Tag Archive: Trauma

Filming incidents on mobile phones … Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

I was telling my friends and family about a call I went to recently. It involved a toddler hit by a car with possible life changing or life threatening injuries. My colleagues and I were busy – we had a child screaming with a head injury and the pain of numerous broken bones needing our…

Cat’s Whispers

Things aren’t always what they seem at first. When people are describing what has happened to them when they call 999 for help, it can be open to interpretation and even a small breakdown in communication can mean we find something completely different to what we were expecting when we arrive. Language barriers, third party…

Impaled on fence

On a stunning early spring day recently, I was called by the police to a quiet street where a young man had been injured. The details were given as ’19 year old male, hurt himself on a fence.’ I was only a couple of minutes away in my car so I got there quickly and…

Educazione Stradale

Deciding to challenge my Italian language skills beyond their limits and seeing the opportunity for a little jaunt to my favourite country in with the deal, I signed up to attend a presentation on safety on the road in Italy. Those who have passed a holiday in a city in Italy will recall the chaos of…

Birds of a feather

I had a young student paramedic out observing with me this week. With her ‘gateway’ exam coming up soon Jane wanted to spend the day with an ECP to observe physical assessment techniques. Our first patient was a young man who had fallen almost 3 metres while working on a construction site. It was raining…

Bullseyed windscreen – Car vs pedestrian RTC

I was working on a car with my colleague Richard when we were called to a RTC (Road Traffic Collision). It was the rush hour, already dark and it had just started to rain. The traffic was dreadful as we neared the scene and even though the drivers were trying their best to move their…

Young Offenders Institute

I have been visiting a young offenders institute regularly to deliver sessions on the effects of weapon crime as part of a Gang, Guns & Knives programme for young people. The 4 day course tackles gun and knife crime and looks at ways of helping the young people lead different lives when released back into…

The Stabbing

It was given as “police on scene, male stabbing; no further details”. The call came in on a beautiful, warm summer evening but no sooner had I started to drive there when the heavens opened. The wipers were in overdrive trying to keep my screen clear for the high speed, blue-light journey. I put my…

Impaled

Luckily I was just around the corner when I got called to this one. Traffic police were driving by on their way to curry night at the local police station. They saw a young man on the ground just inside the grounds of a park. They pulled up to investigate and saw that he was…

Off Duty

On my way to work one day I approached a busy junction. I could see that the lights weren’t working so I stopped and pulled on the handbrake. I noticed with horror that a motorcyclist and car approaching the junction from different roads were on a course for collision. As the vehicles impacted, suddenly the…