HERO OF THE HILLS
NHS nurse Dillon Hayes nominated for his bravery after helping rescue stricken boy, 6, as part of mountain rescue team
A NURSE from NHS Highland who treated a boy with a broken leg in a dramatic hillside rescue has been nominated for a Scottish Health Award.
Dillon Hayes, who is also part of a mountain rescue team, was winched from a helicopter on a winter night to help the six-year-old. The critical care practitioner, who was a member of Pre-Hospital Immediate Care & Trauma (PICT) at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, at the time, was called out by the Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team when the boy and an adult family member got into trouble on Fyrish, a hill in Easter Ross. “I didn’t expect it to be a difficult climb as the place where they were walking is a forest track used by families. But they had wandered off the path, lost
their footing and slid 100 metres down the hill,” said Dillon, 42, now a nursing lecturer at the University of Highlands and Islands.
A helicopter took Dillon and three of the mountain rescue team to hover above the site.
“When I reached the hillside, it was so sheer I bounced off it and crashed into a tree. The ground was loose and steep, so the site was difficult to get to.
“The adult’s injuries were not lifethreatening but the child was quiet, shut down, cold and wet. His right leg was bent under him and I had to support him with my shoulder so he wouldn’t slip down while I examined him and gave him painkillers.”
The boy’s thigh was broken and once his pain was under control, Dillon straightened
his leg and got him on to a stretcher and a vacuum mattress, which acts as a wholebody splint.
After carrying the stretcher a mile to a field where the helicopter could land, the boy was taken to Raigmore Hospital. Dillon said: “The rescue took five hours and is one of the most difficult I’ve experienced.”
GP Dr Iain Craighead, who nominated Dillon, said: “He displays great courage and exceptional ability in his role as a nurse, an advanced practitioner with the Highland trauma team and as a member of Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team.”
Finalists will be revealed in October and winners will be announced on November 3 at the O2 Academy, Edinburgh.