Episode 8 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 part 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, mate.

-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...

trapped under a two-tonne boulder,

the team fights to save a climber's arm.

There you go, mate. Put that mouthpiece in your mouth

and suck on it and you'll hear a noise.

The worst thing that could happen is cardiac arrest.

A teenager is badly injured after falling through a skylight.

We were told originally that she might have fallen on her head,

so, obviously straightaway that set alarm bells ringing.

And an injured dog walker needs Mountain Rescue.

He didn't do it.

I just tripped over there and bashed me knee on that stone.

This landscape has taken millions of years to create and a lot of

what you see here was shaped by glaciers melting 10,000 years ago,

but the mighty rocks of the Yorkshire Dales

aren't always as solid as they look.

Climbers come from all over the UK to tackle the Cow and Calf rocks

overlooking the spa town of Ilkley

and, today, one has been involved in a bizarre accident.

This is the Cow and Calf, this rock here.

There's people on the right here.

Helimed 99 pilot Andy Hall must find somewhere to land amongst

the boulders and rock formations below.

This could be interesting then.

25 feet up a rock face climber Ian Routledge

is in a terrible predicament.

A two-and-a-half-tonne rock slipped as he was using it as a handhold.

Now his left arm is pinned under it.

Is he hanging by his hand then?

-Yes, he is pinned by his arm.

-Right, OK.

I believe one of his mates has gone up before him

and didn't see him climb

and he's put his hand in that crevice that you can see up there

and it looks like it's snapped off the right-hand side,

the whole rock has just snapped in half...

and it's actually...

His hand is wedged and is being squashed.

Ian's on a climbing holiday from his home in Milton Keynes.

His arm is numb.

Is your arm painful as it is, mate,

or do you just feel like you can't get it out?

-I can't get it out. It hurts.

-It's painful, is it?

The Helimed team knows Ian must be freed as soon as possible,

but there's a real risk that trying to release him

with crowbars could cause the crumbling rock to collapse...

killing patient and rescuers.

One of the other boys said

he was in trouble and he needed a top rope

so we dropped a top rope down to him, I didn't know what was going on...

Um, and, uh...

And then was told that the rope was to go round the rock

to try and lift it up, but it's a huge, huge rock, so...

Um...

It needs levers.

We're going to lower some oxygen down to him.

Cos I'm not a climber, I wouldn't know...

There you go, mate. Put that mouthpiece in your mouth

and suck on it, and you'll hear a noise. That's it.

Just...every time you're breathing, take that in.

We've lowered some gas and air. He's used that,

but it didn't really touch him.

These rocks have stood here for millions of years

and accidents like this are rare.

The local Mountain Rescue team can handle most emergencies,

but this is a new one on them.

-Which establishment are you from then?

-Upper Wharfedale.

-Upper Wharfedale? Hiya, I'm Andy.

-Hi, Andy. Phil.

He seems to have got worse.

The clock is ticking and each minute

adds to the risk to their patient...

..but rushing this rescue could be fatal.

Because he's been trapped an hour and 20 minutes...

there's a risk that once you're released,

the toxins that have built up in that limb

can then end up in your body...

and can cause you to have a number of problems like cardiac arrhythmias...

and the worst thing that could happen is cardiac arrest.

So, we're just weighing up at the moment

what we might be able to do to combat that.

Firefighters need hydraulic gear to free Ian, but it's heavy

and he's trapped nearly a mile from the nearest road.

Sam, their stuff, their equipment is down in the car park.

Is there any chance you can ask Andy to see if we can

pick some of their stuff up, so we can assist this gentleman?

If they radio down and get the equipment,

clear the car park and make it safe for me...

The pilot has taken the helicopter down to the bottom of the hill

to collect some firefighters and ambulance crew,

some kit and equipment just so we can

try and secure the rocks that are trapping this chap's arm,

and try and get him out.

The fire service is familiar with freeing victims of car accidents

and house fires but this rescue will demand ingenuity.

I'm going to send one of our guys down

and we're going to lower down an electric spreader.

He's going to spread the rock

and, hopefully, release his arm

and we'll lower the gentleman down.

