Got my wings … at last!
Posted on Tuesday 5th August 2008
The patient was a middle-aged man who had collapsed for no obvious reason, so needed to be taken to a tertiary hospital for investigation. It was a new experience to visit a hospital with very basic resuscitation facilities. Their “casualty” was a 3 bed room for less sick patients and a single bed “resus” room. Very different to the huge departments I’m used to in big city hospitals. The local GP had done a great job in stabilising the patient, so simply had to transfer him onto our equipment and prep him for transport. The hospital lacked scanning and pathology lab facilities so we were rather in the dark as the exact diagnosis.
The trip itself was interesting since the weather wasn’t exactly great. It was only a hour away, so we went in Rescue 51, one of the 3 helicopters available to us. Aviation enthusiasts might like to know it’s a Bell 412, essentially a refitted and upgraded “Huey” military helicopter, most commonly seen as a troop transport in Vietnam movies.
On the way there and back we flew through several storm clouds and it got a little choppy at times. Fortunately, as before, I didn’t find the turbulence too upsetting as the helicopter doesn’t lurch up and down, rather shimmies sideways. It was also a new experience to see rain going sideways as we flew through the cloud base and see a rainbow in mid-air.
Fortunately the transport went well and we delivered the patient safely to the RAH ICU. I was on duty on the unit today so discovered various investigations had proven bacterial meningitis. His prognosis may not be good in the long-term, but he will fare better in the RAH than he would have done if we hadn’t picked him up from Waikerie. I just hope it will all be worthwhile.
P.S: I forgot to take any pictures after we landed in Waikerie, but you can see the rest of the trip there pics here.
Flippin heck, it’s all a far cry from Leicester Royal Infirmary. What an exciting life you appear to be leading!
respect!
Great stuff Rick. Well Done.