The Woman and the Escalator

My friend and me were heading to the bakery in St Gs Centre to grab some lunch the other day (after a lot of laborious tasks in the Red Cross office, like moving furniture and sorting through several bags of first aid equipment) and as we were away to order something, we heard a screech and a clatter from behind. We looked round to see an elderly woman clinging onto the banister of the escalator, her walking stick lying at the bottom of the steps. In the second it takes to click your fingers my friend and I were in "first aider mode". I ran forwards and pressed the emergency stop button on the escalator, and climbed the now stationary steps to help stabilise the woman who was clearly taken aback by her sudden fall (no surprise like!). Meanwhile, my friend dashed off to nab gloves from the nearby 'Subway'.
Together we got a chair for the woman, and a security guard fetched us the store first aid kit, while we got to work calming the woman down and making sure she was alright. My mate noticed one of her legs was bleeding, so she cleaned it and bandaged it. The cuts and bashes on that leg weren't too bad, however as she tied off the bandage, I noticed her other leg was bleeding a considerable amount more. We rolled up her trouser leg to see a worryingly deep (surprisingly clotted) gash that was uncomfortably close to a vein. So we cleaned it again, and bandaged it (we had to use two for that wound) while a security guard brought us a wheelchair. Luckily, her husband could drive and he fetched the car while the store first aider (who had very graciously left us to deal with the incident) wheeled her away to be taken to A&E.
As soon as the woman had left, my friend and I helped clear up and then switched back into the "every-day regular person mode", returning to the bakery to do what we had initially intended to do; grab some lunch.

This incident was on the whole a rather smooth-running one. Our casualty was incredibly calm despite what had just happened, and I was awful worried that she was in shock or something, however on asking her if she felt any of the usual symptoms (dizziness, queasiness, etc) she said she was fine. Also she was very grateful, as were the security guards and store first aider, and it was nice of them all to say thank you. What felt really good was being able to say to the security guard, "It's ok, we're first aiders of the British Red Cross," and then later hear him say to the store first aider, "It's alright, they're first aiders with the British Red Cross; they know what they're doing." Talk about feeling a sense of pride! The whole thing was quite nerve-wracking too, in the sense that we had a bit of an audience, i.e all of the shop assistants in the surrounding stores and cafes, plus all the passers-by, plus all the customers sitting in the cafes who were rather enjoying their lunchtime entertainment. A few customers thanked us, and congratulated us on our efforts, which was nice of them too, and most were surprised to see us jump up and head straight off to buy food as though nothing had happened (despite us both being slightly covered in the blood of our casualty).

It was different, treating someone when not on duty, and I'm surprised by - and of course pleased with - our immediate reactions to the situation. It just shows how firmly our training is drummed into our heads. It's almost like a second instinct now, or something.
I really hope that woman is alright now, and that her injuries weren't too serious. I especially hope she remains unfased by the incident, and that she'll make a good recovery.

Rain, rain, rain...

Today was the wettest Moto X duty ever! Even the waterproofs were beginning to give in by the end of it.

Relentless rain turned the bike track to thick pools of mud, and puddles formed in the tyre tracks. We were soaked by the constant down pour for all our time we were out there, and yet we only had four casualties despite the poor conditions.

One was a woman who had chopped off the tip of her finger and needed a new dressing - nice. A part from a boy with a sprained ankle, I don't know any of the other casualties' incidents, although I think one lad came away with a broken rib.

So the casualties we had were slightly worse off than usual; that'd be the mud then.

Thankfully, the races were cut short and the event finished early, so I was chuffed to get home earlier than usual and warm my freezing, wet body in a nice hot bath. Heaven.

Portsoy Boat Festival

Would I be sad to say that getting to ride in the front seat of our new Red Cross ambulance on the way over to Portsoy today was the highlight of my Saturday?

I would say so, but at the same time, I know I get excited over stuff like that, and so it's perfectly normal for me. I also found sitting in the driver's seat and practicing driving techniques to be pretty cool too; a little bit like a young kid when they get to sit in the front of a fire engine for their first time ever at various open days or village/school fetes and if they're lucky, get to press the button to turn on the blues and sound the horn - now that is slightly sad, I'll admit.

But a part from my wee escapades with the ambo, nothing much else happened. Ok, we had the odd casualty, and the usual "where are the toilets?" and in today's case "how much is it to go on the sailing boats?"

However we were lucky with the weather again - dry and sunny with a cooler breeze. I got more sun burnt today than I did at Rockness a couple of weeks ago.

And what I did notice today was how bonnie Portsoy actually is. It's the first time I've ever been in it properly, rather than  just pass through it whilst on a bus or something. It's actually a really nice wee fishing village, and very picturesque, like most of the places along the coast line I guess.

Of course, the duty was another chance to wear the oh so snazzy boiler suits we were given at Rockness. I really love that uniform.

Rockness 08

I suppose now would be a good time to tell the world of my adventures at Rockness - yes, it's two weeks late, but better late than never.