If they maybe get some guys down to lift the block...

'Three Mountain Rescue teams have been called out to assist.

'Volunteers like off-duty paramedic Al Day know these rocks

'and the risks of moving them.'

He's been trapped for a while. As soon as he comes, basically,

what needs to happen is as soon as he comes off he needs

to be out quick, so everything needs to be ready.

This firefighter has been trained in climbing skills.

He's going to need them today.

Hello, at the bottom! You've got a man coming over the top now.

-Right.

-OK.

-Rest.

-Rest.

He's going to be using equipment named the Jaws of Life.

It was designed to free trapped motorists.

Are you getting any lift on the left-hand side, Matt?

No-one knows if it will be strong enough

to lift the boulder off Ian's arm.

If this doesn't work, they may have to amputate.

The Helimed team spends most of its time out in the

open spaces of the Yorkshire countryside,

but the two choppers are often called in for urban emergencies too

and the challenges of landing here are very different.

-98 from Air Desk.

-98, go ahead.

We're just looking at a job where a child's fallen through a roof

and through several floors in Doncaster.

Pilot Chris Attrill is on final approach to a housing estate

near Doncaster where a teenager has fallen through a skylight.

But crowds of children are making Chris's job harder.

Kid running in from the left.

Don't stop there!

Yeah, red jumper... She's now gone out of sight. There we go.

We'll need to get... The police need to come round and help, I feel.

-How we looking behind?

-Yeah, we're looking all right.

-Just...we've got some kids.

-Yeah?

-Just behind us.

We're looking clear to the left.

Still good left, mate.

RADIOS CHATTER That is 98 now landed safe.

The accident's happened at a derelict nursing home.

It's been empty for years and the building is unsafe.

The team's patient has fallen nearly 20ft.

-Hello, there. How you doing?

-Yeah, she's just round here.

This 12-year-old, she's come through the skylight headfirst.

She's got severe back pain, neck pain...

12-year-old Chanelle Craven landed on a concrete floor.

She's been instructed not to move.

She's complaining of pain where she's leaning

-against the wall with her back.

-OK.

-OK.

No loss of sensation,

no tingling or anything below. We've just left her like that.

-The chest is all clear.

-No problem.

She has no recollection of the event.

She couldn't remember what happened this morning,

when she got up and so forth.

'Worryingly, her pain could indicate a spinal injury.'

'The call that we got was that

'the girl had been playing on the first floor.'

We were told originally that she might have fallen on her head,

so, straightaway that set alarm bells ringing.

'Paramedic Matt Syrat fears Chanelle may have broken her neck.

'He's going to prevent further injury

'by fitting a protective collar.'

Let's have a feel of your spine.

-Is that all right down there?

-Yeah.

-There?

-Yeah.

-And that one there?

-Yeah.

'Chanelle's mum is understandably upset.

'The team can't rule out an injury to her daughter's lower spine,

'so they're going to strap her onto a rigid stretcher.'

-Can you let me put a little needle in your hand?

-No!

-In your arm? What about that? Would you let him do one instead?

-No.

'This may hurt - especially without pain relief.'

-We're all looking after you.

-Try not to nod your head.

What we're going to do is lift you up in the air, all right?

-That board's going to slide underneath your bum.

-OK.

Then we're going to spin you round, all right?

Ready, steady, up.

Why's that stool there?

Chanelle's suffering sharp pains in the top half of her spine.

Her spinal cord is now protected from further damage.

'Only X-rays in hospital will reveal

'the full extent of the injuries her fall caused.

'It'll be a long, agonising wait for her mum.'

The British Army teaches its soldiers to

fight in the peaceful hills of Yorkshire...and it finds

one in four of its recruits here in the North too.

But today the crew of Helimed 98 is being scrambled to an unusual

casualty in uniform -

a teenage army cadet injured in action on the soccer field.

We're going to go straight for it. We're downwind.

I appreciate that, but we are light.

And the speed is on.

# The speed is on... #

Paramedic Sam used to be in the Territorial Army,

so he knows these places well.

