Ambulance services et al - very impressed.

Garry Edwards

Garry Edwards

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Just got back from clay shooting - very high ground, 1 + mile of unsurfaced track leading to it, covered in snow.
One of our members collapsed, 2 ambulances and an emergency responder arrived very quickly and although the ambulances couldn't navigate the track, a member got them to the scene.
Just 5 minutes or so later the air ambulance arrived, closely followed by what seemed to be the entire mountain rescue team.

Members carried out CPR until the ambulance crew took over. Sadly, all for nothing - but what an impressive effort.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Just got back from clay shooting - very high ground, 1 + mile of unsurfaced track leading to it, covered in snow.
One of our members collapsed, 2 ambulances and an emergency responder arrived very quickly and although the ambulances couldn't navigate the track, a member got them to the scene.
Just 5 minutes or so later the air ambulance arrived, closely followed by what seemed to be the entire mountain rescue team.

Members carried out CPR until the ambulance crew took over. Sadly, all for nothing - but what an impressive effort.
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My mate is ambulance crew and currently training as a paramedic, I do like to take the p*** Finger-wag.gif out of him but deep down he has my utmost admiration. (He won't see this)
 
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Ambulance/paramedics are superb. So is the fire service.

Police - not that great.
 
Not my best photo ever, but I didn't think it appropriate to take more interesting ones - and there were more urgent priorities.
airamb.jpg
 
It's a very diverse service covering a very diverse area across the uk with very tight budgets, under incredibly difficult circumstances. I felt privileged working with all 13 trusts.

Sorry to hear about the loss in the group. Must be tough for all.
 
Garry Could not agree any more with you...The service is incredible on the two occasions I have needed it and one my mum needed it

Ambulance
Bike Medics
Fire Service
Police

Although its right to say the Police are under so much pressure, dealing with the fallout from government changes in so very many services!

Just re read that and it reads like the person did not make it? If so very sorry to hear that Garry.
 
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Had need for paramedics last November, nothing but absolute repect and love for them both. Thought I was dying but they put me at ease. Thankfully it was just an anaphylaxis caused by a blood pressure pill. Couldn't breath and scared s*** less, 3 days in hospital and a week to mend. Just wish I'd got their names so I could personally thank them.
 
LASTOLITE said:
Garry Could not agree any more with you...The service is incredible on the two occasions I have needed it and one my mum needed it

Ambulance
Bike Medics
Fire Service
Police

Although its right to say the Police are under so much pressure, dealing with the fallout from government changes in so very many services!

Just re read that and it reads like the person did not make it? If so very sorry to hear that Garry.
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He didn't make it but, although I would hate to inconvenience people, I'd like to go the same way myself - very sudden, no illness, and doing something I enjoy.
I was feeling a bit emotional yesterday. I think that what really impressed me wasn't just the speed of the responses, it was the dedication and effort that every single person contributed. The first paramedic took over the CPR and was kneeling in the snow for ages, and was only wearing a Tee shirt.
The access track can only be navigated in the snow by good drivers with good off-roaders. It got blocked by a paramedic first responder's car and then by an ambulance, and later by a police car. The mountain rescue people arrived in 2 Landies and when they found the track blocked they ran the mile or so, compete with backpacks which I'm guessing were heavy. And, later, they carried the body all the way back.
Obviously we managed to tow out the first responder, couldn't get enough grip to tow the ambulance, but it carried snow chains and a compressor, and there was no shortage of volunteers. Don't know what happened about the police car. We've always supported a local hospice, now we're also going to fundraise for air ambulance and mountain rescue.
 
In February 2015 I woke early on a Sunday morning. Was very confused and struggled with my balance.

My youngest son was staying with me and I woke him. I could not understand him and he told me later I was incoherent.

I did not know it at the time but I had suffered a stroke at some point during the night.

My home is in the Mendips in Somerset.

My son rang 999.

In 10 minutes 2 volunteer First Responders living in the next village arrived, followed by a Paramedic. They worked on me (not sure what they did ass my memory is fuzzy). According to my son they were in contact with a doctor and were stabilising and settling me. Shortly after an Ambulance arrived and I was taken to the hospital where I spent 10 days.

It was a truly terrifying experience. It will soon be a year since it happened and I am still recovering. In the main every day has seen improvement with the odd wobble. I am slowly getting my photography mojo back.

What it all comes down to is this. In the UK we have an incredible medical support structure and the frontline emergency medical services are, IMHO, undertaking and delivering truly life saving intervention work and undertaking it with grace, skill and dedication as exemplified in the OP post. Not everyone can be saved but more are than might be if we did not have such structured system(s) in place.

If people believe all the anti-NHS rhetoric spouted by some of the press in the UK then I hope they never have to go through the reality of just how good the front line services are, but if/when they do, they may just realise what we all have access to. Yes, mistakes get made but, for me, 2006 and 2015 are 2 occassions when I had truly life threatening issues which necessitated emergency response and at every step of the way, I had brilluiant care and that I can write this piece is testamwnt to our big society.

As the song goes "you don't know what you've got, till it's gone"
 
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It's a shame about the outcome but as you say a very commendable effort by all involved, I've several friends who work in the ambulance service and they do such an amazing job, we went through a period of time a couple of years back where my dad was in hospital a lot and as a result we had a lot of trips to hospital in the back of an ambulance they were always first class, even if it does mean I'm now on first name terms with a large number of the local service...

