One More Time

Fate must have been reading my blog, because it threw one more first aid duty my way today.
Actually, for being such a small duty - Lhanbryde Gala - it was a really good one.
It was just Caitlind and me, along with the mighty micra, which was yet again stacked with a grab bag, bum bags and a blanket. We were both incredibly tired, having had a fun-filled night out on the town, mingling in the pubs and dancing in Downtown, and generally consuming large amounts of alcohol despite knowing we had a duty the very next day. Thankfully it didn't start until 1pm, so we had a recovery period that morning. Else we would have been the ones needing first aid.

So, what happens at Lhanbryde Gala I hear you ask?
Not a lot really, but the people were lovely and the organisers were more than accommodating, even supplying us with a room as a first aid post, and a sign to stick on the sliding door with our BRC logo on it. Ok, so that's meant to be standard at every event if we don't have an ambo to hide in, but it doesn't always happen.
We were also free to ask for tea or coffee, and the odd homebake on the side, courtesy of the local Girl Guides group.
And typically of Caitlind and me, we made ourselves another reputation with the people of Lhanbryde. As if browsing the stalls and buying ice cream wasn't enough, we even had to join in with the performances. Seemingly this is imprinted in our contracts, according to one very nice organiser. We told her we'd charge more if we got involved, as we'd be providing the afternoon's entertainment as well as first aid cover!
But as sod's law would have it, the lead dancer of the line dancing group was overly determined to get us involved, and on the third and final attempt, I decided we should humor him and every other spectator in the hall.
So we - the only pair of numpties in uniform - got up in front of the crowds and line danced too, much to the delight of everyone else, including every OAP and belly dancer, girl guide and pipe band member, raffle ticket seller and family group in the hall. I think we conjured up a fair few laughs!

After this, we retreated rather hastily to our room and played down our public humiliation, which had actually been really good fun. The dancing instructor even came in to thank us for our participation, saying it had been great.
Perhaps some people take it too seriously and believe we must be professional when working on every duty. But it can do a lot for the crowds to get involved in the action - it gave them a laugh, and it livened up our otherwise relatively uneventful duty. As our organiser friend said, it's all about the community spirit. Its great when you can be a part of that, as though that's another asset you contribute to the event.

It was a fine wee duty in the end; short and easy, with no casualties to deal with and a good cup of tea to warm us up. I enjoyed it, and I think it's a fine one to finish on for the time being.

I think the boss should bump up the charges when Caitlind and me are sent out to cover a duty - as we joked about before, and yet in all seriousness, you get first class entertainment as well as first aid.

The Country Bumpkin Show

So a week last Sunday (yes, very delayed blogage here) we found ourselves mingling with the country bumpkins (and yes, this is also the morning after Wolftrek, so I was hyped up on sleep deprivation, amazingly and thankfully, else I would have been uber grumpy).

Ok, country bumpkin is a bit harsh - its real name is the Keith Show, and it is really good fun.
Posh people on horses, show jumping, dressage, cattle shows, sheep shearing, petting donkeys, holding chicks, going on funfair rides, winning giant cuddly animals, eating burgers, admiring WI
competition entries, getting fortunes foretold, comparing quad bikes, avoiding tractors, and wondering whether Aloe Vera is as good as the sellers make it sound.
Yes, Keith Show - not something to be missed if you ever get the chance to go.

It involved an early start - not something I wanted to hear - but it meant a chance to donder up and down the make-shift streets while the stalls were quiet.
Thanks to the lack of casualties, we even had the chance to browse at leisure and watch a few horse shows (and stroke a few donkeys) in between our posts at base; the rickety but highly useful bucket which is the Treatment Centre, or RE11 (at least, I think that's its call sign).

However, whilst stationary for a change, our lull in casualties came to an end, with three eye baths requested in a row. They could have been queing up outside the vehicle for all we knew, it really was in such a quick succession.
The only variety was one wee Canadian lad who had scratched his tummy on a bit of barbed wire, and funnily enough he was the bravest casualty out of the lot. His mother was very calm, and very willing to let us do our job - it's great to have non-interfering parents. The boy was very trusting too, and didn't mind us cooing over him and cleaning up his cut. He even had a ticklish spot which Caitlind took great advantage of to cheer him up. What a laugh he had!
It's great to have calm and trusting casualties, and always interesting to have someone who isn't Scottish for a change. It just shows they come from all over to take a look at these fun days and such.

So the day was a good day, with plenty to see. We had a relatively new colleague with us too, who needed to be shown the ropes slightly. She's a nice lass, and a fine addition to our wee gang. I hope our terrible twosome antics didn't frighten her off!
The Keith Show is also my final Red Cross duty (for the time being) before heading off to Inverness at the end of the month. Thinking about this now, it is kinda sad. I know I have other duties in the next couple of months, but until then, it's my last duty while having a solid place in the Elgin crew. From now on I won't be able to do as much training or work with my gang, but I'll do my best to keep coming through as often as possible.
At least it was a fun 'last' duty.

