Retail Volunteer Story – Lesley Dibbins
October 29, 2024Winter conditions provide our Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) crew with a few extra challenges when travelling to the scene of an incident and treating the patient. Luckily thanks to their experience, skills and state-of-the-art equipment, our crew can adapt and overcome these various obstacles.
Flying:
During shorter days
During the winter, as we all know, the sun rises later and sets earlier. Helimed 65 can only land in unsurveyed sites during daylight. Unsurveyed sites are the car parks, fields and other spaces we land in to be as close as possible to our patients. Because these sites are unsurveyed, our pilots and crew need a good view of them when coming into land to spot dangers such as telephone wires and other obstacles. This means that once the sun sets, we can no longer attend incidents in our helicopter. Instead, we attend incidents in our critical care cars.
On occasions where we land at the scene of an incident in daylight but the sun sets whilst we are treating the patient, we can fly away from the scene and land at a surveyed site. There are a few hospitals in our region that can accommodate night landings, such as the BRI and Southmead. We can also land back at our Almondsbury base.
In heavy wind
Wind creates lift, which in turn makes flying easier. However, if the wind is too strong it begins to pose a problem. Strong winds can cause heavy turbulence, which has the potential to cause more serious issues than a travel-sick Specialist Paramedic in Critical Care (SPCC) or Critical Care Doctor. Helimed 65 has its own wind limits. The rotors cannot start or stop if the wind exceeds 50 knots and the helicopter cannot fly if the wind is above 70 knots.
One of our crew members, SPCC James Yates recalls only having experienced bad turbulence 'a handful of times' in more than nine years of working with us. This is partly due to the wind limits mentioned above. Turbulence in a helicopter is different to the turbulence experienced on a plane. Instead of a shaking motion, it is more like an intense sway from side to side. If the wind is too strong to fly, we are still able to be there for our patients thanks to our three fully-equipped critical care cars.
Landing a helicopter in a tight space in the wind becomes more challenging and our pilots will look for a larger safer landing spot near the scene of an incident.
In snow
You may be surprised to hear that we can still fly in snow. The biggest obstacle posed by snowfall is visibility; it doesn’t stop us from flying altogether, it just means our pilots must adapt to the conditions. Icing conditions are said to exist at temperatures below zero degrees with a visibility of 1000m or less. If falling snow reduces the visibility to this point the aircraft may have to make a precautionary landing until the conditions improve. This means that flying in the snow, whilst doable, can take longer and needs to be considered in the decision-making process about whether to fly or drive.
To avoid snow settling on the helicopter’s rotor blades whilst it is stationary, the rotors will be left on. If snow settles on the rotors, there is a risk of them freezing, which ties in nicely with our next extreme weather condition…
In sub-zero temperatures
We are still able to fly in sub-zero temperatures. The minimum operating temperature for an EC135 (The model of helicopter Helimed 65 is) is -35oC and therefore freezing temperatures on their own are not a concern in our region.
In fog
Similarly to snow, heavy fog can make flying a no-go due to poor visibility. Once again, if we are unable to fly due to thick fog and poor visibility, we still have the ability to travel to patients using one of our critical care cars.
Treating patients:
In the cold
Our crew have plenty of kit to keep warm on cold days. Their uniform includes flight suits, waterproof jackets and tactical medical vests to provide them with plenty of layers. In addition, they can opt to add further layers such as beanie hats and long johns under their uniform to combat the bitter cold. However, the nature of the job means they never know where they might be called next — it could be to the side of a road where they’ll be exposed to the elements, or it could be to someone’s centrally-heated home.
Once on scene, our crew are constantly on the move and busy, so they soon warm up. And when travelling to and from the scene of an incident, the heaters in our helicopter and cars keep them warm.
In the rain
Working in the rain is an inevitable part of the job, but our crew are well-equipped; their waterproof jackets and trousers keep them dry and they have spares to change into if necessary.
When treating patients in the rain, colleagues in other emergency services lend a hand by covering the team with umbrellas or a tarpaulin. This isn’t specifically to keep our crew dry, but to stop the patient getting cold and wet.
Our critical care cars
Last winter, our cars responded to 80% of our call-outs. Find out more about our fleet of Skoda Kodiaq critical care cars.