BTCC Thruxton

Had a cracking weekend working one of the Rescue units at BTCC
Thruxton. Managed to keep both of the major incidents to my crew - a
Ginetta G50 rolled over the tyre wall in practice on Saturday whilst
on Sunday another G50 hit the tyre wall on the outside of Village.
First driver self extricated and just needed a lift back to the
medical centre whilst the second had got out of the car but was in a
bit of a state. He got vac matt'ed and removed to med centre before
transfer to hospital. All in all a good weekend - roll on Brands in
May.

Quiet weekend. Busy at work but mainly Nan down, nothing too stressful. My only bugbear was why do those who really need us wait so long? Two elderly females sat at home with central chest pain for more than 3 hours as they "didn't want to disturb us". Actually ladies you are the sort of people that I'm there for.

I'm heading towards the end of the one big benefit of our current rota system - the week off every four weeks. It's bliss. I've spent a lot of time on the Xbox, caught up on TV that I Sky pluss'ed many many weeks ago and have drunk bucket loads of coffee. I would guess from the way that I felt on Sunday (tired, achey, flu like symptoms) compared to today proves the worth of this system. Also having purposefully avoided contact with anything work related, including avoiding study like the plague, has helped to recharge my batteries. I have now looked through the calendar for motor racing this year and have found some cracking meetings that coincide nicely with weekends off. Four BTCC meetings, World Series by Renault, DTM and World Touring Car here I come. May also take some leave to be at the F3/GT's at Thruxton in August. Happy Days!

Maybe it's time to get back into blogging, give me somewhere to unload all the shit that happens in my life without effecting anyone else. So here goes.

Fracture Night

3 jobs, 2 quite nasty fractures, 1 non conveyed.

First call was to a young man who had jumped some 15 feet on to a
tarmac path sustaining a significant fracture dislocation of the
ankle. Surprisingly he was not complaining of too much pain and even
refused entonox. Moved on to the trolley his foot was supported on a
pillow and he was transported too hospital in relative comfort. The
presence of a good pedal pulse means that he should recover well even
though the x ray we saw later that night was quite impressive with
fractures to the tibia and fibula.

Secondly we went to a young boy who had fallen from a skateboard and
fractured both ulna and radius in a classic Colles fracture. He was in
bucket loads of pain and was given paracetamol, oramorph and entonox.
Gratifyingly we seem to have made his pain much better by the use of a
vacuum splint.

Third call was to a gentleman who had imbibed 4 liters of white cider
and unsurprisingly had fallen over on his way home. Despite a
laceration that may have needed closure he declined so was cleaned up
and after signing a refusal form was allowed on his way.

Tough Jobs

It's not the bad jobs that get to you. Often doing the bad jobs that
you just can't talk about in public aren't the problem. It's the
contrast with the next job that is likely to be the drunk or the time
waster. You just have to count to 10 and try your best to keep your
cool. These are the people that complain and one complaint will blow
your career no matter how well you care for those that deserve your
help.

Not Happy

Wondering why exactly it takes more than a week to get told whether or
not he is actually on the paramedic course which starts in exactly 12
days time. After all who really needs to know what they are doing a
week Monday? >:-|