Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Yorkshire sprawls across three million acres...

..the biggest county in Britain...

RADIO COMMS: Nine-eight, go ahead.

PARAMEDIC: One-eight, 18 minutes ETA.

..all of it covered by the crews of its two dedicated air ambulances.

GEMMA: This job has two sides to it.

You fly around in a helicopter, and you have the time of your life...

(TELEPHONE RINGS)

(ALARM BLARES)

..and then there's the flip side to it, where it's awfully stressful.

MAN 1: Let's go up, then, visors down and pilots briefed. MAN 2: Roger, lifting.

We get sent to some pretty horrific things.

WOMAN 1: She's probably gonna need blood, to be fair.

(WOMAN 2 SCREAMS)OK. There we go. MAN 3: That's it, we're done.

From the remote Dales... PILOT: 99 overhead scene.

..to the rocky coast...Pull!

..six million people depend on them...

Aargh!

No job is ever the same. No people are ever the same.

WOMAN 3: Lift.

We see a lot of carnage on the scene, we see a lot of destruction

and people's lives turned upside down.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

..from hardy locals hurt at work... (GROANS)

..to tourists trapped in the beautiful but hostile landscape.

(COUGHING AND WHEEZING) It does make you appreciate

that life's for living.

This is life on the cutting edge of emergency medicine.

Couldn't imagine anything's gonna top being a part of this team.

It's lunchtime in the crew room at Nostell Air Base.

MAN: Yeah.

On the Air Desk, dispatcher Sam is filtering

through the 2,000 emergency calls

made to Yorkshire's ambulance control every day.

(TELEPHONE RINGS)999 OPERATOR: Tell me exactly what's happened.

CALLER: It's a little boy. He's broken his leg.

(CHILD WAILING)Can't really see through his trousers.OK. OK.

Oh, Christ, I can see the bone!

SAM: Where is that?MAN: Harrogate.

(ALARM BLARES)

All secure to my right.

Neil is just securing and we are coming... (INDISTINCT)

(CHUCKLES)

RADIO COMMS: Base to service 10118145, five onboard,

Nostell routing towards Harrogate.

(INDISTINCT) 98, over.

I'm assuming someone's come off a skateboard or something.

It sounds like it. From what I can gather,

got a ten-year-old that's fallen. Information that's come in is open fracture

to, I'm assuming, the lower leg at this moment.

We'll have to see when we get there, see what's going on.

An open fracture is a fracture where the bone's come through the skin.

It can look quite horrific, quite scary for people to look at.

You're taught your skeleton's on the inside, and all of a sudden, something bursts through,

and people always panic a little bit.

The team are on their way to Valley Gardens in Harrogate,

a 17-acre, Grade II listed park.

That's where I first met my wife. At the skate park?

Not quite. It wasn't there. Didn't have skateboards?

Er, we weren't quite that cool.

That's it. Nine o'clock now. Yeah. Seen.Yeah.

It does look quite busy with fairground attractions and stuff, guys.

What about the rough ground to the right-hand side of it there?

Yeah.That looks pretty unpopulated, doesn't it?I think so.

This pedestrian might just appear behind this tree at 11 o'clock we're watching out for.

Otherwise I'm happy. Left doesn't look too bad.

Yeah.Yeah. You happy? Clear out.I am.Door opening.

The boy's mum has come to meet them.

STEWART: What's happened? WOMAN: He's broken his leg in the skate park.Oh!

You can see bone hanging out.OK. It's not nice.OK.

What's your name, buddy?I'm Will. Will, I'm Stew, mate.

Can you tell me what's happened, Will?

(WILL SPEAKING)

You broke your leg, you think?

All right. What I need you to do is to stay nice and calm for me, OK?

Is it really, really bad pain? Yeah, it is.Yeah? OK.

Ten-year-old Will has fallen on one of the skate park's highest half pipes.

Will, look up at me, mate. You're gonna be OK. All right?

Now, I know you won't want to look at this, but I'm gonna have a little look, OK?

You close your eyes for me. All right, mate.

(WILL WAILS)I'm just gonna cut these, mate. They're ripped anyway.

