Chucked in at the deep end...

Yesterday evening I had another duty at the Amex in which I was put in charge of a radio and a cadet. And as fate would have it, guess who had the only casualty the whole game! Yup, me.
Consequently, I very quickly learnt to deal with a casualty and the radio. Even if, at one point, I did have to radio Control and ask for 'a more experienced first aider'. Cue SECAmb (and a big sigh of relief from me!).

However the outcome of this incident was a very swift learning curve and confidence boost. So sometimes it's not so bad to be 'chucked in at the deep end'.

In other news, after having been to two SECAmb responder meetings, they then inform me that there is an application form that I need to fill out. So I am currently in the process of completing this.

In the culinary department, I was purusing a friend's blog who occasionaly posts a new recipe, and the latest addition was an 'Orange loaf cake'. (http://amy-babycake.blogspot.co.uk/) So, to the kitchen I went. and Voilà!

 

(Obviously it has been discovered and mostly eaten before I could get a photo!)

It is not the most exciting looking cake, but it is very tasty- lovely with a cuppa!

 

I think this is the next challenge:

 

Gingerbread cupcakes in time for christmas! :)

 

 

 

 

Until next time....

 

New job, ECGs and BMs

A little while ago I mentioned that I had some exciting news which I could not yet discuss on the interweb. Well, the time has come for me to elaborate...

I have a new job, and I am currently in the throws of induction training. My new title is Health Care Assistant in a hospital setting on a surgical ward.
I'm quite excited about the next couple of days of training when we shall be trained to monitor and record all obs (observations). i.e. blood pressure, pulse, temperature, resps, Sp02%, BMs and ECGs! I have already been taught how to do BP, pulse, temp, resps and Sp02% at other times. It's the ECGs i'm interested in. My first shift on the ward is in a weeks time! :)

Aside from employment news, I have now had two meetings with the community first responders team, and I am looking at booking on to the next traning sessions early next year. So no real news to report about CFRs now until my training begins.

I am still reading all the same books I wrote about on the last blog and in addition I am now reading Life of Pi- Yann Martel. I have also lined up a re-read of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in time for the wintery time of year.

Since joining St John Ambulance I find I have become much more aware of other first aiders and first aid situations. One example of this is my visit to Tesco the other day. A child manganged to pull a pram down on top of his head, and then, as expected, proceeded to cry. One of the Tesco staff from that department went off to use the tanoy system to ask for a first aider "code 9". (Whatever that means!) 5 minutes later, no sign of the first aider, so another call was put out over the tanoy. 5 mintues after that, still no sign of said first aider. So they used the tanoy system for a third time and named a specific first aider and asked them to respond to the incident. After a further 5 mins he finally turned up. Now I don't know about you, but if was responding to a child head injury, I would have responded a lot quicker than that- even if the child was fine, with no lasting injury, that is not known until the first aider has arrived on scene.

In St John news, there is a possibilty that I may be doing Lewes Bonfires this year, which I've heard is a fun, challenging, and long (usually until about 3am) duty. And of course I shall continue on with the footie games at the Amex.


No other insights to talk of, so, until the next time...

Syphgmomanometers and Stethoscopes

 Daydreamer, sitting on the seat, soaking up the sun  .  .  .

So, summer has finally decided to make an appearence :) This makes me happy because it means lots of reading my book in the sunshine in the garden and getting sunburnt (not so good).
And at the moment I am doing lots of reading
I have just finished: The Catcher In The Rye - JD Salinger and Passion - Louise Bagshawe.

And I am currently reading: The Jungle Books - Rudyard Kipling, James and The Giant Peach - Roald Dahl, Scouting For Boys - Baden-Powell and Animal Farm - George Orwell.

And I have just ordered Life of Pi - Yann Martel.

If anyone has any books to reccomend, speak now :)

A couple more St John Ambo duties since the last post; one at Fontwell Racecourse and one at Shoreham Airshow. and another couple of footie games at the Amex coming up. Finally got a new small hi-viz jacket, so now It doesn't look like a dress on me!

I have recently purchased myself a Syphgmomanometer and stethoscope, and have been taught how to take blood pressure manually. Now just to practice  .  .  .  .  .  any volunteers? :P

over and out
Holly xxx






                                

Spejdernes Lejr 2012

(Translation of the blog title: "Scout Camp 2012")

On the 18th of July this year 14 explorer scouts, 1 scout and 5 leaders set sail for 'Jamboree Denmark 2012' (and I mean that quite literally as we travelled by ferry). 18 hours later we arrived in Esbjerg on the coast of Denmark. After a two hour drive we reached our destination; Holstebro EKU (scout hut).

We stayed in the EKU for the first 2 nights, then walked to the scout camp.
The camp was HUGE! Just to give you an idea of how big it was, it took us 1 1/2 hours to walk around half of the camp. There were 36,000 scouts/leaders on the camp. We had an on-site hospital with a surgical unit, and two helipads for the helicopter ambulances.

The Camp

On our pitch on the campsite which was allocated to Ellebæk scouts, we had 135 people staying (Our explorers, scout and leaders; the Danish beavers, cubs, scouts, explorers, network and leaders; and the FDF).

Due to fire regulations (3m gap between clusters of tents) we were unable to pitch Ben and Gordy's tent as there was limited space. So they shared with Jon and Steve and I shared with Cheese, Maria, Lotte Nichlas, Emil, Camilla, AM, Maja and Daniel.

