MAN DOWN - COOMBEST

Thanks for all your messages guys and gals. I'm sure Tim will appreciate all of them when I relay them to him tomorrow. I don't mind saying that the whole thing shook me up. I thought it was a LOT worse when I first jumped off my bike and went to him laying in the road unconcious.Tim is a very good friend of mine and i can't get the picture of him unconscious and motionless out of my mind.F**K was my first thought and luckily my basic life support training came to mind so that I could check airway,breathing etc. Also there was an osteopath and a biking paramedic passing by within 2 minutes so he had very good and very fast care. Some **** suggested taking his lid off but luckily we were there to stop them. I pulled back his breath guard thingy to check for breathing as I didn't think he was at first and to my releif he spluttered and breathed at that point.I wasn't looking forward to removing his lid and giving mouth to mouth so you can only imagine my relief when this wasn't necessary.Maybe we should post a permanent "what to do in an emergency" section so that , god forbid, if this happens again we can all know what to do and help the situation. I'm lucky that I work in operating theatres so I know the basics but I think we should all do our best to get training in basic life support so that in these situations we can do the RIGHT things and quickly.
I think that the car driver will be prosecuted but the charge will vary depending upon Tim's final injuries. In his defence I think we all do careless things from time to time, I'm not justifying it but from what I've seen and been told by the police he was sober, a normal family guy with his wife and baby in the car, and he made a bad call. Doesn't help Tim but he was asking about Tim's condition at the hospital and in general really shaken up and concerned by the whole affair.He suffered only minor cuts, the wife and baby were unharmed thank god. I know he made a mistake but there are enough victims here tonight so I will not be making any quick judgements.
Let's all be carefull out there. I know that I will never forget the picture of my friend lying in the road so please make sure that you all ride safe.
And to think that I was actually attending a SOHO ride out/meet. Would have loved to have made it there to see you guys.Another time...I doubt it now.

Chutz, pass on my regards to Tim. Hope to see him back on the bike soonest.

FWIW, i think the sentiments in your last post were bang on the money.

[Sid Squid]

Just read this, really sorry to hear about it, and relief that he's not badly injured, get well soon Tim.

Originally Posted by chutz

I think we all do careless things from time to time, I'm not justifying it but from what I've seen and been told by the police he was sober, a normal family guy, and he made a bad call.

This is sooo true.

Originally Posted by chutz

.Maybe we should post a permanent "what to do in an emergency" section so that , god forbid, if this happens again we can all know what to do and help the situation.

Good idea!!!

Glad Tim is relatively OK.

poor tim, pass on my love to him chutz

Originally Posted by chutz

Some **** suggested taking his lid off but luckily we were there to stop them. I pulled back his breath guard thingy to check for breathing as I didn't think he was at first and to my releif he spluttered and breathed at that point.I wasn't looking forward to removing his lid and giving mouth to mouth so you can only imagine my relief when this wasn't necessary.Maybe we should post a permanent "what to do in an emergency" section so that , god forbid, if this happens again we can all know what to do and help the situation.

You did a good job on the day, but just to raise a point you mentioned, I have recently done my refresher course and they now recommend that you do remove the helmet, obviously you take care in doing it and using 2 people is always best...but having checked the person for injuries you should then put them in the recovery position, the normal bodily reaction through shock is to vomit which is another reason for removing the helmet. When i was first told about this i was shocked, and was concerned about C spine....they said if you support the neck and head and ease the helmet of gently then it will not cause any/further damage.

Get well soon Tim, our thoughts are with you.

Regards

Fraser

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

Just read this, really sorry to hear about it, and relief that he's not badly injured, get well soon Tim.

This is sooo true.

Just read this too and echo Ian's sentiment. pass on my best to Tim.

Originally Posted by chutz

Tim is a very good friend of mine and i can't get the picture of him unconscious and motionless out of my mind.F**K was my first thought and luckily my basic life support training came to mind so that I could check airway,breathing etc.

I think we should all do our best to get training in basic life support so that in these situations we can do the RIGHT things and quickly.

I don't think luck had much to do with basic first aid training, you either make the effort to learn or you don't, most don't, I learnt basic CPR when I was 12, it's a totally unselfish thing to do after all you're never going to use it on yourself.

Well done chutz, although you didn't need it, you were prepared.

Just think what you would have felt like not knowing what to do waiting around for the Ambulance.

I'm of the opinion everyone who drives should pass a basic first aid course anyway, what's the point in me knowing how to preserve live, if I'm the patient and no one around at the scene knows

Getting a bit of topic here, anyway as I said, pass on my best to Tim.

Cheers Mark.

Originally Posted by fraser01

You did a good job on the day, but just to raise a point you mentioned, I have recently done my refresher course and they now recommend that you do remove the helmet, obviously you take care in doing it and using 2 people is always best...but having checked the person for injuries you should then put them in the recovery position, the normal bodily reaction through shock is to vomit which is another reason for removing the helmet. When i was first told about this i was shocked, and was concerned about C spine....they said if you support the neck and head and ease the helmet of gently then it will not cause any/further damage.

Get well soon Tim, our thoughts are with you.

Regards


Fraser

Just as a side line to this, when I had my accident and was pinned under the Armco, I was desperate to remove my helmet. It was a roasting hot day (remember those) and funnily enough I suffer from claustrophobia, I was going into a panic attack. No one would remove my helmet for me. With a smashed pelvis and plenty of broken ribs, I managed to get the helmet off myself. I then passed out, but that was another issue.


I also am in total agreement with Mark in reference to learning the basic life saving skills although I wouldn't say just drivers, I think everyone should be taught at school as part of the curriculum.

Oh and ofcourse well done you for knowing and having the knowlege in the first place

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by fraser01

I have recently done my refresher course and they now recommend that you do remove the helmet, obviously you take care in doing it and using 2 people is always best...but having checked the person for injuries you should then put them in the recovery position, the normal bodily reaction through shock is to vomit which is another reason for removing the helmet. When i was first told about this i was shocked, and was concerned about C spine....they said if you support the neck and head and ease the helmet of gently then it will not cause any/further damage.

Get well soon Tim, our thoughts are with you.

Regards

Fraser

I don't doubt what you say, but.

Having seen the result of the public trying this, I wouldn't let anyone remove my helmet, unless I KNEW they were trained properly.

We covered Boxhill as part of our area (Surry Ambulance Service) and the number of injuries exacerbated by helmet removal by people "helping out" could have been huge, only three I can remember did it actually cause spinal damage, but that's three to many, I wouldn't like to be one of them.

You can't remove a crash helmet without two people in this situation, and unless it's life threatening, I wouldn't try (that's where constant patient monitoring comes in). I’ve never heard of a minor C spine injury

Cheers Mark.

Our refresher course was run by Hampshire Ambulance Service, I wouldn't call myself highly trained, i have only done the courses provided by the force...would you let me take your helmet off...

I would recommend that everyone who uses the road should take part in some kind of training, and learn what to do at a scene of an RTI...

Obviously if the person is awake asking basic questions is easy but if you are unconscous then you are in the hands of the carer...more people die from being left on their backs....

I suppose alittle knowledge is potentially dangerous.....