Quite amusing was that when I had my little car crash a couple of years back one of the paramedics that was on scene was/is a good friend who I've been out shooting (cameras) a number of times
 
BBR said:
Should give you more than that Sir! Utmost respect and gratitude for you guys and girls, real heroes in my book and experience.
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:agree:

I have first hand accounts of the abuse some of the crews get from some people too!

Respect!
 
A point that struck me, although I didn't mention it earlier, was the vast difference in the attitude displayed by the police who (eventually) attended and the paramedics/mountain rescue guys.
Because the access track had been blocked by stuck emergency vehicles, none of those of us who had driven our off-roaders up to the top could get out for a long time. The people who had come in ordinary cars and who had parked in the car park at the bottom could walk back to their cars and go. That left a lot of people there with shotguns. All of the guns were put into the "office" and guarded by a certificate holder, as we have an obligation to deny access to them to anyone who doesn't hold a certificate - and of course we had the paramedics and mountain rescue guys there.
It was pretty obvious that the police were disappointed that nobody had committed any offences.
Anyway, the police soon found out that they couldn't arrest anyone and that there was nothing there for them.

One of our members happens to be a registered firearms dealer, and she took the gun that belonged to our lost member, this was ideal as a registered firearms dealer can hold it indefinately, any of the rest of us could have taken it but would only be able to hold it for up to 72 hours.

Our club secretary then visited his wife, who she had never met before. Two police officers were there, all that they had been able to tell her was that her husband was dead, they knew nothing about the circumstances, you'd think that they would at least know whether it was illness, an accident or whatever... And they spotted two boxes of shotgun cartridges and insisted that they would take them away "Because you haven't got a licence and it's illegal for you to have them" - which was very inconsiderate in the circumstances, and untrue. Our club secretary explained the legal position to them but they knew best, so she took them with her, after showing the police her own certificate... Disappointing.
 
I feel sorry for police, so much of their work now is dealing with idiots, they forget how to deal with decent people. Good and bad in every job I suppose.

Most paramedics I know are amazing people who are very undervalued, yet keep plodding on despite being emotionally destroyed by their employers.

Sorry to hear of your loss Gary. Yet a great story of humanity by all those that attended
 
Update:
Last Sunday our members fired two volleys in tribute, and his widow and family will be given a copy of the photo. The guy far right is me, was ready to fire the salute but self timer delay wasn't long enough for the photo...

Our next meet will be a fundraiser for air ambulance and mountain rescue
brian walker_red.jpg
 
Very sad news Garry, what a horrible situation to be in and how nice of you to recognise the work the ambulance service do.

arclight said:
Ambulance/paramedics are superb. So is the fire service.

Police - not that great.
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I think all services do an incredible and often thankless job. The Police are the only emergency service that are expected to cover the work, councils, social services, mental health teams and ambulances can't, when they are closed or running at full capacity as well as dealing with all the criminality etc they are supposed to!

I'm pleased the ambulance service has been acknowledged because they are stretched and they do an amazing job. Certainly not a job I would want to do.

The fire service do a difficult job, however, I was recently told our fire service are only actively operational for 5% of the time they are on duty which is why they are now trying to see how they can use their staff to help out police & ambulance that are completely over stretched!
 
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Thankfully never had to call out a fire crew but any time I've dealt with ambulances ive always been left impressed. Hasn't ever seemed to be any messing around just out quick as they can and straight to the job in hand.

Police is with mixed feelings, while I've seen them respond very efficiently to life threatening incidents I'm far from impressed with how they deal with non critical incidents, feels like your lucky to get a response at all for burglaries and car thefts these days.
 
Agree with almost all of the above, have quite a few paramedics / fire service that I have the privilege to look after and they have to put up with an incredible amount of day to day rubbish but still do a phenomenal job
 
Interesting that so many people are doubtful of the police. I'm not a police officer but work closely in the system and I see many officers and police staff trying their best to do the right thing with increasingly stretched resources and little support. They have lost buildings, vehicles, amalgamated specialist services to reduce numbers, shared equipment and resources such as dogs and forensics to cut costs. The overall number of officers is reducing. Crime isn't falling, look at the people driving some of the flashy cars and ask yourself how does a person like that afford a car like that. The police are left to work within confines of the law increasingly scrutinised over every action. To get it back on topic... They spend a huge amount of time mopping up society particularly around welfare including mental health. This ties them up looking after people when many other agencies either refuse to deal because they have reduced what they will deal with and give a very specific criteria before they will become involved, or because they are waiting for other agencies including ambulances and social services to take over. That deteriorates the police response. There are many stories of police officers waiting hours either at someone's home for an ambulance or the hospital because the individual is not in an immediate life endangered situation. Ambulances may seem pretty good response for emergencies (although targets are slipping) but they can take an age otherwise once they know the person is being looked after. No disrespect to the staff of course, they work in a prioritised system of attendance. The fire service I'm afraid will also suffer. They are being taken over by political heads, the police and crime commissioners many of whom have their own agenda and party politics to consider e.g. privatisation. Of course much of this is fuelled by an increasingly demanding public. The police plagued by issues that didn't exist years ago or people sorted out themselves, demands of the ambulances because they are easy to call and let someone else sort out even small issues.
 
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