Ok, lets begin with Friday 6th:-

Arrive at Inverness Youth Hostel and begin the banter, with shades, sun hats, general meeting and bonding with other Red Cross folk, and have an over all good time. Later on, seven of us decide we are hungry, and as food is getting no where near us fast, we decide to go out in pursuit of it ourselves. We dash up to Inverness city centre and up the high street in search of nourishment, and ask two coppers if there were any pizza places near by. Random, yes, but it worked, as they gave us directions to a Dominos. Chuffed that there was a take-away pizza place we hunt down the Dominos and grab three medium cheese pizzas between the seven of us. It was all going so well, until we left Dominos and stepped out into sheets of pouring rain hammering down onto the city centre pavements with such force that the raindrops bounced off the concrete. With a relatively lengthy walk back to the hostel, you can only imagine how wet we were going to get. We ended up running the last leg back, as the rain seemed to get heavier, and as sod's law would have it, just as we reached the hostel - soaking wet, in t-shirts and dripping like drowned rats - the rain slowed down to a gentle shower.

To top it all off, the pizza (although surprisingly not soggy) was cold and pretty hard. However, we were all really too hungry to care, and ate it anyway.

Saturday 7th:-

The first of the two epic days of Rockness. The banter began at mid-day, and I found myself with a radio and instructions to temporarily look after a group that consisted mainly of observers. That was all well and fine, just as long as we didn't get any major casualties. Thankfully, the responsibility didn't rest on my shoulders for too long. 

So the day went on, and we gained our first, more serious casualty - a young-looking lad, shaking violently, who clearly needed help at the Hospital Tent. One colleague took him there, and that was that. 

Later on, we found yet another casualty - unconscious male, already in the recovery position thanks to the people who found him, with sick trickling from the side of his mouth. If he hadn't been in the recovery position, that silent vomit would have choked and killed him - thank you people who found him. So as I radioed in with the urgent message (urgent radio call number 1 - this meant everyone else using the radios had to shut up for me - the power) paramedics arrived to aid us. From then onwards they dealt with the situation, and that was the excitement over for us.

The day progressed, and an incident did occur which I will not go into great detail and depth about, however I will say that it involved the solo fatality of Rockness this year.

After this, things seemed to slow a bit. I was meant to finish my shift at 6pm, along with the other younger (and in some cases, newer) teens, which I had never been truly happy about (not because I think I'm better than the others, but I do have a year's experience which I felt should have allowed me to stay on and be treated as an older, more experienced first aid member; it's only fair). However, after the recent events, I was allowed by my boss to work on till midnight and do a full 12 hour shift. I was grateful for this, as I was allowed to join a second first aid team up at one of the campsites to do the evening shift. This was good fun - the people there were a great bunch, some of who I recognised from previous events, others who I had only just met. Either way, they were a great group of people who were all friendly, so if they ever read this, thanks to them.

I think in the future I'll make a point of not tempting fate - I said "I bet at midnight, just as we're about to go off duty, we'll get something."

I wasn't half wrong.

Just as 12 o'clock came and we were about to radio in to organise the change of teams so the night duty folk could take over, we had a woman approach us and say in a rather anxious tone, "Excuse me, my friend's not waking up, and she's not responding to anything I do." 

Bugger.

So away we go, following her into the dark abyss of the ghetto-like tents (we did refer to the site as a sort of festival ghetto, as it really was...ghetto-like) and we found our casualty passed out, unconscious - in the recovery position, yay - on the floor. So I radioed in (urgent radio call number 2) requesting the aid of ScotAmb (Scottish Ambo service, in case you didn't click with that) and helped maintain her airway. My colleague gave her oxygen, and we kept her warm with blankets, sleeping bags, and anything else that could give her heat, whilst monitoring her vital signs, i.e. pulse, sats and breathing. She really wasn't responding to anything; not voice, not even pain with a good nip on the ear or fingernail. Thankfully she started to come round during our wait for the ambo crew - she could feel the oxygen mask on her face and tried to shove it off many a time, failing wonderfully to do so.

A good twenty minutes later after the initial radio transmission, our paramedics arrived with an ambulance, and we helped get her on the scoop and into the back of the ambo without many problems.

A job well done, we were finally free to head for the hostel, and our beds.

I apologise for waking up the friends I shared a room with - stupid card key thing for the door wouldn't work at all, so was forced to knock.

Not that we got much sleep in those rooms anyway; the wooden bunk beds we slept in creaked mega loudly at the slightest movement, so a peaceful night's rest was hardly on the cards anyway.

Sunday 8th:-

Another 12 hour shift that I managed to charm my way into - woo!

Sunday was a lot more laid back, starting at mid-day again, and with virtually nothing happening in the main stage area for those of us who weren't grab team members. I did start out in a small mobile patrol, which allowed us to make the most of the glorious sunny weather, and enabled me to nip down to a merchandise stall and nab a Rockness t-shirt! After that, we ended up being stuck in the pit of the main stage - that sounds great, I hear you cry, but when you've been there and done it once already, another couple of hours stuck there with music pounding through your body from giant vertical speakers standing right behind you isn't the kind of position you want to be in. One, it gets pretty boring, and two, it's not nice on your body to have to put up with the constant vibrations of heavy bass music. Sure, it's good at a club, party or disco, but on duty when you have to stand right beside it...the novelty soon wears off.

