{"id":229,"date":"2017-03-23T16:30:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T16:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martynstrailnotes.wordpress.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2021-12-29T15:48:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T15:48:12","slug":"superheroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/23\/superheroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Superheroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this is the blog entry where I’ll ask you for sponsorship. \u00a0Some of you won’t read any further, and that’s fine. \u00a0There 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. \u00a0I’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. \u00a0If that is the case then please put it down to my lack of skill with a pen, as it is not my intention. \u00a0Charitable giving is a luxury that only the few can afford, and it is a really personal choice. \u00a0For those who want to, here’s a little plug for the cause we chose to support in our hike. \u00a0We hope some of you might be inspired to think about supporting them too.<\/p>\n

We picked superheroes. No, really.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I know about superheroes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. most of them can fly,<\/li>\n
  2. they have coordinated head-to-toe outfits,<\/li>\n
  3. they have special abilities, able to do things that nobody else can,<\/li>\n
  4. they have strategic hideouts\u00a0from which they watch over us, and most importantly<\/li>\n
  5. they arrive at our moment of more desperate need to do the impossible and save us.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And on those criteria, we found some, in real life. \u00a0Every day, multiple times per day, a siren goes off high above East London. \u00a0Air 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.<\/p>\n

    \"20170121_114057\"<\/p>\n

    We were lucky enough\u00a0to visit the helipad in January, and we saw a call out. \u00a0Speed doesn’t come through haste. Fire precautions, pre-flight aircraft checks, route mapping is all needed. \u00a0The calm, precise, measured urgency of a crack team in action is an awesome thing to behold. \u00a0On 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\u00a0600 square miles. \u00a0The NHS is only able to cover less than 10% of the cost; the rest is paid for through public support. \u00a0Just this week, they flew in true superhero style straight into the midst of unknown danger during the terror attack on Westminster. \u00a0They landed just minutes after the attack began, before anyone knew the scale of the incident.<\/p>\n

    \"2211_450-450-1\"<\/p>\n

    They’re not just fast, either. \u00a0The London Ambulance service is reputed to be one of the world’s busiest, toughest first responder environments. \u00a0Their very best crew are assigned to the chopper. \u00a0Emergency doctors from all over the world come here to train with them, because these guys are the world elite. \u00a0Watching over Londoners in their hour of need.<\/p>\n

    They also monitor patient outcomes to improve their services, and have developed the first mobile deployments of life saving treatments. \u00a0For 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. \u00a0The Air Ambulance borrowed a technique used in\u00a0operating theatres, where a special surgical balloon is sometimes used to block arteries whilst procedures are carried out. \u00a0They found a (world first) way to deploy that treatment in the field, preventing blood loss, saving lives when people are beyond all other help. \u00a0Superhuman.<\/p>\n

    We’ve set up a page to make it easier to donate, in case you want to:<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/londonsairambulance.co.uk\/events\/independent\/martyn-and-sam-pct<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    So this is the blog entry where I’ll ask you for sponsorship. \u00a0Some of you won’t read any further, and that’s fine. \u00a0There 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. \u00a0I’m going to talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post","tag-appalachian-trail","eq-blocks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msvanlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}