"41 year old male, hit by car, injuries unknown"
The traffic was already at a standstill so it took me a good few minutes to get to the scene of the crash. As I pulled up I could see some colleagues already doing CPR. I did not know it was this bad! I jumped out the car, grabbed some bags and headed over.
"Hello guys, what going on?"
"This guy has been hit by a car, he was unconscious but breathing when we arrived but stopped shortly after. We started CPR and ventilations."
"OK, you OK to carry on CPR?"
"Of course, not a problem."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Can you grab the spinal collars and the suction unit please?"
"Yep, no probs."
I set about attaching the pads to him. He wasn't in a rhythm that can be shocked so we continued working on him, best we could in the circumstances. The rain was absolutely bucketing it down, the three of us soaked through to the skin.
I suctioned his airway which was filling with blood, he wasn't in a good way. I needed to put in an airway but couldn't do it on my own.
"Can you suction here for me?"
"Yep, say when you want me to stop."
"Will do, give me one sec.......OK now."
I pushed the airway into his throat and started ventilating. It was a bubbly initially but air was going in. Unfortunately, the chest wasn't rising properly.
"You got any more gloves on you?! Mine are covered in blood!"
"In my back pocket! Take over CPR will you?!"
"Sure, thanks!"
Once gloved up again I got my cannula roll out and decompressed his chest. I got assistance securing them down and then moved onto the cannula. Amazingly at the next rhythm check we had a very faint pulse. That freed up another pair of hands at least.
"Let's get his legs raised, just use one of those bags. In fact, can you also grab some blankets, try and keep him warm and dry as much as possible. Well done guys, that's great stuff!"
It had only been 10 minutes since I had arrived but it had seemed like an age. Eventually, the ambulance arrived and between the 5 of us we got him onto the bed and rapidly off the to trauma centre. I don't know whether he'll live or not but he'd been given the best possible chance.
That chance came about not because I was there within 8 minutes of him being hit, and not because the ambulance came and we got him to hospital. He has that chance because 2 people had done an incredible job. An incredible job in extremely difficult circumstances. Those two people were police officers. They happened to come across the RTC within minutes of it happening. Not only were they there quickly but they treated him extremely well. They recognised he'd stopped breathing and started CPR early. They didn't have a Bag Valve Mask that we have. They had a micro thin face shield and blew air from their lungs into that of a stranger. They basically kept him alive until I arrived. Once I was there they acted as an ambulance for me. Irrelevant of uniform they did what they had to do to save the life of a member of the public. This is our police force.
This is the same police force facing cuts after cuts. The same police force that has lost tens of thousands of officers. The same police force having their pensions reduced. The same police force who get maligned on a daily basis by all of the gutter press. The same police force who are expected to work in the face of abuse and violence on a daily basis. The same police force we all rely on when the shit hits the fan. The same police force who's morale is at an all time low.
I for one am fed up of reading the snippets of misinformation reported. We should be proud to have the best police service in the world and I'll be shouting from the rooftops at every given opportunity. We work alongside side them every single day. We rely on them for our safety. We rely on them to investigate crimes. We rely on them to do just about anything to keep the public safe. Well today I relied on them to keep a man alive and they did. We have an amazing police force. Let's not forget that, through all the politically motivated propaganda we are forced to read.
I wonder of the Daily Mail will report on this. I shall be sending it to them!