CALLOUT 30

The weekend gone was certainly a busy one!

Saturday saw members providing First Aid cover to the annual Gin Trek on behalf of Rossendale Hospice it was a great day and thankfully quiet for all concerned.

Sunday saw the team out again, this time providing First Aid cover for the British Cycling Cyclocross Championships. The event had a great turnout with over 300 participants from all age groups.

Conditions on the day became more and more muddy with the intermittent rainfall and with the amount of competitors taking part a particular section became a mud slide.

There were a few minor cases dealt with throughout the day and we were only 45mins from the finish of the day when a team member witnessed a competitor colliding with a tree at full speed over 20+mph, head on!!

The casualty immediately screamed in pain and fortunately our team member that’s an experienced Remote Rescue Medical Technician immediately reacted protecting his spine and starting an immediately hasty assessment. Also to hand a good friend and local community paramedic heard the scream and came to support.

It was an immediate decision to callout 999 and get a full team callout actioned, as the mechanism of injury (MOI) was such, the pain score and the injuries we had assessed required a full immobilisation of the casualty.

Only 10 mins from making the call, NWAS were on scene with team minutes behind. It was a great illustration of community CFR’s, NWAS and MR all working seamlessly together on every level. Once the casualty was stabilised then the team extricated him on the scoop and into a cas bag for insulation, then onto the bell stretcher to the ambulance for onward travel to hospital.

In mountain rescue we’re trained in a number of specialisms and for our medics we train to deal with every eventuality. Thankfully with a member a few feet away from the incident a response and medical care started immediately and without a doubt that response aided the best care possible for what was without a doubt a high impact trauma.

Once on board the ambulance it was a quick kit tidy, then back to base to clean everything down and get set for the next job.
We wish the young man a speedy recovery and hope it won’t be too long before he’s back on his bike competing again.

Huge thanks to Rossendale First Responders also for teaming up together.