DO YOU remember back in your schooldays being told parables, fables and stories that were designed in some way to enlighten you? Well, maybe if they didn’t enlighten you then at least they provided illustration on that most essential quality of ‘being prepared’. The motto in the Cubs, I seem to recall, was ‘Be Prepared’ and thats going back a few years. Yup, we were the generation that would be able to cope. Common sense also, was promoted and drilled into us so that hopefully, we would be able in later life to deal with any given situation.
I guess like me a lot of you watch Casualty on the Beeb and marvel at how the protagonists deal with the often grim situations thrown at them. And every time, in real life, when I see an ambulance race by me in the street I’m filled with awe at the coping abilities of those crews. Now, in the past I’ve done a bit of First Aid myself. I first learnt it in the at Ilkeston ATC and in the army we where trained in resuscitation techniques and ‘the kiss of life’ etc ,like we all were trained on our MTC upgrading. The thing you’re never prepared for though is how you will cope in a sudden situation and I was listening to the breakfast radio when this subject came up . “I must update my First Aid,” I thought. Most probably, by that evening, I would have normally completely forgotten it but little did I know that in a few hours I would be learning a salutary lesson.
Zip forward to midday and I’m waiting at a bus stop with a crowd of pensioners for the Asda bus. It’s hot, sunny and about 18c and its been a glories week just waiting for the snow to return . A woman in her thirties is sitting on an adjacent wall and suddenly drops down onto the pavement. It was weird because it happened in slow motion and for what seemed ages nobody did anything. She just slowly pitched forward and landed in almost an ideal recovery pose. “Shit,” I thought, “I must do something...” But do what? It was like that Spike Milligan sketch where everyone stands around chanting, “What’ll we do now, what’ll we do now?” I flipped my phone and dialled; I needed expert advice. One of the pensioners started to pull at the woman and the Radio programme came screaming back. “No, we mustn’t do that,” I asserted, “we have to leave her where she is.” I knelt down beside the woman. The phone rang for an age...
“Which service do you require?” said a voice. “Oh, er, poli... er, ambulance,” I stammered. The phone line was transferred and rang again. Finally, a calm reassuring voice came on the line. The voice took me through a series of procedures. “Have you checked for breathing?” Yes. “Is she blue?” No. “Have you placed her in the recovery position?” Er, yeah – although it wasn’t down to me she just landed that way. “Is she responding to you? Have you asked for her name?” No.
The voice took control and all I did was kneel beside her with what I thought might be a reassuring arm on her shoulder and carried out the instructions. “An ambulance has been dispatched and will be with you in five minutes.” Phew... but do you know how long five minutes seems? Five hours... “Keep talking to her, is she conscious yet?” No, not yet. One of the pensioners stood over us casting a shadow over the fallen woman’s head. I was glad someone was thinking clearly.
Finally the crew arrived and in no time my patient was in the back of the ambulance and thankfully coming round. “You did well mate,” one of the men said, “…just keeping talking to her was good and you put her in the correct recovery position.” I shrugged, “Er - she just kinda landed like that.” He grinned and patted my shoulder, “Well done, anyway...”
That’s it for this week folks; I’ll let you guess the moral of this story.
Toodle pip see you all at the meet on April the 14th IN LEEDS 1300 at Palace Pub Kirkgate Magic
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