With temperatures registering -9 degreeC in the Bolton area, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, in the now established and well rehearsed practice of being directly contacted, was requested to turn out the team at circa 07:00 this morning to assist an NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance crew with accessing a casualty location in the Daubhill area of Bolton.

A full team pager call out was sent at 07:09, with our Bolton Mobile 1 and 3 vehicles responding plus our Team Leader and Deputy Leader in their respective vehicles.

The incident involved an elderly lady who needed stretcher evacuation from her home address to the NWAS Emergency Ambulance, which in turn needed extricating from an ice/snow bound road onto better nearby road conditions.

Our Team Leader arrived on scene at 07:49 to discover one of the NWAS Ambulance crew members was Hazel Kennedy, a member of our Support Group.

The lady concerned was in her home address already on a long board, and whilst our BM3 Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicle towed the NWAS Ambulance off the ice/snow bound road surface, other team members working with the NWAS crew and the lady’s son-in-law placed her on one of our specialist Mountain Rescue stretchers and sledged her on the snow to the NWAS Emergency Ambulance.

With the lady now on board the Ambulance, along with her son in law and daughter, our BM3 vehicle then towed the ambulance onto the nearby main road, which was clearer of snow and ice.

This incident was completed on scene at 08:46.

In total 5 Bolton MRT members were involved in assisting the NWAS (Manchester) Emergency crew.

Thanks as ever to the NWAS (Manchester) Belle Vue Control Room staff, for their help – and patience, (in this case dispatcher Katherine) in working with our Team Leader and responding team vehicles in passing on essential information

As a footnote, during this incident, co-incidentally the NWAS Director of Emergency Operations Derek Cartwright contacted our Team Leader for an update on the team’s recent activities!