Wolftrek - ruff ruff awoooooooo!!!

From Dallas Dhu, across the Dava Moor, right to the furthest reaches of Lochindorb and beyond the Spey where Grantown rests, across the very wildest of the Aviemore tracks and ending on the snow-capped pinnacle of the Cairngorm Mountain - this is the awesome Wolftrek journey.

Traversing the plains once terrorised by the Wolf of Badenoch himself, this stunning 45 mile test of endurance is commenced in the name of the Wolf, and is not for the faint of heart.

It is also very poorly sign posted.

Lack of organisational skills was a slight downfall of this duty. We failed to have Red Echo 2 in time for the trip, so Craig and Charlie had to go in the Iveco minibus and fetch it from Aviemore, leaving Judith and me to find Dallas Dhu in my micra. Thankfully, Forres is relatively easy to navigate through, so we found it with only one wrong turning behind us.

Then we sat there for just over an hour. Which is quite embarassing, seeing as we were meant to follow the runners/walkers on from the starting post, chasing up the rear and meeting them at each check point along the way. By the time our fellow colleagues returned, the competitors were already miles ahead. Thankfully, it doesn't take long to catch up with people when your on wheels, so getting back on time track wasn't difficult. The problem was finding the posts we were meant to sit at.

By a sheer fluke, Judith and Charlie (the Iveco crew) stumbled across check point number one. Craig in RE 2, and myself tailing him in my micra, got very lost.

In fact, we passed point 2 and ended up, by chance of being flagged down by a confused marshal, at 3,4, 5 and 6 long before we were meant to. We were so confident we were headed in the right direction... but with none of us having any knowledge of the surrounding area, we were all a bit scuppered.

Our giant, and somewhat confusing, game of leapfrog had begun. Craig and I decided to ditch my micra at point 5/6 - the junction which turns down the A939 to Nairn, and also continues on to Grantown - and head back up to point 3/4 where we would then sit in RE2 and kill some time by speaking about cars.

Meanwhile Judith and Charlie continued on to point 2 - once again unexpectedly finding it by chance - and waited until the stop had cleared and had been closed.

Then they continued down the road towards 3/4, where Craig and I sat in wait. By luck I had made my way down to speak to the marshals, and caught sight of the thundering Iveco, which I then flagged down by nearly jumping out in front of it. We exchanged the new plan - the Iveco crew would sit down at 5/6, while Craig and me would wait until 3/4 was closed, and then hop over them and make our way to our finishing point at Lochindorb.

*takes deep breath*

This sounded like a good plan.

So Craig and me sat gossiping with our fellow residing marshals, trying to keep the midgies at bay with insect spray and (apparantly) midgie-repellent candles. I discovered how quickly heather caught alight that night, and before long we had a mini camp fire, rather than a midgie candle. Which was fine, cos it was starting to get cold.

By the end of our stint at post 3/4, we were hungry, cold, and pimpled.

We popped in past 5/6 to check on our colleagues and pick up my car, and we carried on to Lochindorb. I loved this stretch of the journey - the sun was just setting beyond the distant rolling hills, and the sky was a beautiful darkening blue, with a glint of red and orange streaked through at the horizon as the sun disappeared to make way for the night time. The silhouettes of walkers led the way down the single track by the loch's edge, and suddenly I felt as though I could drive for miles this way.

But we had to stop, and when we did it was attack of the midgies all over again, except this time we had no super candles to keep them away.

Our wait didn't feel too tedious - our Iveco pals were soon with us again, and now we were all starving and simply wanting to get away from the insect swarm building up around us.

There was no relief offered to us for either problem.

And now we had a new issue. The path from Lochindorb headed up an off-road track, which could only be handled by a 4x4 like RE 2. An old minibus and a micra certainly couldn't hack it, and so our journey had come to an abrupt end.

Or had it?

The organisers asked us to cover the walk from Lochindorb to Grantown. Although we were meant to finish at Lochindorb, we had no problem with covering the route further - we could easily hand over to the next crew in Grantown, and it was still far from our finishing time at midnight. But I couldn't tail Craig over the off-road track, which meant I would have to follow Charlie in the Iveco along the main road to Grantown, while Judith accompanied Craig in RE 2.

This was the new plan, and so we set off, yet again, into the newly settled night.

The road to Grantown was an easy one to follow, and the night was illuminated by a full silver moon. I even saw a shooting star! So suddenly, this extension of our services didn't seem too bad.