The accident has happened just a few miles from the chopper's base

near the market town of Thirsk in North Yorkshire.

Jackson! Johnson! In!

No, you've just pulled it out a little bit.

These guys are the professionals, not us. They'll sort you out.

These cadets had just finished a tough military training exercise,

but it was something much more straightforward

that caused this emergency.

-Are you sure he was going for the ball?

-He went for the ball...

-Did he jump?

-He literally jumped.

-He didn't jump off anything or...?

No, he went for the ball. He's just landed and I heard a crack.

We were playing throwing and catching ball games

and he just landed funny.

You're just going to feel this bit of Velcro

coming round your ankle. OK, bud?

He's one of the cadets. He's been out playing. He's jumped up,

landed awkwardly on his left leg, gone over

and he's got an obvious deformity, mid shaft femur.

Paul's just 13 and his ability to deal with pain

is impressing his officers and the paramedics.

Don't worry about keeping your eyes open.

Just keep working on that gas and air, bud.

But that pain's about to get a lot more intense.

Are you all right if I pop a little needle into your arm, just so we can

give you some strong painkillers when we sort your leg out?

-All right.

-Excellent.

'Sammy's straightening Paul's broken thighbone...'

He's got a fractured femur, but Sam's taking care of him.

From one army medic to another, I think he's quite enjoyed it.

Is it comfortable now we've put that splint on to keep it in line?

Just feel a bit spaced out, do you? Awesome.

Keep going with that gas and air, mate.

This is one bit of battlefield training

they didn't have on today's orders.

Sadly, Paul won't be enjoying this flight much.

He's lying down - and in pain.

'I jumped for the ball and landed funny on my foot and I heard a'

-really bad big snap and started screaming. It hurt.

-You've been

quite brave, actually, Paul.

Considering.

OK, we're going to lift him. Clear the windscreen and...

We're going to do a helipad departure.

Just two years ago, Sam was in Afghanistan flying wounded

soldiers back from the front line.

Now, it's the next generation of fighters he's having to look

after in the air.

He's jumped up, he's landed on his feet,

felt a snap in his left femur and gone down.

It looks sort of obviously deformed and swollen.

Here in Harrogate, Paul's leg is pinned and put in plaster.

But doctors are still trying to work out how simply jumping for a ball

could have snapped the biggest bone in his body.

But it's not put him off -

and Paul's eager to get on the next overnight exercise with the cadets.

On Ilkley Moor - inspiration for Yorkshire's national anthem -

a major rescue operation is reaching its climax.

Ian Routledge's arm has been trapped beneath a boulder

weighing two tonnes, for nearly two hours.

But, in less than ten seconds, a fire brigade ram frees it.

His hand was quite pale actually so it's probably had a bit of loss of blood flow.

But he has been trapped five minutes less than two hours.

So as soon as we get him down we're going to get him on a stretcher, and put some fluids up.

He's been up there a while so he might be a bit cold as well.

Cos it is a bit chilly when you're not moving.

Guys, just be aware... Let's get out of the danger zone.

The medical team is rushing to get access to their patient's vein,

to inject life-saving drugs. But for firefighter Matthew Whittaker,

it's a moment of elation.

They didn't teach THIS rescue in training school.

As soon as it spread, it took the weight off his arm,

just allowed him to get his arm out

and allowed us to get down to safety, luckily enough.

Without it falling on us both!

-Can you feel that?

-No. Well, it's tingling.

-Tingling, is it? Right. Can you feel the sensation's coming back?

-Well...yeah.

Remarkably, feeling seems to be returning in Ian's arm.

But he's not out of the woods yet.

He's showing symptoms of shock.

Paramedics Andy and Sam want to get him to hospital in Leeds as soon as possible.

When we released his arm, it looked very pale and blue.

But the more time we've spent with him, he says he feels like

he's getting sensation back, so hopefully his arm's going to be OK.

-I think you've had a lucky escape.

-There's a definite book in this!

Helimed paramedic and Mountain Rescue leader Al Day

knows how fortunate Ian has been not to lose his arm.

That rock wasn't probably that heavy,

and I think it wasn't probably heavy enough to keep him where he was.

