It was a dark and stormy night in 1991 when a magician took over the bridge of the Oceanos, an ageing passenger liner travelling up the Wild Coast.

The captain was nowhere to be found. The ship started taking in water in the auxiliary engine room just a few hours after it had set sail from East London. Panicking, the crew scrambled into the lifeboats, leaving passengers largely to fend for themselves. The ship’s entertainment staff bravely started to calm passengers and coordinated the abandon-ship operation and rescue effort.

The story of this dramatic rescue, which made headlines across the world, is told from the perspective of all the key role players and describes their extraordinary heroism.

Brought up-to-date with the latest guidance, research and policy, this second edition of Ambulance Care Practice is an essential guide for paramedic students, trainee associate ambulance practitioners, those studying towards a certificate in first response emergency care and other ambulance clinicians. It provides a complete overview of the key skills, knowledge and understanding required to work at ambulance associate practitioner level or similar within the ambulance service, covering theoretical aspects and practical application, as well as a range of different clinical procedures and patient populations. Key features include: *Clearly illustrated, step-by-step instructions for range of essential clinical skills and procedures including how to handle different types of trauma and cardiac arrest *Detailed anatomical diagrams to provide the reader with the necessary context to carry out the practical elements of their job *Evidence-based throughout and up-to-date with the latest guidance, policy and research *Specific chapters on each area of patient assessment and specific patient populations and how to manage these effectively *Chapters relevant to associate practitioner level including drug administration, mental health and end of life care as well as an in-depth chapter on assisting the paramedic. In line with the National Education Network for Ambulance Services standards The book covers learning objectives from a range of courses offered by ambulance services. It is an essential resource for anyone wanting to prepare themselves for a role within the ambulance service as well as those hoping to become a more effective member of an emergency ambulance crew.

This second edition of Ambulance Care Essentials offers a complete guide to the skills, knowledge and understanding required to work as a support worker or similar within the ambulance service. Covering fundamental elements of the role, the book combines theoretical aspects of communication, legal and ethical issues and safeguarding with more practical areas such as manual handling, medical emergencies and a range of clinical skills. It includes in-depth chapters on the primary areas of patient assessment as well as covering different patient populations across the lifecourse. Key features include: *Clearly illustrated, step-by-step instructions for range of practical skills and procedures including how to handle different types of trauma and cardiac arrest *Detailed anatomical diagrams to provide the reader with the necessary context to carry out the practical elements of their job more effectively *Evidence-based throughout and up-to-date with the latest guidance, policy and research *Specific chapters on each area of patient assessment and how to manage this effectively *Chapters dedicated to various patient populations such as obstetrics, paediatrics and older people *In-depth chapter on supporting senior clinicians and how best to assist the paramedic as a support worker This second edition has been brought up to-date with the latest national guidance. The book is appropriate for a Level 3 diploma course or similar that qualifies you to work as a support worker and covers learning objectives from a range of courses offered by ambulance services. It is an essential resource for anyone wanting to prepare themselves for a role within the ambulance service as well as those hoping to become a more effective member of an emergency ambulance crew.

This work features cartoons by David Allan, chairman of Mountain Rescue Council (England) and text by Judy Whiteside, editor of "Mountain Rescue News" - the official national magazine for Mountain Rescue. David Allan, FRCS, said: I have been involved with mountain rescue in a number of roles for a little over thirty years. During that time I have come to respect the people who provide the service for their commitment, their skills, and their capacity to endure. However, I have also come to believe that perhaps the most essential requirement for a successful mountain rescue team member is a sense of humour and it is in recognition of this that this book is produced. I must pay tribute to the excellent book Mountain Rescue by Bob Sharp and Judy Whiteside which I have parodied and used as a source of ideas.