Charlie and I made it to Grantown in time to buy chips from a Chinese Take-Away - and get pestered by a group of drunks - before meeting the members of the next crew to take over from our duties.

It was close approaching half 12 by then, and I was tired. Never mind the fact that I had to drive all three of my colleagues home again in a car that two grown men and two teenage girls would only just fit into, at a pinch.
I was lucky - I knew which seat was mine cos I was the driver - has its advantages =)

Eventually, Craig and Judith appeared in RE2, ready for the handover to crew number two. Then it was the rather amusing jigsaw puzzle of fitting everyone into my car before setting off for home. My car protested against the sudden and unusual weight it was given to carry, and therefore wouldn't reverse up the slant of the high street, which was really very funny, I imagine more so to watch. What made it worse were the orders from the by standers:
"Put it in reverse!" *demonstrative hand gestures to accompany said command*
"It is in reverse!" *car revvs impressively like some disgruntled lion and finally claws its way backwards*

Anyway, long story short, we actually made it back to Elgin alive. My little mean machine impressed its passengers with its near 4x4 ability to keep all four tyres on the curvey roads, and I impressed myself with my driving skills to get everybody back alive and in one piece.
A good time had by all me thinks, although while some may complain otherwise, I do believe it was quite a fun duty. If we hadn't gotten lost, eaten alive, and squashed into a box on wheels for about an hour, I think it would have been very boring indeed.
But amazingly

We Are Superstars

Belladrum was off the cards for a wee while.

At first it seemed like a great idea, but I ditched it in the end, feeling bad for skipping the Wolftrek duty I was originally down for last weekend (and the fact that I'd be missing several parties too.)

But as fate would have it, the big boss had other ideas.

Caitlind and I were called to perform our first aiding brilliance for a film shoot at Belladrum on the Friday afternoon. First aiding is one thing, and doing the job with a live, interfering audience is another. But first aiding whilst being filmed?

Steve took us over in Red Echo 8 - the finest looking ambo for the job.

It was a good jaunt over actually, but it would have been better for me if my stomach was a little bit more... settled. Riding in the back of a bouncy ambulance - while it fights its way through Inverness - with a hangover is not a good combination. Yes, I had been at a party the night before... and the night before that... and the night before that... and even the night before that. So by Friday morning I was very tender.

Self inflicted, take no pity.

Anyway, after stopping off at a burger bar in Inversneckie's suburbs (it's turning into Steve on the burger van tour '09) we finally entered Belladrum country.

An incredibly rocky road made for jittery riding - I was incredibly close to losing the energy drink I had just started. In fact, I thought my entire stomach content was about to make a re-appearance, which is very unlike me as I usually have a very strong constitution. Just shows how bad that road actually was!

You can imagine my relief when we pulled to a stop beside the hospital tent with portaloos next door.

Anyhoo... the weather was scortching! Fine luck for the festival goers, who were enjoying the hippy-style festival culture which Belladrum had.

Belladrum is very different to Rockness. Although there are still the rowdy party-goers, who rave at night and drink and snort drugs during the day, there is a greater family element at Belladrum. There were even fun tents for the kids, and crafty stalls and so forth which were family-orientated. The number of people there was smaller too, so there were no crushing crowds. In fact, everything felt that bit more relaxed. A fine duty to cover.

Now, I suppose I should explain why we were being filmed in the first place, and why it happened to be Caitlind and my good self. Well, sod's law meant the pair of us were chosen. And the footage was to be a part of a larger film promoting the good work of the British Red Cross. I don't know where or when it's gonna be shown, but I wouldn't mind seeing our moment in the spotlight (I'm vain that way).

Our filming was meant to start at half 3. Of course, half 3 came and went. Then it was 4. Then half 4. And finally, at just before 5 o'clock, the camera crew came - a single woman with a fancy camcorder - and the shooting began.

The plan was to film Caitlind and myself tending to a casualty, loading them into the ambo and treating them, etc. We were gonna use Ben for such a job, but suddenly the stakes were raised - a real casualty was willing to be filmed for the footage.

Thankfully Caitlind knew how to work the loading ramp like a pro, and our casualty - despite having a very sore leg which was either strained or broken but very bandaged up - was quite happy to walk onto the ramp and into the ambo with some assistance. This meant no bloomin' trolley bed to unattach and re-secure, which put me at greater ease. Although I can do this - kind of - I haven't had much practice with it, and I'd probably get it stuck, or not secure it properly. The last thing we needed was to watch our casualty roll out the back doors on her trolley bed as we pulled away from the hospital tent.