It's probably not heavy enough to have done too much major damage

in terms of crush injuries.

Despite the elation of a successful rescue,

Andy will be carefully monitoring Ian's blood pressure

and heart rate throughout this flight.

He won't relax until his patient is safely inside A&E.

The hairiest moment was when we released him,

cos he was hanging on his harness in midair with... The fire service have just released him.

And you're hoping that nowt deteriorates while he's swinging around.

When his arm came out initially it looked really, really pale.

His fingertips were blue. Good news is that his arm has pinked up a lot.

He's got circulation back to it, and he can feel it and he can move it

so hopefully he's got no injury apart from a few little abrasions.

The open roads of the Dales attract eight million motorists

every year. And you can see why.

But these roads were not built for modern traffic,

and almost every day, someone is caught out.

And when that happens, the ambulance crews at the Dales have to

get there as quickly as possible.

It means driving at high speed on lanes that were often laid for driving sheep.

Few on the Helimed team would swap, but they have their own problems.

'We've got a male 31-year-old, come off a cycle.

'He's got bilateral arm fractures,

'lacerations to the legs. Requesting our assistance.'

It appears that cyclists are out in force,

and looking at the map of the area there's some quite steep contour lines there, so

it does look like it's quite a steep hill.

The accident's happened high in Wensleydale.

Cycling out here has enjoyed an explosive increase in popularity

thanks to news that the Tour de France will soon start in the Dales.

Possibly down there...

The trouble with accidents on steep hills like this

is that it's hard to find anywhere flat enough to land.

..Just in that corner, straight ahead of us.

Going to go, isn't it?

Little bit past the wall there.

Got a large boulder out now, outside my window...

Pilot Steve's landing on a rutted dirt track.

There's no hurry. Local paramedics have already reached their patient.

Have a look and see if it looks all right to you, it feels OK but...

OK.

Disconnected. Door's open.

That's looking pretty steady.

You've got quite an indentation underneath,

where the traffic's been down.

We look all right at that.

-OK, we'll go with that then.

-Yup.

He's come down this hill, took off, has gone, he says, sideways.

He's basically landed, bounced and rolled multiple times.

He's got pain to both arms, reduced movement in them,

and extreme pain.

So we suspect he may have fractured both arms.

And he's got deep gravel rash to both knees. Distracting injury.

It's renowned for its steepness,

and even in a car you have to be wary, let alone a bicycle.

He can feel your touch, he's got no loss of sensation down there...

There's slight reduced sensation to this arm.

Keir Bascombe is a fitness instructor,

who was out training for an Ironman competition. This is a cruel blow.

It's a year to the day since he broke his neck playing rugby,

a sport he gave up because it was too dangerous.

He's still in a lot of pain from this accident,

you can see how steep the road is,

and he's fractured both arms and potentially his leg as well.

Obviously the gravel rash off the road,

that is potentially causing him more pain than the fractures,

because all the skin's been taken away and it's so sore, like a burn.

-Can you clench that in your teeth?

-Yes.

-Just keep taking deep breaths.

It wears off pretty quick. Use them lungs, get it filled up.

Ready, steady - lift. KEIR GROANS

Ready, steady...

Keir's keen for his wife to know what's happened.

We're going to take you to James Cook, which is in Middlesbrough.

So it's down to the paramedics to make that call.

We're just moving your husband to the air ambulance.

He's got a couple of injuries to his arms, both arms,

and he's got gravel rash to his legs,

which has caused him quite a bit of pain.

And the reason they're going to James Cook is

because it's a major trauma unit, and it has a landing pad.

-How you feeling? Not great.

-Not great?

She's going to make her way up to the James Cook. I told her not to rush.

You're all right, you're just in a lot of pain.

-Thank you.

-No problem, mate. Take care of yourself.

With Keir on board, Steve's planning his takeoff.

Getting out of here could be even harder than getting in.

The wind's coming this way up the valley and up the hill,

so we're going to have to take off that way

but it tends to lift you up fortunately.

So we'll just literally turn round, nose down, little bit down the valley

and then turn off, middle of the valley, nice gentle right-hand turn. In theory.