MOUNTAIN rescue in the United Kingdom is a voluntary service. Mountain rescue team members are 'on call' through the 999 system 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They are as likely to leave a warm bed in the wee small hours to rescue an injured climber on some blizzard-blown crag, as hunt the grounds of your local nursing home in search of someone's missing granny. They're a dedicated bunch. And dare we say it, a breed of their own. Mountain Rescue takes a look at the service in its entirety, from a brief history of its raw beginnings through to the present day, exploring the rich diversity of calls on its time and the people involved.

THE ENTHRALLING INSIDE STORY OF THE THAI CAVE RESCUE FROM THE MAN AT THE HEART OF THE MISSION, AS SEEN IN THE SUNDAY TIMES 'The British divers are all heroes' Clive Cussler 'A case study in courage' Ron Howard, Oscar-winning director of Apollo 13 ________ Thailand, July 2018. Twelve boys and their football coach vanish into Tham Luang caves just as the monsoon rains hit. A mile from the surface they are trapped by rising flood waters. All attempts to reach them fail. As hope for their survival fades a retired British firefighter tinkering with homemade cave-diving kit gets a call. Rick Stanton and his dive partner race to the other side of the world. The boys have been missing for days. Each hour, their chance of escape shrinks. Rick must swim, crawl and squeeze through treacherously tight submerged tunnels hunting for them. But that is not the impossible part. Because if by some miracle they're alive then somehow he must bring the boys back out again . . . He doesn't know it yet but all his life he's been training for this very moment . . . ________ 'The riveting, behind-the-scenes story. Captivating' SUNDAY POST 'A definitive view of the rescue. You probably won't read a better-written book about diving this year. I just had to get to the end' DIVER MAGAZINE 'Diver Rick Stanton relives the rescue of the century' SUNDAY TIMES 'Remarkable . . . the chronicle of a man from a humble background who worked devilishly hard . . . and was willing to go anywhere to help people in the most dire cave disasters' WALL STREET JOURNAL THE RESCUE WATCHED BY THE WORLD 'The Thai cave rescue was phenomenally dangerous, and the work of true heroes' iNews '[The rescue] was fantastic, it really was . . .' HRH Prince William 'If it was me stuck anywhere, the one person I would want to come and rescue me is Rick Stanton' Alex Daw, Watch Commander, West Midlands Fire Service 'One of the great stories of our time' Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Oscar-winning co-director of Free Solo 'Rick Stanton is not the most domesticated of men' Sunday Telegraph

Ambulance services and paramedics perform critical roles in contemporary healthcare economies. Trained to work in the field and respond rapidly to emergencies, societies have come to increasingly rely on ambulance services to deliver urgent care. Never has this need been more acute than in recent years given intense social inequality, overstretched and underfunded health systems, and deadly pandemics. Leo McCann offers the first book-length study of the paramedic profession in England. Based on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation, The Paramedic at Work provides a detailed account of the complex realities of work in this fascinating occupation. Chapters explore the nature of work 'out on the road', the peculiarities of ambulance organizational culture, the intensity of workplace stress and burnout, and the current and future trajectory of paramedic professionalism. The book documents the unique paradoxes experienced by those employed in this line of work. Ambulance staff are trained to handle life-threatening trauma and disease, but most callouts consist of unplanned primary care. Paramedic work features wide autonomy but is also bound into an array of micromanaging performance indicators. Paramedics are trusted and respected in society but the profession is poorly understood and employers can be unsupportive. However, no matter how intense the personal struggles can be, paramedic work also offers rare opportunities for meaningful and socially valued work. This book shows that the role and status of the paramedic is rapidly moving from a manual occupation rooted in first aid and transportation, to a clinical profession of increasing scope, versatility, and social respect.

When ships seek safety in port, lifeboats head out to sea, no matter the weather conditions. The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service, the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbr chiger (DGzRS), founded 1865, is probably the world's best equipped non-governmental rescue organization with a correspondingly trained and motivated personnel force dedicated to saving life and rendering assistance at sea. In May 2015 the society celebrates its 150th anniversary. RESPEKT is an homage to the lifeboat service and people securing the German North Sea and Baltic coasts. Lively English-German essays and picture captions give deep insight into the world of sea rescue. The book introduces the reader to lifeboat history, astonishing lifeboat technology and noble men and woman whose priorities are to aid people in peril at sea.

