[Music] there's a way to make an entrance my destiny it was now a conspiracy of witches download vili today hello hi oh God here we go don't worry it's okay let's go with me let's go we're back on shift inside the ambulance oh got a job do you need me to get in the back you might have to stop with more medical emergency and more cameras that Tyler is a little camera we're taking you back to the heart of the action just lie down for me we're from the ambulance okay there are some new faces I'm happy to be your crewmate I feel that we've bonded better driving yeah is it the fact that I'm faster and smoother than you your driving's terrible how can I help body mounted cameras record every moment nice deep breaths I'm gonna open up smashing to show you what goes on behind closed doors we'll get you right all right you'll be on the front line with the ambulance cruise from West Midlands Ambulance Service I don't need to be a doctor I just need to know what I can do to help as they deal with 3 000 emergency calls each day we see so many people who get told that nasty c word there's so many people can fight in there step inside the ambulance you take care mate all right thank you thank you it's snowing it's snowing oh my God to be fair I wouldn't be out in the car but I'd be out in it doing what okay more fun in the dark as well I've been seeing much fun when I was throwing snowballs at you earlier Thunder I will get revenge to wait till you least expecting it I love being the first person to walk across a driveway yeah completely unmarred by footprints in the new Hill walking across it [Music] [Applause] it's mid-December in willenhall more than three inches of snow have fallen in the last 24 hours [Music] ambulance Meredith and Aaron Campbell are two and a half hours through their shift and on a trip down memory lane did you have snow days whatever on snow days just sometimes when I was in high school because it was 16 miles to high school for me oh but then the whole school clothes are just not going sometimes the school clothes but it's very very rarely but my primary school I used to feel sick that's great put my little well if you can book some [Music] two three Hannah and Aaron have an emergency call to John a 75 year old who's Fallen at home and wasn't discovered for seven hours why does it have to be on a hill coming through John's son Gary rushed over when a worried neighbor raised the alarm [Music] John what's happening yeah [Music] okay okay you've been here since about eight o'clock do you reckon yeah yeah where's the pain at the moment John in your hip anywhere else Nick okay which happens at your left one okay excuse me stepping over here [Music] no pin on this side no no yeah any pain in your tummy no but so sorry if I'm getting a pain in his left hip he's lying in quite an awkward position and no one ever falls in the position that's easy to get to them the type of energy that he has very very painful um he'd already taken some of his own paracetamol which is sensible but it hadn't touched the pain in order to get him out of the house he needed some quite strong pain relief what we're going to do is we're going to try on some gas and air okay but we have stronger things if we need it all right you weren't knocked out at all were you you remember the whole thing that's all around touching here okay [Music] yeah he's only just quite impossible because the other punch is wrong okay so you've had this before haven't yeah let's make you laugh yeah hopefully it'll make your life that's exactly what it is all right so we'll pop that in big deep breath should we make a nice there you go you're an expert already okay so we'll give that a couple of minutes to work okay and then we'll look about getting you out [Music] okay that's gonna cut it is it nope I'm gonna pop a needle into your hand all right yeah shut up scratch all right stepping up John's pain relief with morphine should make him more comfortable oh but there are some things Hannah and Aaron can't help him with what's the matter John must be awful cheers long time people don't stay married that long these days do they just try and focus on getting you sort of though yeah John was really upset and we needed to make sure that he was nice and calm and to reassure him and we need to get his pain under control so that it was more comfortable for him and get him to hospital to get him the right treatment that he needed um we have given you all of the pain relief that we've got at the moment John so um it's not going to be comfortable but we're gonna have to try and get you onto your back okay okay you can you can keep using that as much as you want we need to get you on onto your back we're just gonna have to go for it I think aren't we yeah otherwise we're going to be stuck here all night yep moving John will be difficult and very painful but it has to be done he's been on the floor now for nearly