A mountain biker (m, 58), descending a track at speed, was thrown over the bike’s handlebars into a wooded area and hit a tree before coming to earth. Bowland Pennine MRT and the North West Air Ambulance set off to deal with the incident but with many members on holiday BPMRT found themselves short-handed and asked CRO to assist. The first BPMRT member to arrive began assessing the patient, but handed over to the NWAS paramedics who administered strong pain relief, adjusted the obviously broken arm/wrist and splinted it before handing the patient back to members of the two MRTs. As other injuries were suspected, they ‘packaged’ him, very carefully, in a casualty bag and vacuum mattress (full body vacuum splint) on a Bell mountain rescue stretcher. Together, they carried the patient about 100m to the helicopter for the flight to hospital. After a short debrief, members stood down.
Volunteer hours: 18
