Tuesday 28th April 2015 – 7.00pm – Murray MacGregor.
Suffering a heart attack is never good news, but when it happens at least a mile from the nearest road and along a muddy canal tow path as the light fades, it adds an extra complexity to the care that is needed.
That was the situation at around 7.45pm on Monday night for a 51 year old Bloxwich man who was on the tow path beside the canal that runs between Freeth Bridge and Stoney Lane Bridge in Bloxwich.
Initially two ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The first crew to arrive had carried all of their equipment to the scene and diagnosed that the man was having a heart attack and started treatment, but clearly the priority was to get him to hospital as quickly as possible; no easy task, given the situation.
“They requested assistance from HART, the Hazardous Area response Team who were immediately mobilised.
“The man was placed on a scoop stretcher that the second crew had brought with them and between them, the two ambulance crews started to carry the man along the muddy tow path.
“Thankfully, before too long the HART team arrived with a specialist wheeled stretcher designed to go across rough ground and assisted to get the man back to the ambulance.
“Not only did they provide extra hands, but also lighting to make the journey safer given the light was pretty much gone.
“The ambulance crew continued to monitor and stabilise the man’s condition as he was taken to the ambulance before taking him on blue lights to the Heart and Lung Centre at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton for specialist care.”
Note to Editors
Unfortunately, we do not have an up to date condition for the man, but the crew described him as doing well when he arrived at the hospital.
Ends