There were some very impressive pioneering projects around the campsite, some pictures below:

The Eiffel Tower

 The Spiral Staircase

Some of the things we did were a flash mob in the centre of Holstebro town where we were given a radio and some heaphones and we just had to do what we were told- actions such as `mooing`whilst walking down the high street; building a human pyramid; dancing to music played to us on our personal radios; lying down in the middle of town to listen to a story read to us on our radios. etc.

There were lots of very late nights spent in `The Wild Rover` (the on-site pub) and in true scout camp tradition lots of ´burning the candle at both ends´ with wake-up calls as early as 5.45.

One of the major benefits of having the camp in the home town of all my Danish friends was the ability to completely avoid the camp showers. Instead I simply walked to one of my friend´s house for a shower.

One of my Danish Friends Niklas was in charge of an activity that translated as the `love trombone´ but ´love shack´ was the nickname given to it. He held sessions of speed dating there in the evening, and they had a stage with with lots of good music late into the night.

One evening we had an hawiian themed adult party which began with a picnic, with 9 Calves spit roasted (bearing in mind there were 6000 adults there) photos below:

 

After we had eaten there was another concert at the main stage.

On the wednesday night there was an International Campfire in which we were asked to perform a typically English scout song, so we chose the Bumblebee song. I´m sure there will be a video of us peforming it on youtube before long!

One of the last activites we did was a trip to the local beach for an activity called ´Baywatch´. To my dissapointment The Hoff was not there, instead it was just a chance swim in the sea, play volleyball and fall asleep on a beach (the latter of which there is a photo of me- thank you explorers!)

On the last night of camp we had the closing ceremony which was entirely in Danish but luckly a translation was being simultaniously broadcast on the radio. Once the first part of the opening ceremony was over, we were told that there would be a second half following shortly. About 15 mintues later, ALPHABEAT walked on stage and performed for us late into the night! See below:

Once the camp was over our scout/explorers and leaders were dispersed for home hospitality and I stayed with my friends Emil and Flavia. The following evening we had a BBQ/goodbye party at the FDF hut, and after one last sleep we departed for England.

Keep Smiling
Holly

 

So an update is needed I believe...

oh, what's occurin'?

Well, firstly there's been a few more St John duties to talk of. There was another footie game at the Amex, this time on a much smaller scale; the Fringe festival in Brighton; and another duty where we had two young identical twin girls who had a condition I have never heard of:
'Reflex Anoxic Seizures'.
This means that if one of them gets a shock eg. a loud noise, then they collapse and their heart stops. However, it occured to me whilst daydreaming at this duty, that if one of the girls had a shock and their heart stopped, would that be enough of a shock for the other twin that her heart would stop too? So we could have two casualties?... these are the kind of thoughts that fill my head whilst on duty. :P

So onto the next news I have just embarked on a level 3 qualification in 'Principles of End of Life Care' which is intriguing and very relevent to my current employment. So I have thrown myself into it and am almost halfway through. :)

I have always taken a interest in programmes on television that follow the emergency services (especially Ambos). More recently I have endevoured to catch 24 hours in A&E as it shows many emergency situations and the remedies - fascinating stuff!

In other news, Lucy and I have ticked another visit off our list today: Lewes town and castle. Coincidentally, it happenes to be the day that Lewes castle commemorate the Battle of Lewes with a family day and samba band at the castle. - so lots of people around, but still lovely. After the visit to the castle, Lucy and I had lunch in a riverside cafe and did some people watching. Photos of the visit below:

 

I have other, most exciting, news which I am unable to discuss on the interweb at present, until it (hopefully) becomes official. Watch this space...

Keep smiling all! :D

Ducks On The Pond and Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Just a short post while my first attempt at a 'Pineapple upside down cake' is baking in the oven....

We have a swimming pool in our garden, which remains filled but not chlorinated through-out the winter months. So the water turns green and nasty and resembles a pond.

This spring we are unable to fill the pool with clean water because of the 'Hosepipe ban'. So the pool remains a pond for the time being.

And to that end, we have resident ducks! We do not know where they come from, although having thought about it, probably the 'Swiss Cottage', a local pub with ducks in their garden.

Our ducks visit almost daily, and we have one female and four males. The female always comes to visit, the males take it in turns. Sometimes we have two males, sometimes three or four.

The other day I took a video of our little friends, but for some reason I am unable to upload it here.


On the bright side, the pineapple upside down cake was a SUCCESS!

Stay Cool

Holly :)

The Latest Visits:

So Lucy and I can tick another two visits off our list:

Arundel Castle

and

Singleton: Weald and Downland Open Air Museum

First, Arundel Castle.

Having set off in my little car we breezed along the A27 with Erasure-A Little Respect blaring. That is until we reached Arundel, where there was roadworks. Big roadworks. So we sat there for about 3/4 hour then eventually got through the bottleneck into Arundel.

We had a quick shop around the town centre then paid a visit to the Moathouse Cafe for a cream tea! :)

Then onwards to the castle...

This is a lovely photo of Lucy B

Here are a few photos of the gardens and Lucy and I standing by the beautiful tulips and blossoms:

 

This is Lucy sitting in the resturant where we sat and had a coffee and chatted about university, and ambulances.

After we had visited the castle, we decided to wander down to the duck pond. Here are a couple of photos:

Two days later, we headed to Signleton Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

Having got mildly lost on the way there, we were relieved to see the signs for the 'open air museum'.

Lucy and I wandered round reminiscing of times when both visited Singleton with our schools.

'Lucy the Giant'

That's all for now!

Holly :)