eight hours [Music] all right big deep breath for me on that John [Music] I'm sorry very important keep your arms in all right don't reach out it's all right one two three unless you drop you're in [Music] um further you're all right Joel oh I'm sorry that always nah nothing to be sorry for Payson mortgage doesn't it don't mind though [Music] [Music] so what did you say cause before did you collapse or did you just trip yeah all right big breakfast yeah [Music] now John is safely at the hospital he'll be able to get stronger pain relief and have his hip properly investigated [Music] he was no it was fairly short and rotated so the likelihood of his hip being broken was quite High really wasn't it yeah I'd I'd better go get him out of my way and stop a broken bless him oh what'd you need right before Christmas either is it not raining you're still laughing though [Applause] [Music] it's the Christmas season and in a snowy Dudley ambulance crew Anna Ray and Laura Hickman are nearing the end of their shift you know I bought a Christmas tree about the real one when I go home I looked it's bent so I had to put it down on an angle so it doesn't look that bad oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree how crooked are your branches Laura and Anna are on their way to help a 65 year old woman with acute stomach pain and breathing problems oh yeah hello sweetness grandmother Jackie called for an ambulance when her pain became unbearable [Music] my name's Laura this is Anna what's been happening darling first okay [Music] okay I will just have a listen to your chest okay [Music] that is a chesty coffin sweet I'm just going to pull this up just a deep blood pressure I know darling we'll get you on a man that below just to try and clear clear up your chest story [Music] of this mask on your face darling all right [Music] was it tender there all right darling here not too much more in the middle while Jackie's breathing has improved it's difficult to diagnose exactly what's wrong first the crew need to get her pain under control with gas and air foreign [Music] s imaginable what is it now with that into Knox I don't know about an eight okay [Music] it was quite clear that Jackie was in severe pain when she said that she was ready to burst that was quite a concern for me so I figured that I'd have to get her into the ambulance can you later and and give her some morphine that way just to really help with that pain Jackie because morphine's quite a strong pain relief what we do is we give it in little bits and drabs okay so I'll give you some and then five minutes we'll see how you feel all right here we go and a half [Applause] I'm ready to go sweet okay [Music] a little bomb okay A bit bumpy darling off the curb foreign [Music] don't worry we've been cycling oh bless you it's not all ready for sweetheart how's that pain now about a six fantastic right let's do your blood pressure want a small sweet and then I should be able to give you the rest of this morphine but just turning in there now all right [Music] [Applause] we are darling let's finish this off how's that pain now is it still a six oh beautiful so hopefully then the way it's going we can get you down to probably a four or a three in the next few minutes when this bit's kicked in we can certainly try can't we see it we got you darling don't worry here Jackie can get the specialist treatment she needs and for the moment she's in much less pain [Music] what was it 10 hour 10. and then by the time we got to hospital it was five five yeah but she was like dropping off to sleep in the back mind you I would be up to five milligrams of morphine I know [Music] so how are you liking the snow then well I mean there were just text before we uh before we set off all right okay just want to come and build a snowman oh snowman's got a really flat face and the bear belly must be paramedic should my other snare a little bit nice what get out and do some like snow angels yeah we say that every snowflake is unique yes how do they know because there are that I can't count them all exactly so it's just an assumption isn't it right it's not a scientifically I'm not prepared to comment on this subject foreign the Christmas period is a busy time of year for the West Midlands Ambulance Service on call for more than 5 million people I was filling up a car at the garage by yours yeah last night and the cashier's like oh you just finished my own suggestions you'll be what you've been doing like 10 hours I said no it's a 12 hour shift tonight yeah 12 till 12. so I know this is a respecting mate you do a lovely job you really do we'd be stuck without you and the lab be items are you working over Christmases yeah I'm working Christmas day and that's oh you know you've got kids yeah I bet you really hate that and it's like it's not nice but it's part of the job you don't necessarily do just for the money yeah we all do to pay