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Three paramedics board a narrowboat...


The Dreamer

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...ok, not. The start to some shaggy dog story, and actually one was an ambulance technician and the other was a student.  The upshot was, for the first time in my life I had to call an ambulance last night, and this happens in my first year of living aboard.  Turns out to be nothing to worry about, but raises all sorts of interesting questions and observations:

  1. even living in a marina, and thus with some sort of address, it caused a who-ha them finding us.
  2. never assume that everyone is comfortable walking along a five foot wide jetty in the dark
  3. even though I could hardly speak about my health, this did not stop a raft of questions about the boat, the depth of the water, our chosen lifestyle &c.
  4. it was just as well that I could still about walk, because a stretcher through the front door, weren’t happening
  5. ones waterways neighbours are just as curtain twitchy as those we had on terra firma.  Before Mrs Dreamer could get to the car park to come and collect me from hospital this morning, this had become big news.  I am fairly sure there was some hope of a potential widow being available as a galley slave, and that an eBay auction had been started for the same.

 

and for my next trick...

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Likewise, glad you've got home again so quickly. As you say it does raise interesting points concerning accessibility if you get taken ill anywhere. One of the two ladies who were previous owners of my boat were (so I'm told) out in the wilds when one of them was stung causing her to begin to go into anaphylactic shock, she got a free helicopter ride out of that one. I also like to moor up in the deserted countryside occasionally but should one get taken ill there, it's a long way to have to carry a stretcher.

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25 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

it's a long way to have to carry a stretcher.

Thanks...

 

This whole affair did remind me of an episode of BBC’s Ambulance programme, a few series back when they were following the West Midlands Service.  Anyhow, they followed the story of a lady who fell and broke her ankle, on the towpath, and in a location equidistant to two road bridges over a mile apart.  The paramedics were just contemplating  handling her down the towpath, when a passing boater offered they load the starcher onto his bow and he cruise them to the waiting ambulance. Of course that might work in the day, less so at night.

 

BTW it was West Midlands who dealt with me yesterday, and I don’t have a word to say against them, unlike Worcestershire Royal Hospital, who I have plenty to say against!

Edited by The Dreamer
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45 minutes ago, The Dreamer said:

ones waterways neighbours are just as curtain twitchy as those we had on terra firma.  Before Mrs Dreamer could get to the car park to come and collect me from hospital this morning, this had become big news.  I am fairly sure there was some hope of a potential widow being available as a galley slave, and that an eBay auction had been started for the same

Don’t know about your marina, but in ours the curtain twitching would be to see if you needed any help. But then we do have a first aid/first responder team here covering 24/7 and carrying an emergency phone which is texted by ambulance control whenever an ambulance or paramedic is tasked to the marina.

 

Since I became ill, we’ve been overwhelmed with offers of support, lifts to and from hospital/GP surgery/pharmacy/shops/whatever.

 

Anyway, glad it’s all’s well that ends well for you.

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Was unfortunate last week and had to call 999 twice for the same problem. Both crews were brilliant and were very interested in life  on board. Only complaint was the poor or possibly just standard suspension in the ambulance.

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I too had two ambulance crews attend to myself, as I couldnt walk. I was well doped up on morphine and the two crews that were two blokes on one ambulance and two girls about 11 and 12 years old on the other. I was placed on a stretcher thingie and they took me out of the front doors dead straight and over the pointy end over the water before  shoving me on one of those trolley things a couple of hundred yards into one of the ambulances. Exellent people. One thing that we do now which I would never have dreamt of when mooring in the wilds years ago is I jot down our location to nearest road bridge and I have What3 words on both phones. 

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Back in late 90s my mother in law had a very bad angina attack at Pewsey whilst we were on our shared boat. One of the two paramedics that attended took one step on board before jumping back off saying 'I can't do this'.

Fortunately the air ambulance arrived not long after with two more paramedics.

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I just learned about a phone app called 'what3words' that is used by the emergency services if you have it downloaded.   

Apparently it uses GPS to locate your phone to a tiny patch of the earth's surface just 3m x 3m in size, and identifies the patch by 3 simple words like 'flame-ball-kettle' which you repeat to the 999 operator - you don't need to try to explain where you are if you are lost or in the middle of nowhere. 