Good excuse for a new set. (CRYING)You're all right, mate.

Good man, it's good, man.

(WAILS)OK. Ow. Ow, it's the wind.

That's all right, mate. You're doing really well. It really hurts.

We've closed back up. But I think we have got a burst.

I'm sorry, mate. We're going to cover this back up. All right?(WAILING)

A bit of gas and air. I'll go and get some, shall I?

Just wondering about a shelter tent to give us some privacy.

Might not be a bad shout. I'll get one.

Dr Neil will be on hand to administer

strong pain relief if it's needed.

Come here, mate, give me this hand. (WHINES)Look at his gloves.

(LAUGHS WEAKLY)There! How long have you been on the scooter?

A few years.A few years? How old are you, Will? Er, ten.Ten?

What the plan is, is we're gonna get it nice and straight. I'm gonna put a bandage on it.

I'm gonna give you some pain relief, and then we're gonna get you down to Harrogate.Yeah.OK, mate.

I'm not gonna cut these laces cos they're orange

and you'll never get an orange pair to match your boots. I'm gonna be really, really careful.

All right, mate. On the same side as us.

Yes.Well done, mate. Well done, mate.

Obviously, the way we speak to children is gonna be different.

I like being a bit silly sometimes. It's building up rapport,

putting them at ease quite quick.

Is Will allergic to anything that we know of? No, but he's wheat-sensitive.

Wheat-sensitive. I'm not giving him a sandwich.

I know it's painful. We're gonna give you some gas and air.

It's magic.(YELPS)

Mate, you ready for the big tent?

This is one of my favourite bits of kit cos it's like playing hide and seek in a bright orange bag.

As part of our kit, we carry, er, commonly referred to as a bothy bag.

It's just a windproof, waterproof shelter

that we can put over ourselves, put over a patient.

Allows us to do our job, keeps the wind and rain off people.

It's windy in Harrogate.

All right, just listen to the man. What I need you to do, mate, you've got to do this bit, OK?

You bite that in your mouth. (WHIMPERS)Bite on it.

Right? And you take some nice deep breaths on it.(INHALES)

That's it. You're an expert. You keep taking that, OK?

You can hold it with your hand because my hands are busy.

That's it, mate. And you keep taking some nice deep breaths for me. You shut your eyes.OK?

And what you'll feel is you'll feel a little bit dizzy.

It feels like being a little bit tipsy. Right, mate.

I need to get to this leg and put this bandage on it. Is that OK?

Yeah? So can you roll your leg this way?

Well done, mate.Well done, Will. That's going to feel a bit cold.

OK.

Now that's helping, do you think you'll be able to sit on your bottom for me?

Yeah? Cool, mate. This is gnarly, this, mate. You are cool.

Good man. Good lad. OK.

With Will's pain under control,

they're placing the leg into a vacuum splint.

It will suck all the air out of it and it'll go really, really tight and it'll hold your leg.

Can you feel it tightening? Yeah? Happy days.

Yeah? Yeah? That'll do us, mate.

Yep.Right, then. How's that?Pretty good.Magic.

Well done.Right. How are you feeling?A bit better. Feeling better? Magic.

So I'll just leave you here, then, yeah?Yeah.You get back on your board?(CHUCKLES)Right, then.

All we gotta do now is sit tight and wait for an ambulance.

Whilst we're sat in a tent in the middle of the skate park. (WOMAN SPEAKING)

(EXCLAIMS) As much as I'd love to give you a ride in the helicopter,

it's a lot of effort for a ten-minute drive to Harrogate.

At least you got to call out a helicopter. Yeah?

Did you see it? Did you see us land? No? Do you want to see it?

Should I lift this up so you can see the helicopter?

Yeah?PARAMEDIC: Oh, he's much better now, isn't he? Do you see it?

Some roll splints and gas and air has worked a treat. (LAUGHS) He's a new man.

Oh, hello, perfect.

The land ambulance crew have arrived.

It's a ten-year-old boy, he's smiling and happy now,

come off his skating thing.

No other injuries except his knee.