the mortgage a bit weird how we all face aggression and animosity and we can kind of deal with that when people start being really appreciative and Thanking us you don't want to feel awkward and yeah we don't know what to do and it's like oh um well no it's okay it's just a job thank you and with more than 20 years on the job between them gas Clark and Lee timbrow know they need to be ready for anything there we go updated assignment Harry who's 70. [Music] through leg or foot varicose vein has burst on his leg is spurting or spraying yep it will be all up the walls a ruptured varicose vein can lead to life-threatening uncontrollable bleeding so every second counts [Applause] ambulance [Music] oh this is gonna Skippy hello good evening hello sir if it's what we've been told we've come before yeah then it can go everywhere seventy-year-old Harry and his wife are mauritian he's lived in the West Midlands since the 70s so what happened tonight and don't need you to unwrap it or show me just tell me I've got your vain yeah I've got your veins [Music] did it burst on its own or did you have an itch and you give it a little scratch or did you catch it on a bit of furniture I could have done what I was having to wash you know so you're having a wash at the time were you yeah and a few minutes after I can see the blood sprouting out when we got to Harry we found that he'd already taken the correct action by taking a towel applying direct pressure over to the bleeding site what we wanted to do was have a look and see if it was still actively bleeding but we didn't want to do that until we'd got all of our dressings in place so that if it was still spurting we could immediately put our dressings in replace of his well I'm not going to expose any of that until we've got all of our dressings ready yeah all right so I don't want to take all that off and go oh yeah it's still spurting and I've got nothing to put on it yeah we're just keeping it covered until we're ready to deal with it yeah all right but is it the front is it on the sides or is it on the back it's on the front yeah okay let's get ready then [Music] it looks like it stopped so what we'll do is we'll get it covered up yeah because obviously I don't want to disturb it varicose vein can be easily damaged because it's so close to the surface of the skin the patient can lose a very high volume of blood which can ultimately lead to death because being the actual vein itself yeah we need to get it looked at to see if there's anything further they want to do it's like we said there's a lot of pressure in those veins and if that goes again whilst you're asleep it might not wake up [Music] Harry needs urgent Hospital treatment this young lady can bring your trousers down and put the new ones on all right obviously be very mindful at the bottom that is saturated in blood [Music] what's your name idea veronic yes yes that's a very unique name yes we'll go out to the ambulance but thank you Tommy you're not going anywhere without you yeah [Music] that's it if you take a seat on this chair there we go all right let's pop this armrest down are you comfortable good to go Lee yep we're good to go so what did you do for a career yes nursing wow at the Manor and should Margarets fantastic and we were you doing that pretty much most of your life yes sure I did my training I did my day ah fantastic so that was pretty much then an era when there wasn't many male nurses and that's right in 1970. did you face much resistance when you started he was going to do you record yeah very female dominated that's your idea so you paved the way for any male now that wants to be a nurse to just come in yeah fantastic okay so the next Bend you feel will be us turning into the hospital you're probably recognize the little dip as we turn around the corner yeah within minutes they arrive at the hospital where Harry trained and worked almost 50 years ago right here he is with a trolley okay all right this way Harry will be examined by doctors to determine whether he'll need surgery to treat his damaged vein [Music] right cheeky chappie I can't believe he used to be a nurse as well yeah in an era where male nursing wasn't the the norm oh he's a lovely jumper he was did absolutely everything right as soon as he became aware that America's vein had burst and was spurting everywhere got a red towel yeah that was good wrapped it around his leg nice and tight good firm pressure well he knows if he'd use the white one his Mrs would have gone out [Music] you know what word I live see nice disgusted I would classify that on the same level as the word moist so I shouldn't say moist I completely that many people who won't know I don't like it so they overuse it and I'm like oh what I tell you what right let's let's have a mutually issue a destruction policy okay because I don't like right you're gonna laugh at this finger fingertip toucher yeah it really