Beeline: Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Magazine, Spring 2016

why we do it
“I am eternally grateful”
Living high on a hill, in the town of Rousdon near Lyme Regis, Mike suffered a
serious fall. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance was called, but low cloud and
deteriorating weather en-route meant the crew on board would have to find an
alternative safe landing site on lower ground…
n 7 October I had been fishing for the day and
“O
came back home to find that my wife and
neighbours had been busy cutting away trees
and laurel bushes that had become overgrown. A local
farmer had very kindly lent us one of his industrial
trailers to take the cuttings away. The cuttings, having
been thrown into the high trailer, were now sticking out
of the top. I took two ladders, one that I climbed and the
other to use to compact the cuttings.
“Having reduced the laurel to a quarter of the
trailer’s capacity, I decided I would climb down the
other ladder inside the trailer. While transferring my
weight from one ladder to the other I was catapulted
up into the air. I started falling head first (this gives
me shivers just thinking about it) but in a split second,
somehow I managed to do a ‘half turn pike’, landing on
my left side.
“This, I believe, saved me from suffering serious
head injuries. Suddenly I was aware that there were a
lot of people around me. They were asking questions
and telling me not to close my eyes or fall asleep.
Some friends made light-hearted jokes to try and keep
me alert and I am sure this helped. The emergency
services were called and it wasn’t long before two first
responders arrived.”
On air ambulance duty that day was pilot Max Hoskins
and CCPs Claire Baker and Paul Owen. Claire remembers
the incident well.
“We were called by our HEMS desk at Ambulance
Control with information on Mike’s incident. The details
of the call led us to believe that he may have sustained
serious injuries and quite possibly needed specialist
pre-hospital care before being flown to hospital.
“On leaving our airbase and flying south-west,
we discovered the weather and cloud cover were
deteriorating quite quickly. Mike’s incident had taken
place on the top of a hill and the weather conditions
meant that we were unable to land at his exact location;
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