So as Caitlind worked the gizmos, I assisted our female casualty onto the ramp and into the ambo, sitting her down on the trolley bed and making her as comfortable and as safe as I possibly could. Her partner joined us in the back, and I was left to stand and casually blether to them as Caitlind shut the back and side doors. Then, with her strapping herself into the front seat by the boss, the ambo pulled out and headed along the road up to the campsite.

And that was a wrap.

For roughly five or ten minutes of film footage, we waited for almost three hours in the blistering heat. I'm not complaining like - we witnessed Belladrum for the first time, and marvelled at how pretty and accommodating it was. I love hippy stuff, so this was pretty cool. It also gave us a chance to take loads of pictures, and meet with some mates from the Inversneckie area. Really it was a brill afternoon, and now (as if the Caring Hero award video wasn't enough) Caitlind, Steve and me are gonna be film stars again!

Since the day it began...

I admit I have been lacking in my blog entries recently, but really there's not been too much to go on about. I have been pretty busy just struggling through the last few weeks of placement, and the only thing remotely Red Cross related has been two healthy heaps of Hopeman Gala.

The first night was a quiz night, which my colleague and I joined in with, and left for home with not a casualty between us.

The second night had been the extravaganza that is Hopeman's Got Talent - slightly more entertaining this time, with loads of posing for photographs in the sunset against a sea-side backdrop. My lean, mean, green machine of a mighty micra served as the ambulance, as it did during the day at Elgin's funday, involving street football and rugby, and playful banter with our water-fairy friends again, and their giant fire-stopping engine. It's been a whole year since we first made allegances with those guys, and reflecting on that fact, it sure had passed quickly!

The final night was the Gala Finale. This was good fun, considering we had befriended all the bouncers and were testing their strength (and patience) for the majority of the night. Oh, and having a dance, like at the talent show the night before. Classics like the Cha Cha Slide and the Macarina just don't get old. I guess that's why they're called classics...

But I suppose the one thing I want to mention just now is the ending of my third nursing placement at DGH. I can't believe it's finally over - once I was looking out across a long expanse of weeks, filled with paperwork and clinical skills, and general hard work, alongside a bunch of strangers.
And somehow, all this has passed by in what feels like the time space similar to that of a blink of an eye. I am finished. This therefore means that I have officially finished my first year of nursing.
That's right - one down, two to go. Hopefully they'll both pass as quickly as this year has.
So I shall now take this moment to reflect on the bumpy rollercoaster ride I have finally stumbled off today...

College - what a jip. The first two days didn't raise my hopes at all. Induction was boring; the people I was to mingle with were the sort of folk I wasn't all too used to socialising with. They either seemed popular, too quiet, too mature or too... something else. But how wrong I was proved to be.
I love my college gang. I'm gonna miss them when we all split off in our different directions. They've turned out to be a great bunch, and we've all shared this same rip-roaring ride with equal enthusiasm in some cases, and different opinions in others. We can relate to each other's experiences, and I hope we still keep in touch beyond the MC year.

And placements?
Well, number one on Community was... my first real eye-opener to what I had let myself in for. And I wasn't phased a bit. I met many nurses during those six weeks who I looked to as - and still do remember to be - a great inspiration. I will probably not forget them throughout the rest of my training... maybe even throughout the rest of my career, whether it be as a nurse or paramedic or whatever I end up being. These were the people who first introduced me to the joys of paperwork and filing, the people who showed me how to inject someone in two different ways, and how fun it was to practice darts on the human arm. They told me about the basics of medication, the importance of the community team in helping those unable to leave the confines of their homes. They introduced me to nursing, and most of them made it seem pretty tempting.

Placement two was Care of the Elderly - something I know only too well thanks to my job in a nursing home. This was pretty basic. I knew all of the care procedures in such an environment already. But the staff were accommodating, my mentor (although hardly ever seeing her) was hot on updating my paperwork, and I met a fantastic nurse who told me almost everything there is to know about every drug they had in stock. Pity I can't quite remember it all...

Placement three was Acute, and although I was left to fend for myself for the first two or so weeks, I finally met the best mentor I have had to date. She encouraged me to do my best, to not take crap from the people who thought they were better than me. Yes, she taught me how to be a rebel, while still respecting the 'superiors' you work for. She gave me advice, guidance and knowledge which I will take with me for the rest of my working life - most probably - and alongside her I have met some of thee nicest nursing staff I could have ever wished to meet. Hopping from ward to ward was no hardship - seeing how every ward differed was fascinating and I loved every minute of it. It felt like we were the two spare parts of Dr Gray's, and it was great fun, as well as a real learning curve.

Although I miss the nursing crew already, I am incredibly glad for the beginning of my holidays to finally be here, and I plan to party hard and make the most of this final month of freedom, before the hard work begins again and Uni looms like a dark cloud over a sunny open summer's meadow, in which I laze about without a care in the world.