EEAST ready for anything

During October, another four members of the East of England Ambulance Service HART team attended the Inland Water Responder Course held in Wales.

This was an intense four-day course that, after completion, allows EEAST HART operatives to work in and around inland water. The training included wading in rivers to access casualties; managing a water rescue scene; working in power boats to access casualties; and theory sessions in water hydrology. The team also took park in a night time exercise in the estuary and received training in how to search, treat and manage casualties in water.

By Christmas, EEAST HART will have a designated water rescue vehicle that will be able to respond to water-related incidents. This vehicle will carry all of the dry suits, buoyancy aids and throw lines which are needed for this type of incident. HART will then be able to work with the fire service in and around water, whether it is as a result of flooding or there is a person injured in a river or lake.

Although the team will not have its own rescue boat, all members of the team will have been fully trained in the operational requirements related to working on a boat, how to rescue from it and what to do if the boat capsizes.