John rises to the challenge
The people of Strathearn are great supporters of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance
John Pritchard
Crieff’s John Pritchard MBE has been taking to the air with Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance since it launched in 2013.
The clinical paramedic team leader said the crew had faced challenges arising from the pandemic, but everyone was rising to the task.
He told the Herald: “For us the main changes have been surrounding the PPE that we all have to wear now within the aircraft.
“And just like our road crews – police, fire, ambulance – we all have to wear masks when we go out.
“Our visors and glasses steam up and it’s harder to hear what’s being said on our intercom systems with masks muffling our voices so we have to speak louder or slower when doing pre start-up checks or passing information and using radios, for example.
“There are also slight challenges with how we operate within the aircraft. We had a separation curtain installed, which segregates the pilot from the clinical team looking after the patient in the back.
“And we have to dance about to make sure we are all distanced.”
John continued: “When the second lockdown materialised we were finding, especially with people staying at home and staycationing, that we were getting more call-outs.
“Although it was great to see people out exploring low level hills and tracks, equally people were probably not realising that walking on uneven ground is different to walking on a pavement or path, and we were getting a lot of slips, trips and falls on the hills that people could access easily.
“We were finding that where we normally see that type of workload in April, when people are coming out of hibernation – or October just as the light
is going down – we were finding it was constant throughout the summer.
“We were still getting road accidents but we were seeing different trends. We weren’t seeing as many motorcycle accidents during lockdown and there weren’t the same visitors from abroad so the roads weren’t as busy.”
John works a 12-hour shift, with four call-outs tending to be the maximum in any one shift.
And it is not just emergencies that SCAA attends, as much of the air ambulance’s workload involves looking after the island communities and rural parts of Scotland.
John explained: “We are a lifeline to these places in taking patients for routine care as well as emergencies.
“We could quite easily go to Barra, pick up a patient and bring them to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow and after that go to maybe Arran and bring a patient back from there.
“It sounds quite a distance but, actually, from Glasgow it is quite a short flight of maybe 20 minutes. It would be 45 or 50 minutes if we flew from Perth, where we are based, but when you are in Glasgow already it’s a short hop. As soon as we are cleared we can be available for another task in the west.
“We can go a couple of days with nothing going on and then you can be out two or three times every shift.
“Recently we were called out to Ben A’an and then to Sherrifmuir to accidents involving walkers. We were then en route to Mull for a routine transfer but were re-tasked to Kincardine in Fife to attend a road traffic emergency.”
After almost nine years in the job, John, a former Royal Air Force medic, still loves his work.
“It’s one of these great opportunities,” he added. “You are working with a charity which is funded by the people and businesses of Scotland.
“Without that backing and support we wouldn’t be able to fly all the missions we have flown.
“The people of Strathearn are great supporters of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. A lot of people have been touched by it or seen it.
“We fly over Crieff and Comrie often on our way to the west to move patients so people see us a lot.
“And now we have a second charity aircraft based in Aberdeen. It’s amazing that we have got that. It increases the coverage and more people can be helped. It means that the air ambulances can be utilised more in getting to patients that we might not have got to because we were tasked elsewhere.”