good news. His leg is not actually broken.

It means that after a few days of recuperation,

William is fit enough to visit the fire station to thank his rescuers.

-Hi.

-Hello.

-Hello, nice to see you.

Ay up, are you all right?

Hi, Will, how you doing, mate?

-Pleased to see ya.

-Brave, weren't he?

-He was brave, yeah.

-Very brave.

-You back at school then?

-Yeah.

You are, aren't you? You went back to school very quickly, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-How long was he in for?

-Erm, three days, I think.

-Was he?

-Yeah.

Well, the day we went in on the Wednesday,

and we came out on the Friday afternoon, didn't we?

I thought it was a dream at the first point.

-You thought it was a dream?

-It was the morphine!

Yeah, it was the amount! That was the morphine.

'The thing I first saw was the fire engine,

'just scared me half to death basically. It was horrible.'

I heard how far away the Air Ambulance,

and asked the question, "What do you mean, Air Ambulance?"

Because they thought the leg had

been fractured and that it was an open fracture, erm,

chances are that he could have been heavily bleeding.

They didn't want to take any chances

so it was a case of Air Ambulance came.

You all right?

We could see that he'd lost quite a bit of blood

so we stopped the bleeding straight away.

He was going pale in his face, er, so we lifted his legs up.

And we got the oxygen on him

and we requested the attendance of the ambulance service.

If you're going to drive you're going to have to turn it on,

so press that red button to start with.

SIREN WAILS

HORN HONKS

It's a really weird experience to have, it really was.

Getting on the ambulance

and, you know, getting to hospital as quickly as we did,

oh, it was absolutely... You know, it was fabulous.

It could have been a different outcome, I don't know.

But the fact that I knew that they were there, I was so pleased,

and I'm really pleased to have come back to see them to say thank you.