In late March of 2014, death descended upon the community of Oso, Washington in the form of a massive landslide. Ten million cubic yards of dirt and mud crashed through homes, sweeping a 20-foot-high wall of debris before it and scouring the valley floor. In the cold rain of that morning, an entire community disappeared in a sea of mud. In the desperate hours that followed, rescue crews were able to pull only eight survivors out of the wrecked landscape. And then all became quiet, with the stunned realization that many more people were missing, but none were still living. This is the moment when the story of A Dog's Devotion begins. The emergency call from Oso went out, and was answered by K9 Search and Rescue (SAR) teams from across the Pacific Northwest. Suzanne, along with her 4-year-old Labrador Retriever, Keb, and her teammate Guy, was one of the SAR teams to respond to this disaster. In this book, readers immediately find themselves on the ground in the cold mud of the Oso Landslide Disaster on the desperate search for the remains of over forty lost souls. In subsequent chapters, readers will accompany Suzanne, Guy, and Keb as they are inserted by helicopter to search high snowfields on Mount Rainier, or as they traverse steep, forested slopes searching for the clandestine grave of murder victims. They'll join K9 Keb, as her keen nose leads to human remains in the forests of Washington State and as far away as the woods of Scandinavia. Keb's story is of a dedicated K9 who can distinguish the scent of the dead from the scent of the living, and who can detect buried bones and even corpses underwater. Readers will follow this intrepid K9 and her teammates as they face the challenges of changeable weather, deep northwest forests, high mountain slopes, and menacing coyotes to find dead bodies, missing hikers, and even the bones of murder victims from long ago. Among their successes: finding multiple victims buried by the 2014 Oso Landslide, solving the mysterious disappearance of women in wealthy suburbs, and finding human bones thought to be forever lost to time. It's their story about evolving as search and rescue volunteers while overcoming harsh conditions, inner demons, a rust-bound bureaucracy, and back-stabbing teammates. While internal conflicts threaten their larger K9 team, Keb's training, loyalty, and perseverance inspire them, and help them find the resolve to carry on their service to the community.

Clinical procedures are vital to delivering safe and effective patient care within the prehospital setting, but it is not always easy remembering each step accurately during a time-critical situation. Packed with over 80 clinical procedures, this book is the go-to guide to familiarise yourself with the correct sequence and techniques for a range of different skills. Including both fundamental and more advanced paramedic procedures, it makes each procedure as easy to understand as possible with detailed step-by-step guidance and full-colour illustrations. Not only does the book explore prehospital skills in detail, it also provides the rationale and evidence behind them, so you can fully understand the underlying principles and feel more confident in your practice as a prehospital practitioner. Sections include: Patient assessment Airway Breathing Circulation Drug administration Trauma Cardiac arrest Infection prevention and control.

Emergency Action for Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents, Second Edition is intended for the first responder to the scene of the release of a chemical or biological warfare agent. Formatted similarly to the Department of Transportation's Emergency Response Guidebook and designed as a companion to the author's Handbook of Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents, this book is divided into concise chapters that focus on the first few hours after the incident. Each chapter, or class index, is designed to give responders vital information on a specific group of agents. This is done rather than focusing on detailed information for individual agents because the specific agent(s) may not be identified until well into the response, long after many critical decisions have been made. Adding more than 100 additional pages of material, the second edition contains a wider library of agent classes that covers more hazardous materials. It also includes updated appendices that cover dissemination, the effects of weather and terrain, isolation, protective shelters, and manual decontamination. The book also provides a chemical/biological terrorism emergency response checklist. Addressing the immediate needs of first responders as they arrive at the scene of a chemical or biological warfare agent release, this book serves as a guide that gives critical information for key initial reactions without having to read through long explanations. It is an essential quick reference for first responders facing the release of chemical or biological warfare agents.

The Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) was created shortly after the outbreak of war. The idea of the units founder, Philip J Baker, was that it would provide young Friends (Quakers) with the opportunity to serve their country without sacrificing their pacifist principles. The first volunteers went to Belgium on 31 October 1914, under the auspices of the Joint War Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The FAU made a sustained contribution to the military medical services of the Allied nations, establishing military hospitals, running ambulance convoys, and staffing hospital ships and ambulance trains, treating and transporting wounded men. Determined to bring succour to all those in need, the FAU also assisted civilians trapped in the war zone and living in desperate circumstances. Nowhere was this more acute than in the besieged and battered town of Ypres where thousands sheltered in the underground passage-ways of the towns ancient fortifications -- a subterranean population, hopeless, often lightless, wrote Geoffrey Young, the Units young field commander, living on what they might and breeding disease. The Unit provided hospitals for the treatment of civilians, and worked intensively in the containment and treatment of the typhoid epidemic that swept the region, locating sufferers, providing them with medical care, and inoculating people against the disease. It played a major role in the purification of the towns contaminated drinking water, distributed milk for infants and food and clothing to the sick and needy. It helped found orphanages, made provision for schooling and organised gainful employment for refugees until, finally, it became responsible for the definitive evacuations of the civilian population.

When a military coup provoked civil war in Spain in July 1936, many thousands of people around the world rallied to provide humanitarian aid. Britons were no exception. Collective efforts in Britain to provide aid for the Spanish Republic were vast in both scope and effect. Whilst such enterprise has formed the focus of a few previous studies, some of the most dramatic stories of the Spanish war have yet to be uncovered. This book seeks to shed light on the activities of two separate ventures that played important roles in British medical and humanitarian aid to Spain -- the Scottish Ambulance Unit and Sir George Young's Ambulance Unit. The volunteer members of these teams (those who went out to Spain and those who supported them in Britain) earned the unstinting praise of the Spanish government for their selfless commitment to the cause, as well as winning the respect and gratitude of the citizens whose welfare they strove so selflessly to protect. Recently discovered documentation reveals previously undisclosed details of these remarkably altruistic and, indeed, heroic enterprises, clarifying the reasoning behind their creation and documenting their endeavours in Spain -- endeavours of key relevance to the wider history of the conflict. In Spain, the volunteers of the Scottish Ambulance Unit and the George Young Ambulance Unit offered a heartening and inspiring antithesis to the suffering they sought to relieve. They deserve to be remembered for what they embodied during those days of untold cruelty and destruction -- outstanding examples of man's humanity to man.

A glimpse into the extraordinary world of ambulance driving from the man behind the wheel.

‘Heart-stopping, eye-opening and jaw-dropping. Sometimes painful, sometimes sad, often very, very funny’ Craig Brown

An S&M party gone horribly wrong

A dead man locked in a car with a hungry bull terrier

A teenage girl with suspicious abdominal pains

And a man who’s fainted, frightened he was allergic to his cheese and onion sandwich

… It’s just another day at work for Kit Wharton

After a childhood picked in alcohol and punctuated by parental fighting, stints in journalism and house removals, Kit Wharton joined the NHS ambulance service. He hasn’t looked back. This is his report from the front line: 999 calls that hurtle him to the critical moment in other peoples’ lives.

