Contributor: Phil Warren. What would you do if you found your friend trapped upside down on a fire escape? Or found a fellow biker lay face down over a fallen tree? Or, perhaps, found your running partner halfway down an embankment against a tree, knee-deep in mud?
Some of these things may never cross the mind of the person in the street but, for Manchester Medical Services’s medics, these were just a few of the scenarios they faced on a recent training day.
Bolton Mountain Rescue Team extricate a casualty, courtesy http://www.boltonmrt.org.uk
Spending the day split between our operational base in Droylsden, Manchester, working through the intricacies of full spinal immobilisation — utilising equipment from collars to longboard and from fracture packs to webbing straps — the team then ventured into the wilds of Heaton Park (where many of our events take place). They were offered an opportunity to experience worse-case scenarios.
Teams also took part in mental challenges covering topics such as effective communication and leadership skills, to scene management and influencing abilities, all delivered by experienced trainers and senior staff members. Other topics included familiarisation of the contents of one of our many front-line emergency ambulances. The challenge including unpacking the whole vehicle and seeing who, if anyone, could come up with a more practical stowage and layout of the equipment.
All in all a fantastically-received day by all staff who, despite the mud, rain and hail, were happy with their accomplishments, ranging from basic first aid all the way to extricating an unconscious casualty on a longboard across treacherous terrain!