He's got a large, sort of, two- or three-inch wound,

just distal to his left knee.

And if you're happy, we could go to Harrogate.Cool.

Erm, Stew, DCA is here.Excellent.

So, meet Will.Hi, Will.

Right, mate. The easiest way of doing it is I'm gonna get hold of this.

So I want you to push with your good leg, and I'm gonna lift this one. You ready? One, two, three.

That's it, mate, push!Push, push! Push! Push! Push!Hop!

Hop! Hop! Hey!There we go. Dead easy.

Will will go to Harrogate District Hospital by road.

Magic carpet right here.

Look at you smiling now, man.

It's just a ten-minute drive away,

and it means his mum can travel with him.

I was just off with his sister and then Dad rang me and said

I needed to get straight to the skate park,

cos his bone's sticking out of his leg.

It just didn't look very good, really.

I'm worried, but, erm, I think he's in really good hands.

You can tell they all know what they're doing, and he's chatting,

and now he's had some gas and air, he seems quite happy, actually.

Right, we got some medicine here for you to get rid of that pain.

I'm hoping it's strawberry-flavoured.

Everybody likes strawberry. You pop that in your mouth and squeeze it in.

What flavour is it?

I can't really tell, but it's nice. Good.Beautiful.

Right. Thank you, Will. Always a pleasure, guys. No worries.

All good?Yeah. Harrogate it is, then.

For the air ambulance, it's the scenic route back to Nostell

to await their next job.

STEWART: As a Lancastrian, I hate to say it, but Yorkshire is stunning.

WOMAN 1: I like Topcliffe. WOMAN 2: I like Topcliffe.

Most of my decent jobs have come out of Topcliffe.Yeah, same.

We've got an excellent team at work. We've got each other's backs.

We know what triggers people,

what situations might make a team member sad.

That's all dirty. I'm gonna need her in.

And if that's the case, we'll talk about it,

and we talk about it endlessly, and we help each other out.

We're a little family, erm, and we look after each other.

How do you stop it going up your arm?

You tie the raincoat really tight.(LAUGHTER)

Like, it's, like, sodden.

At the base, Matty is manning the Air Desk.

A job has come in on the North York Moors,

so he's dispatching the Topcliffe team.

Hey, mate, I've got a job for you. Seventy-four-year-old female

who's fallen in a remote area.

I think she's got a humerus fracture.

All right, mate. Cheers. Bye.

They're heading to a remote pathway on the Coast to Coast Walk,

a 190-mile trek across the spectacular but treacherous Pennines.

We're going to a 74-year-old female

who's fallen 15 miles away from the nearest road.

MAN: Wow.She's in a really remote location near Stokesley, I think.

Er, and she's fractured her humerus.

Yeah, so she's just on the edge of the woods.

It looks like it could be a nice, clear area for us to land.

It will depend on the slope, but she can't quite -

We'll have a bit of a carry otherwise, won't we?Yeah.

Well, it's only an arm. Oh, she can walk?Yeah.Maybe.

Maybe.It'll probably be better for her if she did, actually, cos it will hang nicer.

That area of the country is really quite remote.

You're not near to roads, so ambulances

can't reach you very easily.

Erm, so where she fell would have required

quite a lot of extrication from other services.

So perfect for an air ambulance to come and help.

Right. So, it's somewhere along that wood line there, isn't it?

Yeah. Agreed.

It's showing down in that bottom corner

there's two people directly below. Oh, yeah, I see them.

Yeah. On the path. 98, overhead visual.

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

It's, like, where the T-junction of the path is.Yeah. Right at the top.

Tail looks good. Here, then, mate, yeah.99 landed.

Do you know the patient?

All right. All right.

What's her name? Who have we come for?

What's she done?

She fell onto her shoulder. Right, directly onto it?

Well, it's either her shoulder or upper arm.Right.

She's lying face down, ain't she, bless her?Yeah.

Hiya. My name's Andy. This is Gemma.

Hello.What we need to do is have a bit of a look at you.

Have you hurt yourself anywhere else?

I don't think so. It's just my shoulder, my arm. Just your shoulder?