So, a part from letting the odd person through to the Field Hospital tent, we weren't let loose back into the outside world until after dinner in the evening, when I finally got out on another mobile patrol. We based ourselves at the entrance/exit to the 'Skins' tent (the heavy beats club tent where, yep, channel 4's 'Skins' were filming).

Besides the odd plaster that had to be applied, and getting chatted up by a drunk or two (I'm too gorgeous to be a medic, apparently) nothing really happened injury wise, which is good for the public having a good time. Us first aiders had a good time too, dancing to the odd club remix.

It wasn't until midnight when - yeah, you've guessed it - the action picked up again. Firstly, we had a collapse in the middle of the rave taking place in the packed 'Skins' tent, so in we went, and as one lassie radioed for the grab team outside, and my other two colleagues helped the unconscious bloke lying (in the recovery position again!) on the floor, I acted as crowd control, which I was surprisingly good at, and one of my fellow first aiders even made a point of commenting on this fact. So we got him out, with the aid of the grab team and their stretcher, and sent him off down to the Field Hospital.

Almost half an hour later, we got a suspected spinal casualty, which I radioed in for (third and final urgent radio call of the weekend) and got the grab team over to sort him out too. As the process took place of safely transferring the casualty from floor to stretcher, I tended to, firstly, a spot of crowd control, followed by something more along the lines of emotional support.

The poor guy's girlfriend and two best mates were standing near by, cold, worried and upset by what was happening to their beloved friend and boyfriend who was currently being immobilised by the team. So I took it upon myself to comfort them and calm down the sobbing girlfriend who was anxious beyond belief - very understandably - for her man who was now being strapped down onto a stretcher.

Roughly 20 mins later we got the boy down to the Field Hospital, and I accompanied the three girls, explaining to them everything that was going on and not to be worried.

When it later came to telling them the news of his transfer from Field Hospital to Raigmore Hospital, it was up to me to do so.

Amazingly, what ever it was that I said or did to them had calmed them down considerably, and by the end of the night I was blushing with the compliments I was given. I received three grateful hugs, six kisses (one on each cheek from all three of them) and a barrel-full of thanks and praise, one of which stands out pretty fondly in my mind; "You've been the only paramedic who had actually helped me and made me feel better about all this. All the others seem so stuck up, but you come down to our level - you're more human."

That's most probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, and for one thing I'm not even a paramedic, so that just adds to the compliment!

After leaving the hospital tent on a total high with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, knowing that I had actually helped someone this weekend, I was barked at by a colleague - the dude who's second in command, if you like - to get on the minibus as we were heading back to the hostel soon, and stay on the minibus so he knows who's still to get back to the base. Talk about gratitude. But hey, I had to smile as I boarded that bus - nothing else could dampen that feeling, not for a while anyway.

We drove back to the hostel that early Monday morning, and gathered our stuff, and drove back home to bonnie Elgin, everyone pretty much content with the weekend. I know I was; I had just gained some of the most valuable, confidence-boosting experience that I had hoped to gain, and I was happy - tired, but happy.

Ok, so in that lovely long post I've probably come across as totally self-centered and all the rest, but I really don't mean to sound like I'm blowing my own horn. A lot happened which still excites me now when I think about it - it truly was a brill weekend for me personally, which I wanted to write about.

But of course, I also want to make a point about how well everyone did during those busy two (in some cases three, for the folks who worked on Friday too) days when the public let loose on drink, drugs and dangerous stunts. Well done to one and all - every member of the Red Cross present at the event did their branches and their teams proud. We all worked well together, and although things could have been better in some circumstances - nothing's perfect - what did go well worked, and I can safely say the event wouldn't have run as smoothly without us. So high 5s and thumbs up all around people.

Of course, thanks to the security staff, event organisers, catering staff, the amazing emergency services personnel (the police and paramedics) and the A&E staff who worked those long hard hours at the Field Hospital tent - the event would definitely not have been such a success without you all. You all kicked ass.

And well done to the public who went for the festival buzz and entertainment - well done for not all getting so drunk that you needed us to save you, and hope you guys enjoyed the weekend.

But above all, here's to the saddening fatality of the young lad whose time at Rockness was all too soon cut short. My heart goes out to his friends and family, and to all who knew him, well or not. All I can say is he was in good hands right until the end. May he rest in peace.

Perhaps this year's wonderful Rockness should go down in his memory.

So overall, the whole Rockness weekend was one of variety. For anyone who has the festival fever, I'd say go next year; it's pretty much worth the journey into the depths of the Highlands.

And another thing which can be said about this year's Rockness - we were damn lucky with the weather.

No more school!!!

Yes! That's it; all over and done with! No more SQA exams (ever!) and no more Elgin Academy. Now it's the big wide world of freedom...well, excluding the job I'm going to have to get, and college when it starts in September...but until then, bring it on!

My heart goes out to all the poor people who have to go back to school tomorrow, I'll be thinking of you as I lie in my bed and snooze :)