So this is the blog entry where I’ll ask you for sponsorship. Some of you won’t read any further, and that’s fine. There is a saying on the trail, “hike your own hike” and the more I think about that mantra the more I think it is great advice for life. I’m going to talk a little bit about a group of people that I think do some pretty amazing stuff, and there’s a risk that will sound like preaching, emploring etc. If that is the case then please put it down to my lack of skill with a pen, as it is not my intention. Charitable giving is a luxury that only the few can afford, and it is a really personal choice. For those who want to, here’s a little plug for the cause we chose to support in our hike. We hope some of you might be inspired to think about supporting them too.
We picked superheroes. No, really.
Here’s what I know about superheroes:
- most of them can fly,
- they have coordinated head-to-toe outfits,
- they have special abilities, able to do things that nobody else can,
- they have strategic hideouts from which they watch over us, and most importantly
- they arrive at our moment of more desperate need to do the impossible and save us.
And on those criteria, we found some, in real life. Every day, multiple times per day, a siren goes off high above East London. Air traffic control literally clears the skies, and a super-fast (red) helicopter loaded with a team of the world’s best trauma specialists (in extremely cool high-vis flight suits) blasts off to save lives.
We were lucky enough to visit the helipad in January, and we saw a call out. Speed doesn’t come through haste. Fire precautions, pre-flight aircraft checks, route mapping is all needed. The calm, precise, measured urgency of a crack team in action is an awesome thing to behold. On that occasion 7 minutes after the call came in they were treating a child who had skateboarded into traffic . They have a 12 minute maximum response time, to 10 million people, across 600 square miles. The NHS is only able to cover less than 10% of the cost; the rest is paid for through public support. Just this week, they flew in true superhero style straight into the midst of unknown danger during the terror attack on Westminster. They landed just minutes after the attack began, before anyone knew the scale of the incident.
They’re not just fast, either. The London Ambulance service is reputed to be one of the world’s busiest, toughest first responder environments. Their very best crew are assigned to the chopper. Emergency doctors from all over the world come here to train with them, because these guys are the world elite. Watching over Londoners in their hour of need.
They also monitor patient outcomes to improve their services, and have developed the first mobile deployments of life saving treatments. For example, they realised that a lot of cyclists suffer lower body crush injuries, which lead to massive blood loss that is impossible to treat in the field – no matter how fast they deliver blood and plasma the patients would bleed out too fast. The Air Ambulance borrowed a technique used in operating theatres, where a special surgical balloon is sometimes used to block arteries whilst procedures are carried out. They found a (world first) way to deploy that treatment in the field, preventing blood loss, saving lives when people are beyond all other help. Superhuman.
We’ve set up a page to make it easier to donate, in case you want to:
http://londonsairambulance.co.uk/events/independent/martyn-and-sam-pct