Helen Snaith is in too much pain to move.

She's fallen while walking the Coast to Coast route with friends.

Do you think we might be able to turn you over and sit you up?

Yeah. If you'd lift me. (CHUCKLES)Yeah?

You wanna try a bit of gas and air first?

Helen, have you ever had gas and air before?Yeah.

You have. Did you get on with it?

All right. Well, at least that's not happening today.No. (LAUGHS)

That bit goes into your mouth and you suck on it and it'll make a hissing noise.

Breathe it in and out all the time,

and hopefully, it'll get you to a stage where you don't mind moving so much.

So when you get to a point where it feels all right...Mmm.

..we'll give it a go.We'll spin you around and sit you up.

Would that be all right?OK.OK?

Yeah? OK? So if you spin around towards Will, who is behind you... WILL: Hello.

I don't want to grab hold of your hand to do it, but...

You know what hurts, so... We're here to support you all the way as well. All right.

GEMMA: That's it. Well done. Right. Nice.

Do you think we could sit you up?

There we go. Hello.Hello.

Right, take some more gas if you want it.Yeah.Here we go.

Can somebody take that mouthpiece for a minute?Got it.

Do you want to keep on with it?

Do you mind if I cut this shirt down there?

At least it's not your jacket.

Just watch that I don't cut her hair, Gemma.

No, I don't want free haircuts while I'm here.

I don't know if she's... You're holding it, aren't you?Yeah.

If it's hurting, you would do, wouldn't you?

Very swollen there, innit? Mm.OK.

Does it hurt where he's touching? Yeah.

Wonder if you've done something to your shoulder.

Does this shoulder feel painful, or is it just the arm?Mm.Mm? OK.

I wonder if you've popped your shoulder. I wonder if you've dislocated that a little bit.

Did it feel like it, like... I don't suppose you know what you did, do you?

Do you feel like you've popped your shoulder at all? I don't know.You don't know?

So, when we got down to her skin, removed her clothing,

we found that she had quite a deformed humerus -

that's the long bone in the top of your arm -

and perhaps a shoulder injury there as well.

She was really, really in pain with it.

We could put a needle into your hand and give you some morphine,

and it'll just work alongside the gas and air

to get you a bit more comfortable. Do you feel OK about that?Yeah.

So the only thing we need to do is use your good hand, try and get a vein.

So, plan A is to see if we can get you onto your feet

and see if we can walk you up to it. Yeah.

If plan A doesn't work, we can come up with a plan B.

OK, so if you feel rotten on your feet or anything like that, then we can reassess it.

All right, but it's probably more comfortable for you

upright, if that's the bone that's broken, cos it kinda hangs down

and it holds itself in that position.

But we'll see. We'll see what you think. OK.

Ready, one, two, three, up. (ALL GRUNTING)That's it.

Right, get your... Let the blood flow.

Shall we start walking? Do you feel OK?

Shall we?Yeah, I think so. Helen, how old are you?

Seventy-four.Seventy-four?Yeah. Blooming heck. You're doing excellent up here.

Right. So, watch your step up, this first step up.

My arm's throbbing.So when we get in the aircraft, we'll top you up with a bit more pain relief.

Yeah.We've got different options.

We just wanted to give you enough to get you across the field,

but not too much to not get you across the field, if that makes sense. (LAUGHS)

So, what we're gonna try and do is perch your bottom on the end of it,

and then we'll help you kind of slide up into position, if that's all right.

Shove your heel in that, that's it, and then keep shuffling back.

Watch your head.Be aware that your head is behind you.

We're all secure in the rear. And secure front left.

How much more, Chip?

She's had five so far, but I'm gonna keep with the intention of giving ten by the time we arrive.

Air Desk, 99, we're now finals for James Cook.

I think what we'll do, guys, we'll take the stretcher out,

and we'll let her shimmy across side-to-side.

Does that sound like a plan?Yeah.

Bravo, on the hour. 99 landed at James Cook.

Right. Do you think you could sit yourself up,

with our help, and then we'll swing your legs around,

if I just help you behind your back?