When a military coup provoked civil war in Spain in July 1936, many thousands of people around the world rallied to provide humanitarian aid. Britons were no exception. Collective efforts in Britain to provide aid for the Spanish Republic were vast in both scope and effect. Whilst such enterprise has formed the focus of a few previous studies, some of the most dramatic stories of the Spanish war have yet to be uncovered. This book seeks to shed light on the activities of two separate ventures that played important roles in British medical and humanitarian aid to Spain the Scottish Ambulance Unit and Sir George Young's Ambulance Unit. The volunteer members of these teams (those who went out to Spain and those who supported them in Britain) earned the unstinting praise of the Spanish government for their selfless commitment to the cause, as well as winning the respect and gratitude of the citizens whose welfare they strove so selflessly to protect. Recently discovered documentation reveals previously undisclosed details of these remarkably altruistic and, indeed, heroic enterprises, clarifying the reasoning behind their creation and documenting their endeavours in Spain endeavours of key relevance to the wider history of the conflict. In Spain, the volunteers of the Scottish Ambulance Unit and the George Young Ambulance Unit offered a heartening and inspiring antithesis to the suffering they sought to relieve. They deserve to be remembered for what they embodied during those days of untold cruelty and destruction outstanding examples of man's humanity to man.

Rescuing wild animals in distress requires a unique set of skills, very different from those used in handling domestic animals. The equipment, degree of handling, the type of caging and level of care a wild animal receives can mean the difference between life and death. "Wildlife Search and Rescue" is a comprehensive guide on 'best practices' and suggested standards for response to sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. This valuable resource covers the fundamentals of wildlife rescue, from 'phone to field', including safe and successful capture strategies, handling and restraint techniques and initial aid. "Wildlife Search and Rescue" is a must have for anyone interested in knowing what to do when they are face to face with a wild animal in need, or for anyone involved in animal rescue. While the book focuses on wildlife native to North America, much of the information and many of the techniques are applicable to other species, including domestic dogs and cats.

Visit www.wiley.com/go/dmytryk/wildlifeemergency to access the figures from the book.

The sequel to the bestselling memoir Blood, Sweat & Tea. Tom Reynolds is an ambulance worker. On any given day he can be attacked by strangers, sworn at by motorists, puked on, covered in blood and other much more unpleasant substances. He could help to deliver a baby in the morning and witness the last moments of a dying man in the afternoon. He deals with road accidents, knife attacks, domestic violence, drug overdoses, neglect and suffering. And you think you're having a bad day at work? Tom blogs about his experiences at the end of each shift. His Random Acts of Reality website has a huge following with over 30,000 visitors every day. He is an internet legend and a remarkable writer. His first book, Blood, Sweat & Tea came out of nowhere to be a surprise bestseller in 2006. Readers were stunned by the stories he had to tell and impressed by the sheer quality of his writing. Critics who sneer at blogs-to-books have never read this one. More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea charts the past two years of Tom's life as an ambulance worker. He is tired, he is frustrated and he is more pissed off than ever but he still manages to capture the more moving, heartwarming and inspirational moments alongside the chaos.

As paramedicine shifts to an all-graduate profession in the UK, this new title is designed specifically to support students to meet the rigorous academic requirements of becoming a paramedic. Study skills has a direct and forthright approach, and covers everything students need to succeed in academia, from academic writing to referencing, essays and presentations, exams and reflective practice. Its interesting case studies are ideally suited to students of this hands-on profession. Written by paramedics for paramedics, this book will help students of all academic levels quickly find their feet and excel on their journey toward working in an ambulance or healthcare setting. Written by experienced paramedicine lecturers and tailored to the academic requirements of students Conforms to Universal Design for Learning, making the text accessible for everyone Written simply and without waffle, ideal for practically-minded students Healthcare examples throughout put learning into context

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

Winner of the 2006 Outstanding Recent Contribution Award from the American Sociological Association, Sociology of Emotions Section

"Lois takes readers inside the social world of search and rescue volunteers, offering sociological insight into topics such as gender, emotions, and indentity."
-- "American Journal of Sociology"

""Heroic Efforts" began as a dissertation, but ends as one of the best book on emotions I have read in years. If you want a glimpse into the power of really good ethnography and the reason we need both qualitative and quantitative research, this book will provide you with both enertainment and sagacity."
--"Contemporary Sociology"

"[Lois] examines how rescuers construct meaning in their lives and define themselves through their risky, demanding work."
--"Seattle Times"

Many search and rescue workers voluntarily interrupt their lives when they are called upon to help strangers. They awake in the middle of the night to cover miles of terrain in search of lost hikers or leave work to search potential avalanche zones for missing skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers in blizzard conditions. They often put their own lives in danger to rescue stranded, hypothermic kayakers and rafters from rivers.

