Читать книгу More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea - Tom Reynolds - Страница 18

…We get the call to the RTA, a car has crashed into a bus; normally these things are ‘nothing’ jobs. We put on the blue lights and head towards the crash…

…The radio bursts into life, there is an officer who ‘lucked’ onto the scene—he tells Control that he needs a lot of ambulances, the fire service and the police. The injuries are all serious. We wonder if he is talking about the same crash we are going to…

…We crest the hill, with one look at the car and the bus we know it’s going to be serious…

…I jump out of the ambulance and head to the car; I ask the officer what he wants us to do. He tells me that we can’t wait for the fire service to arrive to cut out the first patient as his breathing is so ragged. We agree that he needs to be out of the car immediately and that a possible neck injury is a low priority…

…We get him out and I watch as he takes his last breath…

…We work on him; he is so young we have to make the attempt. The DSO (duty station officer) and other FRUs work on the other people in the car…

…He is lying lifeless in my ambulance and the BASICS doctor declares him dead—then we rush off to the next casualty…

…This one gets sedation. I write the dose and time on his chest so that the information doesn’t get lost in the chaos. Another ambulance crew speeds him to hospital…

…The next one is declared dead as the firefighters cut him out…

…The other dead man is left in the car, there is nothing to do for him, it will be some time before the firefighters are able to free him…

…I check on the people in the bus, there are some injuries that will need hospital treatment. I’m trying to keep them calm and relaxed. My crewmate and I move from our ‘all-business’ personalities to our ‘reassurance’ ones in the time it takes us to walk to the bus. I deal with the multiple casualties one at a time, my crewmate helps me out…

…My ambulance becomes a mobile mortuary; the police are checking for identification. The blood is pooling on the floor…

…I’m sitting on the back step of the ambulance, two of the dead are in my ambulance; one, wrapped in a sheet, is at my feet. We are waiting for the undertaker…

…The police investigation team is chalking the outlines of vehicles and taking photographs of the scene…

…My paperwork is done. It seems like such a little bit of writing for such a serious call where three men have been killed…

…Medical equipment and wrappers mix with the debris of the accident. There is the familiar ‘tick-tick-tick’ of our blue lights revolving in their housings…

…Back at the station I have a face mask on as I clean the floor and trolley of the ambulance with the jet spray we normally use on the outside of the vehicles. My crewmate is doing the gentler job of cleaning the equipment. The blood comes off eventually…

…It’s time for our next job.