That's it. So we can stand up,

and then you've got to kind of pirouette on this little platform.

I've got ya.That's it. And then let's pop this behind your shoulders.

Did we tell you it's only £10 a blanket today?(LAUGHS) Yeah? All right.

Happy days.

I'll go steady down there, cos they've made it especially bumpy...

Right...just to make sure people are in pain.

So, we deep clean the helicopter once a month at Topcliffe

and once every three months at Nostell.

So everything comes out and gets cleaned with

an antibacterial solution.

(LAUGHTER)

"Bitten by a squirrel."

How do call takers, like, not laugh on the phone?Yeah.

Cos they've been desensitised to all this, haven't they?Yeah.

Sam spots a job in North Yorkshire,

and so calls the airbase at Topcliffe,

which is closer to the incident.

Job, please. Kirkbymoorside.

Er, RTC, lorry versus motorbike.

The biker's laid out in the road.

Thanks. Bye.

99 lifting.

So, Max, do you know what we're going to?

MAX: Yes. We're going to a motor biker in Kirkbymoorside.

Motorbikes make up less than one percent of UK road traffic,

but 20% of all road deaths.

So, when we attend motorbike incidents, we are expecting to see

from minor injuries to massive injuries.

We have head injuries, broken bones,

down to grazes and lacerations and the whole range in between.

We didn't know what to expect when we were going to this job,

we just knew that it was a child that had come off his bike.

Right. So, the junction, this side, biker's on the road,

you'd think there'd be standing traffic on the main.

I think we're going to be first on scene.Yeah.

So have your eyes out, Terri-Ann. My eyes are out.

Oh, there it is. Three o'clock. Yeah, there he is.

Air Desk, 99 overhead scene.

I think you're probably better in this field here, Colin.

Yeah. You can get through the hedge.

Yeah. Sort of wondering where the cows are, just got out of that gate.

Yep.You're happy with that?

Come over the edge of the trees. Hopefully they'll all be your side.

Cows don't look too bothered. No, they're all keeping still.

Yeah. I think it looks a bit more space, doesn't it?

Everyone happy?ALL: Yeah. Yeah, happy.

Perfect.99 landed. OK, all down.Thank you.

The police are on scene and are checking the casualty over.

Hey, mate, you OK?(MAN SPEAKING)

The one that's laying on the ground is the rider of this motorcycle.

So the concern is head injury at the minute, I think.OK.

(MAN SPEAKING)

Oh, brilliant.

Hello.Good to see you.

I'm Max, this is Terri-Ann. NURSE: Checked his hips, his legs.

Cool.Doesn't seem to have any abdominal pain, no shortness of breath.

Yeah.He just keeps repeating himself.

OK. Thank you very much.

You take a big breath in, George. Any pain in your chest at all? GEORGE: No.Cool.

And if I press on your chest here? OK.Cool.

Sixteen-year-old George is drifting in and out of consciousness

after coming off his motorbike.

He was riding home from a GCSE exam when the accident happened.

Got a lot of layers on, ain't ya? Any pain in your tummy here?No.

Any pain in your hips?No. This side all right?Yeah.

There's a big burn down your leg. Yeah.Can you lift this leg for me?

Good man. Can you do this one?

Got your safety shoes on. Excellent.Yeah.(LAUGHS)

He was unconscious, which is a big red flag for us.

He also had his arm injury.

He's got obvious facial injuries, which is another red flag for a head injury,

so he needs to go to hospital to be seen for that and his arm.

George's family run a farm nearby.

Can I sit up?Yeah, you can sit up if you want.

It's clear he's not got any pain...Yeah.

So where's it hurting at the minute? Just my elbow's a bit stiff.

OK.I don't know whether it's broken or not.Can I cut up this and we'll have a look?

Watch my arm. Yeah. So, what happened, mate?

Er, I don't know. I think I went flat out straight over like an idiot.

Can I cut this one? We might as well.Go on, then.

Cut my shirt and all, now. I've not cut your shirt.

That's better than me.(LAUGHS)

So you're definitely knocked out, George? I was knocked out, yeah.