In theory it sounds fine,

but Steve knows the Dales are prone to unpredictable downdrafts

and turbulence that make flying here difficult and sometimes dangerous.

Today, though, it all goes to plan.

But for Keir, this isn't a comfortable flight.

He's still in quite a lot of pain, we're just going to give him some more painkillers.

I'm just going to be sticking the head down...

cos he's cannulated in his foot.

Pete's just climbing down the bottom now. Good job he's got long arms.

The cannula allows Pete to inject painkiller straight into Keir's veins.

In a land ambulance this would be easy.

But it makes Keir comfortable for the remainder of his flight to hospital in Middlesbrough.

He's got quite a range of areas that were injured

so it's going to be quite a while before he's up and around,

but I dare say he will be, and

he looked quite a determined fellow

so I'm sure he'll make a good recovery from this.

Pete's right. Keir's soon back in the saddle,

with a new respect for the inclines of the Dales.

Back in Doncaster, 12-year-old Chanelle Craven is about to

take off for hospital, in the care of Helimed paramedic Matt.

You're not going to be able to hear us when we're flying.

So if you need me, I'll be sat to your left,

just give me your hand or tell me something's wrong. Right?

He's concerned she may have damaged her spine.

It's been abandoned for a while, it's like a building site.

Luckily she'd got some friends with her, because

if she'd fallen through otherwise nobody would have found her.

Next stop for Chanelle is X-ray.

We've gone up and down and back, she's got T-spine tenderness.

Coupled with how far she's fallen, we thought it was a good idea to

package her up and bring her straight to Sheffield Children's.

It's here the doctors discover that the impact with the concrete floor

has indeed damaged Chanelle's spine in three places.

They're potentially dangerous injuries which will take months to heal,

and until they do, she'll have to wear a neck brace 24 hours a day.

I've got three broken bones in my back and one in my neck.

I can't sleep at night, cos I have to lay on my back,

but I'm all right.

It's a few weeks since the accident,

and today Chanelle will find out how much longer she has to wear a brace.

Just rub your shoulders up against me. Probably can't very easily.

Push your arms out sideways against me, like wings.

Chanelle is here to see a specialist consultant,

to find out a bit more about the broken bones in her back.

The good news is you didn't do anything too seriously and you should make a full recovery.

There's no such thing as a simple spinal fracture in the sense of the risk is dangerous,

but luckily you got away with it in that sense, you've not done anything too horrendous.

But unfortunately you've got to wear this as a result of the injury.

You can see that C7 there

so that's the normal C6 and the normal T1, square blocks of bone,

and that bone has been squashed down and there's a bit cracked off the front. OK?

So it's squashed down a little bit and it's broken into a few pieces.

Six months from now, there's every chance that that C7 bone

will be as strong as ever, solidly healed, forget about it.

She may not FEEL lucky, but she will make a full recovery.

Chanelle has also been given the all clear to go back to school.

There's a risk when you fall from any height,

if you break your neck, that you paralyse yourself

or at least partially injure your spinal cord, which could have meant in Chanelle's case that she's

weak in the arms and legs and wouldn't be able to walk.

So the spinal cord was protected by the bone only partially breaking,

and not dislocating,

but there are serious injuries such as head injuries and chest injuries

and pelvic fractures that commonly go with falls from that height.

With 3,000 square miles of countryside,

almost half of it national park,

there's no shortage of places to play in North Yorkshire.

But when the younger members of the community get out of school

for the summer, it's time for the Helimed team to go to work.

En route for a field location, probably about two miles south of Catterick village.

Any parent knows that if you tell your kids not to do something, they usually will.

The adage of "Mum knows best" is often ignored by young, adventurous minds.

Seven-year-old Archie Hay has fallen off a shed roof

that he's been told many times by his mum not to climb on.

..And I said, "Don't climb on that shed roof."

'Sounded quite distressed, this young man, as the caller was on the phone to me.

'Been crying for an excess of ten minutes since the fall.'

Archie lives in the remote village in Hackforth in North Yorkshire.

It's miles from the nearest hospital.