Could be useful.   

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2 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

I just learned about a phone app called 'what3words' that is used by the emergency services if you have it downloaded.   

Apparently it uses GPS to locate your phone to a tiny patch of the earth's surface just 3m x 3m in size, and identifies the patch by 3 simple words like 'flame-ball-kettle' which you repeat to the 999 operator - you don't need to try to explain where you are if you are lost or in the middle of nowhere. 

Could be useful.   

Keep up at the back!! ;)

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30 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

what3words

Do you know, we both saw this on the news a few weeks back, commented on what a good idea it was, and didn’t really acknowledge how great a tool it could be for our lifestyle.  Clearly we do now, and are downloading!

Edited by The Dreamer
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4 hours ago, The Dreamer said:

 I am fairly sure there was some hope of a potential widow being available as a galley slave, and that an eBay auction had been started for the same.

Whilst I am pleased to hear you survived the experience,  I can't help recalling the old joke:

 

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An ambulance was called out for me about 6 years ago when I had a mooring on an island on the Thames. I'd called NHS direct as I was feeling a bit odd and I was struggling to speak on the phone.

 

The mooring had no road or foot access and I saw the ambulance go past on the road on the opposite bank before I managed to get across the river on my dinghy and wave them down on their way back.

 

It does make one think about the wisdom of living on one's own on a boat in an inaccessible place, but there you go.

Edited by blackrose
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On 26/10/2019 at 16:08, The Dreamer said:

 

  1. ones waterways neighbours are just as curtain twitchy as those we had on terra firma.  

 

I'd look on that as a good thing rather than assuming something negative. As someone else said, t's likely to mean people are concerned and ready to help but don't want to interfere unless it's necessary.

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2 hours ago, blackrose said:

I'd called NHS direct

Yep we started with the old 111, wife called them, gave the the demographics and geographics, they then asked to speak to me, I assumed this would be a GDPR compliance thing, like “are you happy for us to discuss with your wife”, it wasn’t, and I had to take it from there, hardly able to talk.  Incredulously, the first thing they asked me was “after the call will you be willing to take part in a customer feedback survey”!  I seen to recall that they got an equally incredulous “whatever” as a response...

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On 26/10/2019 at 16:08, The Dreamer said:
  • even though I could hardly speak about my health, this did not stop a raft of questions about the boat, the depth of the water, our chosen lifestyle &c

This is normal in almost all situations and not because they were being nosy about your boat or life style. They do it for numerous reason but some that I know of and have been taught to use are to distract the "patient" and help keep you calm, also to keep you focused on them and not on your medical issue or your family / friends who might be worried and distressed and in turn might upset you with out meaning to, to see how compos mentis you are with out making it obvious they are checking and tracking you and to monitor how you are responding over the course of time that they are with you. 

 

Quite frankly they probbly didn't give two hoots about your boat or your lifestyle at that time, but I suppose that form of keeping up dialogue becomes habitual. 

 

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14 hours ago, Murflynn said:

as long as they didn't take 15 minutes off for a tea break in the middle of treating you, in accordance with their employment contract, there is nothing to complain about.

I would think that even today the kind of people who do emergency services jobs are of a higher calibre than those that stick to having time off just because they are entitled to? I would certainly hope so. We were entitled to a 45 minute break during our 8 hour shift and there were countless times and I mean countless when something would happen and bye bye break. We didnt care we just got on with it as dealing with the situation was always paramount.

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16 hours ago, Murflynn said:

as long as they didn't take 15 minutes off for a tea break in the middle of treating you, in accordance with their employment contract, there is nothing to complain about.

Some years ago a friend retired and got a part time job driving people to and from hospitals, daycare centres etc. He was sent on one 'elf and Safety' course where they were given instruction on the use of a fire extinguisher which was accessible from the driving seat. They were told that the extinguisher was intended to aid their personal escape from the vehicle in the event of a fire. They were specifically told not to attempt to help passengers but to call the emergency services. I have no reason to doubt that this was what they were told.

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