Yeah. It looks like you've broken your elbow, mate.

Like I said.That's sorted. Now you're sat up, I'm just gonna have another feel.

Ooh, what's happened to my bike? Bloody hell!Yeah.

Got a bit of, er, stiff knee.

Yeah.Yeah.That's all right.

And how bad's your pain at the minute?

Er, not that bad, really.

All I know is I've got puffed up, so, erm, a graze there.

Yeah.And then this elbow's buggered.OK.

Terri-Ann wants to find out more about the mechanism of injury.

She's going to speak to the lorry driver.

I just saw him as I've come up here.

Yeah.I heard the skid of all the gravel.

Yeah.Not been dragged or... No, as far as I can tell, he's not gone under the wheels.

Yeah.That's the only point of impact I can see, and then that stuff.

Yeah.And then that damage there. Yeah. Are you all right?

A bit shaken up. Yeah.I feel for him cos I'm a biker as well.

Yeah.These loose chippings they put down is absolutely...

It's lethal, isn't it? It's like riding on marbles.

Yeah.I mean, he was writhing around the floor in a lot... Making a lot of noise.

Right. OK.I was trying to ring emergency services

and trying to sort of get him to stay down, but he got up and he was...

So he's jumped up, kind of spoken to you, then gone over here?

He was staggering around. He was on the floor for a good few minutes...

Right. OK. ..erm, writhing around in pain.

And then, as I say, he looked like he was gonna pass out,

she said, so they got him down into the recovery position. Yeah. All right. OK. Thank you.

Right. Thank you very much. Thank you.

It's important to us that we know all that information. It definitely changes our plan.

It wasn't just a bump into something.

He's knocked himself unconscious with a helmet on as well,

so it's been a significant impact.

A land ambulance has arrived.

Hello. You all right?

Obviously got this injury on his head. He's complaining of some pains.

There's quite a lot of deformity in his left elbow.

Some pain in his knee. He has no spinal pain at all.

Let's get you sat on here, mate. You want me on there?Yeah. Just take it steady.

Let's get you warmed up.

You're very brave. He's tough, ain't he?Yeah.Cool.

Could be a bit bumpy on the way.

Let's get you out of the weather. Absolutely.

So, apart from your elbow and your face and your knee, have you got any pain anywhere else at all?

Er, no, I don't think so. I'm all right.OK.

Well, I was obviously puffed up there.Yeah.My knees are all right.

I grazed that knee and I have seen a hole in my trousers...

Take another big breath in for me.Breath?

No pain in your chest when you're doing that? No, it's all right.Excellent.

No pain across here? No, it's all right.

All right at the back?Yep. Excellent. Big breath in for me. (INHALES DEEPLY)

Fantastic.It's all right, that.

I was coming down, and I didn't fully stop,

and I saw lorry and I slammed on

and I managed to get past just so the back wheel was there.

Yeah, but he's not gone underneath. He's hit the floor.

He was writhing around on the floor when the lorry driver got out. Not completely LOC.

Cool. Let's get a splint on your arm and you'll be a bit more comfortable, mate.

PARAMEDIC: How bad is the pain? It's not that bad, really.

Not bad?Well, obviously, obviously, I broke my elbow.

George will go to hospital by road, and his mum can travel with him.

Sweetie, do you want me to come in here with you?

Or do you want me to follow in the car?

Erm, you can if you want. Yeah, let's do that. How are you gonna get your car?

(INDISTINCT) It's not an issue.

MAN: He's pretty tough, your son, ain't he? Everyone keeps saying that.

He was like, "I'm OK, I'm OK." He's broken his arm. It was an obvious break.

We were like, "Would you like some pain relief?" And he was very stoic.

He was very brave. He was good.

MAX: I'm gonna leave you with these guys. Nice to meet you. Hope you're home soon.

Thank you so much.No worries. Nice to meet you guys. Thanks a lot. GEORGE: Cheers, thank you.

The injuries he's got, he can be well-looked-after by the land ambulance

and, sort of, their... What they're able to provide him was more than suitable,

and it means we're free if anything more serious comes up.