does what it gets my skin itching like I hate the idea of like straight down contact like that and I gotta like flick it away oh [Music] the December blizzard is unrelenting and paramedic Dina Evans with her colleague Mike hipgrave have had a sticky start to their 12-hour shift yeah good afternoon sorry for the delay yeah yeah back of the ambulance was um a little bit full of snow so we cleared it all off within seconds their first call comes in new assignment it's a mile 58 who's got a swollen ear unable to feel side of face okay with fresh snow falling overnight driving conditions are hazardous the side roads are going to prove difficult supposed to be going down to a freezing point it is a minus five apparently this is quite slim yeah be careful asking free snow sure we need that more than you do nearing the patient's home it's not getting any easier if we pull into that street we're going to get stuck well we've got no choice where's the where's the address is that on there there's no way look at it okay let's let's go and have a look then snow is so bad foreign father of three Keith has been unwell since the early hours of the morning his wife is out Christmas shopping but visiting are his daughter Hannah her husband and his worried Son Martin hello there oh okay okay he suffers With viral meningitis as well because he got it now or previous reoccur is viral meningitis are these symptoms similar to what you would normally have he gets really confused he didn't know where he was earlier he thought he was at my house but she said his neck and his jaw is hurting him in his back okay Keith's symptoms are typical of viral meningitis he first had it nearly 30 years ago how many times has he had it previously [Music] do you feel dizzy Keith hmm do you know who we are police no Keith we're the ambulance service just look at me for a second can you see okay not blurry or anything no you're here okay it's not muffled or anything that bad ear 38-4 huh a bit of attempt then the crew are pretty sure this is another attack of viral meningitis but it can be easily confused with the far more dangerous bacterial meningitis in the early stages viral meningitis and bacterial meningitis are very similar symptoms photophobia headache General malaise and general illness bacterial meningitis progresses into a more serious condition later on and is potentially life-threatening you know when you get your viral meningitis normally what symptoms do you normally get temperatures and I'm looking to the light is it is it hurting your eyes to look into that light now should we get you some paracetamol see if that takes the edge off it a little bit how you feel now you sat up dizzy or yeah to be certain Keith's meningitis is viral and not bacterial he'll need tests at the hospital but first the crew have to get him there I found a drive doing this we've got a few takers today a bit of extra money [Music] Rock should be able to get out there right from there [Music] we're gonna put you on a chair and then put a blanket around because it's a bit uh Snowy out there obviously as you're ruin [Music] hey it's a fabulous looking day isn't it what it's all right [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] welcome aboard [Music] you um yes please [Music] you feel sick [Music] it's about me back there if you need you brought anything up Casey just wretching and have a look are you just wretching on you sometimes motion sickness is not very good on ambulances especially going backwards it doesn't help when you're feeling unwell though despite tricky driving conditions Dina keeps a steady Pace to the hospital what are you doing right we're here all right Keith Keith will have blood tests to see if his viral meningitis has returned [Music] kind of got the impression he was having it once a year every year yeah typical bloke as well I'll never go to the doctors yeah we don't need to we're Hardy creatures men are actually getting monthly ammonia you mean that's enough to strike down that doesn't mean I mean you look don't know what it's like you ladies you don't know what it's like being a man a poorly man foreign [Music] it always gets to that itchy stage and I go I can't be bothered with this I don't have the the coverage on my face it's too Babyface I get a mustache the the chin fluff and then some a bit underneath yeah but nothing around the sides nothing to join it all up so it looks like sort of like three separate facial hair entities okay it just looks ridiculous there's always a little Gap at the top of my lip as well for my mustache idiotic with a mustache however I think I'm going this is big the full face bit [Music] [Applause] [Music] heavy snow and freezing conditions have made today's shift something of a challenge for ambulance crewmates Laura and Andrew it's a lot nicer when you're sat in your house looking out the window with the heating arms and Christmas cards [Music] car Scrooge yeah I know maybe misses nearly happy first our first Barney over the fact she decide to put the Christmas tree up just live with the fact that you have to have a Christmas tree Christmas just live with it no limit how many sacrifices has she made for you exactly not even going into them so live with the Christmas tree Scrooge [Music] a new 999 call has just come in Laura and Andrew are making their way to a man who's Fallen outside his home so I always fell in the snow blessing oh well this is my first job where someone's falling in the snow in the last few hours the snow has started freezing and conditions are hazardous for everyone well I'm gonna drive in the ambulance like a driving Corsa do it nice and slow 20 mile an hour in fourth gear there you go get there in one piece and tell you what the easiest way to drive in the snow A not drive if you've got to go somewhere pull the clutch up and just drive it on the clutch do you want to turn it around now uh yeah actually it looks like they've cleared the road down that is the fattest snowman look at that bad boy and oh my God there's three of them oh you'll turn around easier yeah so just to let you know this is a freaking ice rink is it yeah look [Music] I'm Laura this is Andy hello what have you done slipped on some ice [Music] me right here yeah 69 year old John had been out Christmas shopping with his partner Janet they were nearly home when he fell since then is it at the bottom of the Cordy side it's lethal isn't it loses the wheelchair oh fantastic yeah so how did you get back home then did somebody pick you up and put you in this and a couple of days help me God bless you when the pain comes where is the main pain well since since it fell I've not had any Main thing okay and that's it okay when you stand up and you can't wait there on it where's do you get any pain then just a discomfort it just collapses on okay okey-doke right I'm just gonna have a prod and a poke if that's all right as best I can any playing around there yeah it gets worse as you come around here okay okay I know you haven't been able to wait a bit but while you're sat in the chair have you been able to move your hip and to get the foot onto the rest I have to physically lift it okay so there's every potential John that you may have broke your hip but uh obviously we'll wait for the X-ray to uh diagnose that bad boy okay Laura needs to get John to hospital and she's determined the weather won't stop her [Music] do you have a snow shovel or a snow plow thing yes I rather enjoy this so I'm going to do this okay I'll tell you what that'll do careful easy [Music] you're working hard yeah I've plowed it all the crew bring Jon out through the garage where the going is safest thanks to Laura's freshly cleared path look at that John that's perfect Jenny [Music] we're up take a good old of me really good old and use me as well that's it that's it we got it there we go right so would you like some pain relief yeah for when we move again what's really good for people who have clearly broken their hip is IV paracetamol [Music] sure I've scratched on [Music] so how do you lovely people know each other then we've introduced to the party beginning of the year [Music] gradually got to know each other a lot better brilliant there we are long time finding [Music] you might be able to emotional [Music] I know you sorry no it's all right you needed that yeah there we go sorry that's all right don't worry [Music] foreign [Music] cautious minutes navigating icy roads they arrive at the hospital here we are the pensnet Hilton [Music] wonderful ta-da right John we'll pop your coat over you here just till we get in the hospital okay yeah cool them this way please [Music] all right I'll leave you in charge of that John [Music] will now have an x-ray to find out if his hip is broken [Music] well that was my first snow related incident it's my first snow incident as well to be fair but it was just a if it was going to happen that was the way it was going to happen wasn't it that road was slippy though it was dangerous even I slept slowly oh yeah they were pudding romance as well those two I thought it was I just found new love it is nice yeah a Christmas present all on its own there you are [Music] 75 year old John did break his hip when he fell at his home he required surgery and spent Christmas and New Year in hospital Jackie was in hospital for 10 days she was treated with antibiotics for the infection that had caused her such pain [Music] Harry's ruptured varicose vein was redressed at the hospital and again at home he had no further ruptures over the holidays [Music] Keith was suffering from his eighth bout of viral meningitis after a week in hospital he recovered well enough for a family Christmas foreign -year-old John's icy slip did break his hip he was operated on and discharged in time for Christmas at home [Music] foreign [Music]