I'm not sure which house they're in.

What I could do is put you in this field right now, over the low wall,

and then I can always reposition afterwards.

Paramedic Tony Wilkes has seen accidents like this before.

-Happy if we disconnect?

-Yeah, by all means. Away you go, guys.

-What's happened, he's fallen...?

-He's fallen from the shed onto the ground.

ARCHIE WHIMPERS

-Archie fell eight feet onto his back.

-Archie, are you all right?

Yeah, Roger, do you want to bring our scoop?

This young man is still quite upset but we will try and get him

-mobilised if we can. Have you got any pain anywhere?

-Not any more.

Not any more? You trouper.

Do us a favour, I am just going to touch your arm.

You tell me if it starts hurting anywhere.

I am going to start down here. Is that OK?

-Is that OK?

-Yeah.

-Is that OK?

-Yes.

-That doesn't hurt at all?

The utmost care moving him is essential.

-Well done, Archie.

-Like Superman, mate.

-I am just going to roll you over in a sec, mate.

-Onto his right side.

-OK.

Over you come, so we can have a look at you. That's a good lad.

I can see you now.

Archie is being very brave, letting the paramedics check him over.

-Have you got any pain at all at the moment?

-I can't feel any.

You can't feel any? That is smashing.

It is all right, it is not compulsory you have any.

It is better if you don't.

They have climbed up onto the oil tanker, onto the tree,

onto the shed. I just said, "Would you mind getting down? Come down."

Probably not as nicely as that! And then they have fallen.

Archie has fallen. His little friend has come in to tell me.

And when I got up, he has complained that his back was hurting

but he could move his fingers and toes.

And then I maybe shouldn't have moved him, but I did!

He obviously needs checking out at the hospital so, like I said,

we will be happy to let him go by road.

The fall from ten foot is quite significant.

Luckily enough for Archie, he has landed flat on his back

and it has been on a sort of wooden surface rather than concrete.

He has probably been really lucky.

Helimed 98 is now available for a more serious case.

But the team knows that it won't be long before the summer holidays

lead to another 999 call.

Off-road mountain biking is an ideal chance for teenagers to run off

their energy and push themselves and their bikes to the limit.

But mountain biking can be dangerous.

Have an accident out here,

and the only way to get help is by Air Ambulance.

Helimed 9 Alpha from Yankee, clear for takeoff...

The Helimed team is responding to a call about a 16-year-old lad

who has come off his mountain bike at high speed.

The crew was requested because the terrain is very difficult

for them to get to him.

When we lift him, I imagine we've got to see him...

So we're still unaware of what injuries he might have.

-So, where is he?

-No, he's...

The injured teenager was taking part in a competition when he came off.

It's a clear area right up to where I land, isn't it, really?

99 Air Desk, landed on scene.

Land crews are concerned he has a serious back injury.

-Hello.

-How are you doing?

He's come off, hit his bike, but he's got a tender lower back,

feeling below the injury site.

-He's got feeling?

-He's got feeling below there,

but he's still ten out of ten pain score.

-Right, OK. Whereabouts is he from here?

-Just down...

The patient's high pain score suggests

he may have a broken bone in his back.

Paramedic Dave Appleby needs to assess his patient fully

before they even attempt to move him.

Have you ever had any injuries before?

Have you ever come off your bike, any broken bones before?

-None? No?

-No.

OK. What's the pain like at the moment, then? Awful?

-Is it still a high number?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? OK.

Jordan Bateman is an experienced rider.

We do have a big jump here.

He's practised all morning, of course, first race,

he came down really quick, just mistimed the jump,

and he landed on the front wheel.

So I saw him go over, still with the bike, he did at least a 360

with the bike, and then went off the side and ended up down there.

He's had eight milligrams of morphine now,

so he's scoring ten out of ten.

Jordan has already had a full dose of morphine and gas and air,

but he is still complaining of severe back pain.

-Do you need any more pain relief?

-Yeah.

-You do. OK.

The local rescue team has turned out to help.

Its members will provide the manpower

to carry Jordan to the chopper.