Yeah, he's got a nasty break in his arm and a little bump on his head,

but he's in really good spirits

and he doesn't want any painkillers, so, yeah, he's very tough.

Keep the farmers happy.

The crew of Helimed 99 can head back to base,

although a herd of curious onlookers might have other ideas.

Colin saved my and Andy Watson's life with the helicopter because of cows.

We were in the field and the cows started, like, stampeding towards us.

And the helicopter came down. He came over like this.

Zoom! Scared them all the way through a fence. (LAUGHS)

It was pretty cool. Have we got enough milk on base?

Yeah. (CHUCKLES)

It's down to Colin to save the day again.

He's braver than me. I wouldn't be doing that.

High in the Yorkshire Dales, a climber is in trouble.

Dispatcher Gav is tasking the team from Topcliffe.

It's Healey, Ripon, it's Slipstone Crag rocks.

Ooh, I've been climbing there. OK. Have a good one. See you. Bye.

All secure front right. And visors down and pilots briefed.

Air Desk from 99, lifting.

So, where are we going? It looks on the map

like there were some crags just, like, northwest, I think.

Northwest, yeah, I see them, yeah.

Their patient has fallen on crags

which border a wild stretch of moorland.

Did he say how old he was? Seventy-five.Seventy-five?Yeah.

From 65 onwards, the injuries that we see are much, much worse.

Bones become more fragile, the muscle mass becomes less, the skin becomes thinner.

You're more inherent to causing injuries,

open skin and broken bones.

Does look pretty steep around there, doesn't it?

You got visual on them? I'll have a quick look.

(SPEAKING)

Have you got them? Yeah, we have visual of them.

You will do now.

You've got Mountain Rescue actually heading up there now.

Moorland heather can grow to half a metre

and hide a multitude of rocks and ditches.

Landing will be tricky for pilot Phil.

Yeah, I can't really see anywhere suitable closer in, can you?No.

We can walk down, can't we, from the light patch?

Yeah, there's a patch down there.

What's the ground look like? The left looks all right.

Tail looks good. Not too much of a slope.

99 landed.

A member of the local Mountain Rescue team

will take them to the patient.

Hello.Afternoon.

Thank you.

Yeah.

This is the way down?

I don't think this is gonna be a great way to bring him up, is it? (BECKY GROANS)

He'd fallen quite a steep drop from this crag.

Access from there, we had to land above where the accident was

and then find a pathway down.

Why abseil when you can walk down a path like this? (BOTH GIGGLE)

The pathway we took was extremely steep and quite dangerous

for me and Steve, both carrying quite heavy bags.

So when we got to the patient, it became very obvious that

that would be inaccessible to take him back up that route.

Right, folks, this is Dan, the team doctor.

I think we've met before. You look very familiar.

OK, so this is Steve.

He's a 75-year-old male. Erm, he has had a, er, witnessed...

fall from five metres whilst abseiling.OK.

Almost certainly got some rib fractures down the left-hand side,

and he's got very, er, significant amount of pain over his spleen.

And he's also complaining of pain in his left heel.

At the moment, I've got no concern of long bone or pelvic fractures.

OK. No paralysis, he's got good feeling everywhere?

So, erm...We're gonna get access, we'll draw some morphine up.

WOMAN: That's all right. His blood pressure is OK, isn't it, er, for morphine?

Steve's wife heard him shout

and found him dangling upside down in his harness.

He was just abseiling and lost, I think he said, his left foot,

slipped and he tippled over.

And he must have hit his back against the rock

on the left-hand side, coming down.

BECKY: The safety gear is there to protect you.

But ropes and harnesses, them themselves, once you've fallen,

they still create some kind of resistance,

and that that's pulling against body

of any sort of fragile bones can cause damage themselves.

OK, listen in, folks.

The plan is to put him into a Titan stretcher,

which will be slipped in underneath him.

We're gonna lift on three, so one, two...Slowly...three.

Right. He's on my...on my knee.

All right. Can we just pull that back, back?

We can move down if, if... It's OK.

One, two, three...

