Tuesday 17 August 2010

Leg stuff

A cardboard box crushing woman twisted her knee so badly at work that she needed a lot of morphine to stop her screaming in pain. She had been stamping down cardboard boxes at work when she suddenly lost her balance and fell over, twisting her leg badly as she went.

Her knee cap wasn’t the culprit; her entire knee joint was over to the left at an unnatural angle, so I was asked to support a crew who was already on scene and bring on the Class A drug. She needed heavy-duty pain relief, not just gas and air. She also needed a lot of padding and splinting before we could move her – she was a largish lady and we had very steep stairs to descend. The chair was out of the question, so I asked for another pair of hands and got the nearest cycle responder to help.

It took a while but eventually we got her down by strapping her securely to a board and using the four of us to carry her from the first floor. I had warmed up nicely at the end of it and we all took a moment or two to cool down before setting off for hospital, where that leg could be x-rayed and hopefully fixed.


A 17 year-old Somali boy crashed after being chased through the streets by police. He was riding a moped and had a pillion passenger with no helmet on, so naturally that attracted the attention of the local cops. He tried to run on foot when his bike met its demise after rounding a bend too fast. His mate got away but he was grabbed by other cops who turned up on scene.

I was called because he’d complained of leg pain but all I found was a couple of baby-sized grazes and a very smelly foot. He was fine and well enough to go to a police cell for the day, if not the night. I think he needs to consider some clean socks before he goers onto his next great adventure.

Be safe.

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