His symptoms are so worrying, paramedic Dave plans to bypass the

local hospital and take his patient direct to a major trauma unit.

I'll give Leeds a ring.

Erm, see if they're going to accept him.

If they accept him, then there's no issue, we'll take him.

The Air Ambulance is the safest way to get Jordan out of here.

Call it mother's intuition, but when she heard there had been

an accident, his mum says she knew it was Jordan.

I saw all the ambulances and I were sat in the car

and I just had a horrible feeling it was Jordan.

I don't know why. I knew it was Jordan.

I felt quite calm about it because, obviously,

all the different ambulance people, Paul's medically trained,

his dad, as well, erm, and obviously Air Ambulance,

and they've all been reassuring me that because he can feel

everything and it's just pain, like, hopefully it's nothing serious.

Are you his mum? So you know he's going to LGI, don't you? OK.

He's not displaying any signs that he's done any real bad damage,

although he's complaining about pain.

But the main reason we're taking him to Leeds is cos of the mechanism.

They can give him the scan and everything quite quickly,

just to make sure, all right?

Steady, steady, stop pushing, there you go.

Now on board Helimed 99,

paramedic Dave can properly assess Jordan's condition.

With a potential back injury, every precaution has to be taken.

How long you been doing this malarkey, then?

-Downhill this year.

-This year?

-Yeah.

Good start, innit(?) How much do those bikes cost you these days?

Is it one of them super duper, sort of carbon fibre,

-"cost me an arm and a leg" type thing?

-Three grand.

Three grand?! I can buy a car for that!

Air Desk from 99, listed, en route to LGI.

He's come off his bike at ludicrous speed.

He's come off, and what he's done, he's obviously gone airborne,

landed on his front wheel,

and then somersaulted with the bike in situ.

Jordan's being flown to Leeds General Infirmary

by pilot and keen mountain biker Andy Lister.

He knows the risks,

but seeing a fellow rider in pain is a sobering experience.

Cheers, fellas. Let's go.

X-rays reveal the source of his pain.

Jordan has crushed a vertebra in his spine.

Doctor's orders are to stay off his bike for at least two months.

Many of the Helimed team's patients are young,

especially in the summer, and paramedics like Sam and Sammy find

cases involving children and infants are the most difficult to deal with.

Helimed 98 is outbound...

A few days ago,

the team was called out to a baby that was seriously ill.

-I want to find out about that kid.

-Oh, right, yeah.

Have you heard any more? I know Darryl phoned up the next day.

It wasn't looking good.

-It'd be nice to know if, by fluke, there is some miracle.

-Yep.

I believe in miracles.

Well, when there's life there's hope, so you just never know.

Today, another child is in trouble,

and land crews have called for backup.

A 12-year-old has fallen out of a tree.

Described as some serious bleeding.

Given that where he lives or is at, erm, the crew aren't on scene yet,

so we're responding as the first responder.

It's likely we'll all converge at the same time,

but if he is seriously injured we'll be able to take him

direct to the appropriate hospital.

Children, you've just got to win them over.

If they're hurting, you have to explain, "It's OK, we're going

"to help." If we're going to hurt them, we'll tell them beforehand.

Once you've won their confidence, usually, kids respond really well.

It's high summer in the Dales,

and the local gardeners are enjoying the fruits of their labours,

but pilot Chris is about to cause a stir in the flower beds.

He's heading for a landing in the patient's garden.

There's a small field down the end.

You've got 30 feet to negotiate, then.

There's another set of wires as well.

Yep, got two sets, one crosses over in front of us.

Still good on the left.

Jack Zebedee has a suspected injury to his neck.

He walked in, he came and told Dad.

-He came and told Dad.

-Well done, Jack.

Only thing he's complaining about at the moment is the pain to the

-back of his head.

-Oh!

-Being a brave boy.

-Yeah!

-We're thinking about a five out of ten.

-OK.

-Do you have any blurred vision? Is everything normal?

-Yeah.

-Fabulous.

About 20 minutes ago, Jack came running in screaming

and crying, in a lot of pain, and he's not a child to make a fuss about

anything, so, we were just really worried

and he was clutching the back of his head.

