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Heading skyward with the air medics
The crew of the DLRAA
In a small Portakabin behind the main terminal of East Midlands Airport – a lifesaving operation is taking place 365 days a year.
And I have been lucky enough to spend a day with the team to see how the charity funded Derbyshire Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA) works.
“It’s a changing job, it’s extremely interesting, it’s rewarding and it is unlike any other helicopter job that I’ve done – and I’ve done a lot!” Pilot Ian Welsh, 59, of Duffield, tells me before we take to the air at around 7am.
The crew captain has racked up more than 8,000 flying hours in his career as a helicopter pilot – 18 years of which saw him serving as an airman in the army.
And at 9.30am we are called out to our first job.
An infant has suffered a fit in a Peak District village – 60 miles away as the crow flies.
But in the speedy Agusta chopper we are touching down in the High Peak in under 20 minutes.
Luckily the youngster is not in a critical condition when paramedic Dave Roberts, of Midland Road, Heanor, and Dr Pam Hardy, of Elgin, Morayshire, arrive. The High Peak is a common call out spot for the team – especially in icy conditions – due to the location.
On the return to base the crew are called again mid-air. An 18-year-old girl was involved in a road accident in her car on an icy main road near Ashbourne, and due to the remote location, the air ambulance is the first on scene.
After being forced to touch down on a precarious slope, Pam and Dave deliver vital care to the frightened teenager, fitting a neck brace and ensuring she is safe to travel in a road ambulance to hospital.
It’s all in a day’s work for Dave, who formerly worked as a paramedic in Derby before taking to the air.
“I wanted something more challenging,” he said when we had a brief moment to chat earlier in the day. “Something out of my comfort zone, a bit different. It’s very rewarding – especially when people come back to say thank you. It puts it all into perspective.”
In the afternoon the air team face its toughest job of the day.
A man in his 40s has suffered a serious motorbike accident and is in a critical condition in north Derbyshire. The head injury needs to be treated by specialists and his best chance of survival is at North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary in Stoke-on-Trent.
Here it is easy to see why the service is so important. Not only can the helicopter team provide him with care at the scene – Captain Ian makes the journey to Stoke in 12 minutes.
The whole operation – from leaving the base to touching down in Staffordshire – takes just 45 minutes.
It is why the funding the charity receives – via its 11 shops, sponsorship drives and generous donations, is vital.
Every journey costs it £1,400. And the craft itself was no snip at £5million. But as all the crew agree, keeping the DLRAA in the sky is worth every penny.
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Weather for Belper
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
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