The Highs and Lows of an Air Ambulance Doctor
Something that fascinates me is how human medicine and surgery compares with that of veterinary medicine so occasionally I will grab an interesting looking book. This Christmas Day I ended up with this, purely as the title conjured images of my head of road rage with a helicopter. It is also interesting for me the contrast between how emergencies are delivered to a veterinary practice vs the human model of help going to the patient.
This book gives a rare insight into the workings of how the emergency medical services are structured and just what they can and cannot do. Tony was around at the start of the air ambulance service that was not just to transport patients to hospital, but to bring highly skilled emergency doctors to the patient in the field. Helimed 999 was the first to take this model and Tony shares some of the hurdles that were overcome to make this happen.
What amazes me is that most of these helicopters that are crucial in saving life are fully run by charities. The doctors and paramedics are volunteers. And public donations and fundraisers pay to put fuel into the tank.
This was a highly humorous account of often serious situations, with rare insight into the way a doctor approaches critical patients when things are not as they seem. I would highly recommend this for anyone interested in first response work.
