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Wednesday, 19th November 2008

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Saving lives? All in a day's work



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Help from the skies
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Published Date: 20 August 2008
The phone rings and clinical team leader Fraser Rowbotham jumps up to lift the receiver. It's all systems go.
Suddenly, the tiny hut transforms into a hive of activity.
Paramedic Chris Tate and pilot Stuart Mayor automatically make their way outside to the airfield where their gleaming yellow and green Bolkow 105 helicopter – affectionately nicknamed Abby – awaits.
Seconds later Stuart is powering up the engine and the pair are carrying out checks to ensure they're ready for take-off from their base at Thruxton, near Andover.
Back inside, Fraser is calmly and methodically taking down details of the call-out from South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust's control room.
A nine-year-old girl has a suspected fractured neck after falling from a trampoline at Norley Wood, Lymington.
Fraser quickly works out a route and heads out to the air ambulance for departure.
The 41-year-old says: 'I like helping people. Working for the air ambulance is my dream. It makes me happy. It's the people's air ambulance. It's here to serve them at a time when they need it and need it most. It belongs to the community of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and they deserve to be proud of it.'
Life as a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance crew member is never dull. The helicopter is airborne within three minutes of the team having received the call.
Just two paramedics and a pilot, or one paramedic, a pilot and a volunteer doctor from the Hampshire division of the British Association for Immediate Care, can travel in it at any one time.
The remaining space is taken up with vital equipment.
On arrival they administer pain relief, help the land ambulance crew with their assessment, prepare the little girl for take-off and are then back in the sky within minutes.
They arrive at a field in Lordshill in less than five minutes and are met by another ambulance which transfers her to Southampton General Hospital.
Team leader Fraser Rowbotham.
Team leader Fraser Rowbotham.

The team have no time to catch their breath as Fraser and pilot Stuart are deployed to the Isle of Wight. They touch down near St Mary's Hospital in Newport and pick up a 73-year-old woman with suspected deep vein thrombosis.
They manage to make the journey there and back to Lordshill for another ambulance pick-up in just 35 minutes.
There they pick up paramedic Chris, who has returned after travelling to Southampton General with their earlier patient, and make their way back to base.
All this has taken less than three hours.
It's all in a day's work for the team, who have been called out to 890 incidents ranging from road smashes to sports injuries since the air ambulance became operational a year ago. Thanks to a mammoth fund-raising effort campaigners managed to come up with enough cash to set the service up last summer.
Its six paramedics are funded by South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, but like other air ambulances services in England it receives no other government cash so the charity must pay its two pilots and to lease the helicopter from Gloucestershire firm Bond Air Services.
The charity receives support from eight volunteer doctors who are members of the Hampshire division of the British Association For Immediate Care.
To raise money, it runs its own lottery which has about 22,000 members and has about 250 clothing recycling bins across Hampshire. Other cash comes from donations, fund-raising events and legacies.
The highly-trained team initially only had enough cash to operate five days a week for eight daylight hours at a time.
But thanks to extra funding from members of the public, who raise £2,000 a day to keep it in the skies, the air ambulance has been operational 10 hours a day, seven days a week, since November.
The pilots are so skilled that they can land in a space as small as half a tennis court and are often deployed to hard-to-reach areas the ambulance service cannot get to by land.
Chris, 38, who has been a paramedic for about 15 years, says: 'I have always wanted to do this. Every day I come to work and I pinch myself because I can't believe I'm here. It's a very privileged position to be in.'
Moments later the crew receive another call. It's past 6pm and the helicopter cannot fly any longer, so Fraser and Chris leap into their waiting paramedic car and speed off to a suspected cardiac arrest near Andover.

The full article contains 768 words and appears in The News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 20 August 2008 10:01 AM
  • Source: The News
  • Location: Portsmouth
 
 

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