John's work

The staff at the NSW helicopter service are amazing - extremely well-read staff, and cutting edge medicine provided in the helicopters and ground units. I am learning a ton of new information and reinforcing a lot of information too. There is a lot of helicopter search, rescue, and safety issues, as well as winching and water issues to learn. Last week focused on responses to accidents and included cutting up vehicles and a lot of very complex and demanding scenarios (complete with angry parents, unhelpful crews on scene, equipment issues, night issues, combative patients, etc.). Also, we had to pass our helicopter underwater escape tests, which involved escaping from a metal cage while upside down underwater (and blindfolded - see picture - but not handcuffed or in a barrel, fortunately) - also, sometimes our primary escape would be blocked and we'd have to follow our partner out - a little stressful, and hope it never happens of course, but certainly was exciting! We did this in the diving well of the pool where the Sydney Olympics were held.  This week focuses on hospital transfers of intensive care patients to other hospitals and additional procedure and equipment training. Flight training and ride-alongs are next week and week-end (ending at 10pm Friday night with night winching training) and then we start our shifts - depending on the shift, we either work on the road crew or one of the helicopter crews. The road crews are also responsible for any fixed wing (airplane) transfers that occur. It's a great group of students and instructors and I just can't say enough about the organization and its focus on safety and great patient care - really looking forward to getting 'in the field'. See pictures of Kate modeling my smurf top and cap - ;)