Jun 2, 2018
Back to Sunday May 27th’s casualty retrieval training and session #3 involved finding a casualty at the Cliff End of the beach. For training purposes, the casualty had fallen off the groyne and had sustained a hip injury.
Of course, in this kind of situation, the casualty may be aware of ‘where it hurts’ in respect of an injury but of course there may be other hidden injuries too, so the first aiders in the crew had to treat and handle the casualty in a way which would minimise pain and prevent exacerbation of any other potential injuries typical in a fall, such as back, pelvis or neck injuries.
Once the injuries were assessed and it was identified that the stretcher would be needed, extra crew were brought along with the stretcher to help handle the stretcher safely across the very rough, rocky part of the beach.
In a real-life incident an ambulance would have been called to be ready at base for the casualty to receive paramedic attention and transportation to hospital as quickly as possible.
May 30, 2018
So the #2nd session of casualty retrieval training involved finding casualty who had been reported as sitting injured on the beach around the area opposite Pett Pools.
Beach injuries are surprisingly common: the beach presents plenty of trip hazards as well as a shifting shingle surface – and that’s before you even get as far as areas of sinking sand and unpredictable waves and tide movement! However, it’s also an area of great fun and as long as prudence prevails, tide times are researched in advance of a visit, weather conditions noted and warning signs recognised and understood, there’s no reason not to enjoy the beach safely: inform yourself and prepare yourself and a beach visit should be fun!
However, for our hapless victim casualty John, for training purposes he had tripped on a beach hazard and sustained an injured arm, so it was down to the crew to find his location, assess his injury and administer first aid and to bring him back to the safety of the base where, in a real casualty situation, an ambulance would be waiting to remove him to hospital.
May 28, 2018
Sunday 27th May 2018’s beautiful weather and rising tide offered great conditions for a very busy training session! The main focus was casualty retrieval, carried out over several different exercises which involved crew acting as casualties and both Bob and Resusci Annie dummies being used.
In fact, there was so much going on that the morning’s training for the PLIRB volunteer crew has been split across a series of posts, so that the images don’t overload the blog page!
The focus was on the types of rescue and casualty retrieval which most commonly happen around the local beach areas – and the first one of these was retrieval of an individual who was uninjured, but cut off by the tide down towards Cliff End, notorious for its disappearing under-cliff beach once the tide turns.
🙂 Apologies for the hazy quality of some of the photos, it was just so sunny for a change!
May 24, 2018
Just a quick post to share that Hall & Blokes Ukulele Band (of Hastings Beatles’ Day and Rye Ukulele Festival fame, amongst other exciting appearances) have confirmed they will be available to play at our upcoming Open Day on Sunday 26th August 2018!
Our dedicated Open Day page is being updated with this exciting news, along with the fact that raffle tickets are now being sold by crew and committee members, so give us a “shout” if you’d like to buy some!
May 20, 2018
It’s been a busy weekend for the boat and crews, with the Margaret and John Pulfer boat due back out twice more in the afternoon, so this morning’s training session was mainly shore-based and equipment training.
To get things going, nature provided its own training challenge! After yesterday’s vertical shingle ‘wall’ for the tractor to negotiate, today’s surprise was in the form of a dead tree, left by the retreating tide right in the middle of the launch area. This would be a hazard not only to the PLIRB boats and trailer during launch and recovery – a tree that size in the water could easily take the blades off the propeller – but also to other boats and beach users.
Once again, Kev’s tractor-management expertise meant the tractor was able to be positioned as close as possible for retrieving the tree. Meanwhile, trainees were challenged with the task of tying appropriate knots to the ropes needed for the tractor to haul the tree back up.
After this, full crew and Launch Authority Darren took trainee volunteers through vital training, including:
- Dinghy recovery.
- Inventory and familiarisation with the Pulfer boat and equipment.
- Propeller changing (on dry land today, but there are times when the propeller may need to be changed at sea.
- Familiarising with GPS dashboard on the boat.
Then it was time to get the boat prepared for the afternoon’s events, so more time well spent down at the PLIRB!
Don’t forget to stop by if you are interested in volunteering for us or supporting us!
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