Drawing on six years of participant observation and in-depth interviews, Jennifer Lois examines the emotional subculture of "Peak," a volunteer mountain-environment search and rescue team. Rescuers were not only confronted by physical dangers, but also by emotional challenges, including both keeping their own emotions in check during crisis situations, and managing the emotions of others, suchas those they were rescuing. Lois examines how rescuers constructed meaning in their lives and defined themselves through their heroic work.

Heroic Efforts serves as an easy to understand sociological introduction to the ways emotions develop and connect us to our surroundings, as well as to the links between the concept of heroism and other sociological theories such as those on gender stereotypes and edgework.

In February 2016 the RAF's Search and Rescue Force (SARF) celebrated its 75th anniversary. In June that year the world-renowned and universally admired service was officially disbanded, despite attempts from many, including HRH Prince William, to save it as part of the RAF. This book is an official, fully illustrated, in-depth account of the SARF's rich and glorious history, from its origins in World War II through to its recent withdrawal. The book contains a foreword by HRH Prince William himself, plus action-packed and awe-inspiring photographs from the RAF's archive of photographs and exclusive interviews with former crewmembers, telling their own dramatic stories of derring-do. Officially endorsed by the RAF, The Official Illustrated History of the RAF Search and Rescue is the first, and probably the only, major book of its kind written on this subject. It is an essential purchase for anyone with an interest in military history, British history, the Royal Family and those who love stories of extreme and daring rescue missions.

A beautifully written insight into the stresses, strains and successes of working for the London Ambulance service. Is there anyone who hasn't wondered about the state of the occupant of an ambulance, screaming along with its sirens on and blue lights flashing? Have you? And have you wondered about the other people inside the ambulance, maybe fighting to save the patient's life? Or have you considered that the ambulance may be another 'maternataxi' ordered by a woman who can't be bothered to book a real cab and who then complains she can't smoke on the way to hospital? And that the medical technician inside might just be desperate to get back home from a busy shift, to have a cup of tea and catch up with his blog? Meet Tom Reynolds. Tom is an Emergency Medical Technician who works for the London Ambulance Service in East London. He has kept a blog of his daily working life since 2003 and his award-winning writing is, by turn, moving, cynical, funny, heart-rending and compassionate. It is never less than compelling. From the tragic to the hilarious, from the heartwarming to the terrifying, the stories Tom tells give a fascinating - and at times alarming - picture of life in inner-city Britain, and the people who are paid to mop up after it.

She has to be OK, I pleaded silently to myself. She has to be. 'We've alerted the RNLI and they're sending a lifeboat out.' 'The RNLI?' I said, surprised. 'They do that?' Saved from the Waves is a heart-warming collection of first-hand accounts from RNLI volunteers of the myriad dangers they face during each mission to save beloved pets, wildlife and livestock. This remarkable book shines a light on the bravery of the volunteers, and the necessity of these rescues - not only to save animals at risk of drowning, but to prevent people putting themselves in danger when trying to save a cherished furry friend. Each mission requires courage, determination and an unrelenting commitment to helping those in danger. Each day brings a new challenge for the extraordinary volunteer crews who are the lifeblood of the RNLI.

K9 Teams is for all levels of K9 detection handlers and anyone who works with K9 search and rescue and recovery teams. If you're looking to maximize the operational performance of your SAR/R team, this book is for you. This unique handbook compiles the latest research findings, personal accounts from seasoned SAR/R professionals, and best practices for the management of effective K9 teams from the United States and around the world. Vi Hummel Shaffer, a K9 handler with more than 25 years' experience, offers a comprehensive look into K9 search and rescue and recovery team standards, certification and training for both civilian and law enforcement teams.