We looked at the back of his head and there was blood coming out,

and he's obviously cut his head, and he'd fallen out of the tree.

Jack's injury isn't critical.

He can go to hospital by road,

so Sam and Sammy are free to return to base.

He's had an adventurous tumble out of a tree.

But all his obs and everything seemed fine.

Jack's taken to York Hospital, where doctors rule out a serious injury

and he's soon back at home, enjoying the rest of his summer holiday.

Swaledale is the wildest of Yorkshire's Dales,

so remote its hills are littered with the ruins of farms,

long abandoned by families beaten by the weather

and the harsh realities of hill farming.

No wonder the local Mountain Rescue team is busy,

safeguarding the adventurous

and the brave who come here to enjoy the Dales' beauty and solitude.

Today, Helimed 98's touched down near the village of Reeth

for a walker in trouble.

Er, slipped and came down with his knee straight onto that rock there.

That's going to smart, innit?

As you can see, his knee's reasonably well swollen.

He's had knee surgery on this one, but not on that one.

Normally fit and well, and he takes aspirin for medication.

Ken Binks was out walking his dog when he slipped.

He didn't do it, I just tripped over there

and bashed me knee on that stone.

Ken and his dog Ben have done this walk many times before,

but a sudden change in weather has made this path dangerously wet.

He's landed with his knee right on top of a stone and damaged his knee.

His kneecap's really boggy, he can't actually feel

the edges of his kneecap.

He's tried to stand on it, but he said it just gives way,

which you would expect, so we just need to get him out of here,

it's getting cold and wet now.

Anywhere else, this would be a relatively simple case

for the Ambulance Service, but this is Swaledale.

Mountain Rescue has been called in to help.

We need to get him out of here,

get him warm, make sure he doesn't get any wetter,

then we'll deal with where we're going to go, and how, after that.

But there's another problem.

He doesn't like flying.

There's a road just at the top there where we might be able to get

an ambulance to him, which Mountain Rescue could take him to.

The Mountain Rescue teams have specialist gear for this type of

job, but it still takes 12 of them to get Ken to the top of the hill.

Patients often confront their fears of flying

if it means getting to hospital quicker, but not Ken.

Mountain Rescue have almost got the patient to the ambulance,

and we are clear now if you require us for anything, over.

It'll be a while before Ben the dog gets to go for another walk

with his master.

Ken's broken knee will put him out of action for at least two months.

It'll be autumn in Swaledale

before he returns to his favourite riverside walk.

It's three weeks since climber Ian Routledge nearly

lost his arm in a freak accident in Wharfedale.

Incredibly, he's now back on the ropes.

It may only be an indoor climbing centre, but considering his arm

was crushed by a two-tonne boulder, this is a remarkable recovery.

I think I've been very lucky.

There's just some sort of tenderness to the muscle,

and, er, just the nerves, slightly damaged.

I've got tingling in my fingers.

Ian is a passionate rock climber,

but the rescue has knocked his confidence.

For now, he's back practising on the climbing walls near his home

in Milton Keynes until he regains his strength and his nerve.

I don't think I'll be doing anything

at the same kind of level that I have been doing.

I plan to get out, I've got a trip to Italy in three weeks' time, so...

hopefully, I'll be able to do something by then.

Ian has clear memories of the two hours

he spent pinned to the Cow and Calf rocks

in an ordeal remarkably similar to the movie

127 Hours, in which a climber has to amputate his own arm.

The Mountain Rescue and ambulance people were first to turn up,

but I couldn't imagine what they were going to be able to do.

I shouted out, "I think we're going to need the Fire Brigade,"

sort of jokingly.

Er, to which somebody shouted, "They're on their way."

And he's full of admiration for the firefighters whose ingenuity

finally freed him.

They used the Jaws of Life.

They managed to get the nose of the Jaws in.

I was fairly sure that my arm wasn't broken, erm,

but I was worried that it would get broken trying to lift the rock off.

Yeah, very lucky.

And I'm happy to tell you that after his amazing escape,

Ian's planning to return to the same rock face

that almost cost him his arm later this year.