One, two, three.

Access to this patient was particularly difficult.

Mountain Rescue had come up

supplied with vacuum mattresses and ropes,

and they took him up the side of the crag very carefully.

(INDISTINCT DISCUSSION)

So, the plan is we're going to try and carry as far as we can.

Everybody else will go at the top and start feeding the stretcher through the gap from the top.

OK.Roger that.OK!

Pull!Pulling again.

Pull!

Pull!

And stop there.

OK, pause there.

You all right there, Steve? STEVEN: Yeah.

Almost on board the helicopter now.

So, you've had a bit of moving about. Any new pain anywhere?

Or is it just where it was?

My right shoulder blade's a bit... Your right shoulder blade?

It's a bit uncomfortable on the back,

it's just where I've been lying down.OK.

No. Good. Thanks very much. Thanks, Dan. Cheers. Bye-bye.

Thanks, guys.

When he did get up to the helicopter,

he did seem to come around a bit

and talk to us more and be more interactive.

And sometimes, you see that a lot, sometimes in response to the medications we've given,

sometimes it's the case that they're out of the cold, they're in somewhere warm,

they feel safer and maybe process it a little bit better.

Er, yeah, all good.

PILOT: 99 lifting, routing to LGI.

Er, we have six minutes to run. Thank you.

So, for this patient in particular, he's doing a risky sport.

Abseiling comes with its own risks.

He was using the correct equipment that he should

and taking the precautions he should,

but accidents can still happen.

The added risk for this patient was also his age.

And then add that on to a rural location,

where your time to care and your response times

for an ambulance to get there can mean that quite often

your injuries become worse.

Helimed 99 Alpha, report, letting down at the LGI.

One crane just down here. I've got a yellow one on my, er, right.

Yeah. You got the two down here at 11 o'clock. Showing the red one, yellow one.

Seen that one.99 finals for LGI.

99 landed, LGI.

Steven, welcome to Leeds.

I don't suppose you know what you did?Oh.

It took Helen Snaith 12 weeks to recover after she broke her arm

while walking the epic Coast to Coast Challenge with her friends.

Only two of her group of four managed to finish the 190-mile walk.

But it hasn't put the friends off hiking together.

Why abseil when you can walk down a path like this?

Scans in hospital revealed Steven Foxley sustained breaks

to his back, shoulder and six ribs

when he fell while abseiling in the Yorkshire Dales.

Doctors expect it will be a year before he is fully recovered.

No, good. Thanks very much. Thanks, Dan. Cheers. Bye-bye.

STEVEN: Thanks, guys.

Will, look up at me, mate. You're gonna be OK.

Ten-year-old Will suffered a deep laceration to his leg

after falling off his scooter in a Harrogate skate park.

He had surgery the next day to clean and close up the wound.

WOMAN: When you got home, what was life like?

I didn't really like it cos I was living downstairs.

I couldn't... I couldn't really walk. I would have to ask for everything.

It was a bit annoying.

I've got a numb point around the left edge.

The area there, around the actual kneecap,

that's gone numb, so I can't feel anything there.

So, like, this, I can feel something on my finger, but I can't feel anything on my knee.

At first, it was really angry and red,

and you could see where all the stitches had been.

But over time, it's got lighter, hasn't it?

Yeah.It's looking good now. It'll be a cool story.

So what happened, mate?

Yeah, I don't know. I think I went flat out straight over like an idiot.

Schoolboy George Gill underwent surgery to his broken arm

when he came off his motorbike on his way home from a GCSE exam.

I was trying to slow down, brake for junction,

and didn't realise they'd just been putting fresh gravel on top.

So it just slid, and it went bad. (CHUCKLES)

I think they X-rayed it, and then they booked us in, like,

four days after for an operation.

In that moment, I was just more worried about my bike, really.

I just sat up and saw it and I was like, "Are you joking?"

What's happened to my bike? Bloody hell!Yeah.

All right down there, mate? Yeah, all right down there.

When I get back on my bike, I'm a bit more cautious now.

Obviously, with a setback like that,

you're going to naturally be a bit more careful.

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