One often doesn’t think what really goes on behind the scenes of a motor vehicle accident and especially so when motorists become trapped in a mangled vehicle – and paramedics have to get them out as fast as possible in order to treat them.
The equipment used to free ‘entrapped’ patients are not called the jaws of life for no reason.
Emergency personnel, together with members from K9 Search and Rescue, recently underwent a pre-season refresher on extricating entrapped patients from vehicles.
“The number of accidents, unfortunately, rises during the festive season so we decided to do some training with extrication tools – a cutter and hydraulic spreader, at the Saps pound, to jog the memory,” said Rudi Prinsloo of Mi7.
Prinsloo said both these pieces of equipment are versatile rescue tools that can be used in various emergency situations, from vehicle extrications to disaster response.
Journalist Shona Aylward was invited to attend the exercise. She had to put on the safety gear and was tasked with opening and cutting the metal of a vehicle’s door and roof. “Surprisingly, pieces of equipment can weigh up to 40kg – just lifting it was hard work,” she said.
“A paramedic may arrive at a crash scene at 02:00 in the morning and find a situation where have to cut open the door or remove the roof from a vehicle to treat an injured patient,” said Prinsloo.
He urged motorists to drive carefully during the upcoming holiday season.
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