Woman falls 55 feet - BASICS SIMCAS on scene
A woman of about 30 years of age is recovering in the Royal Sussex County Hospital this morning after falling a total of approximately 55 feet from a window of a flat in the centre of Brighton.
Emergency services were called to Madeira Mansions in Madeira Place, Brighton shortly after midnight on Friday the 25th of May, 2012 after a woman had fallen from a window 40 feet onto a sloping roof and then a further 15 feet into a concrete basement. She sustained multiple serious injuries. The woman is thought to be from the Brighton area and police are investigating the cause of the fall.
Dr Alan Pearce from the emergency medical charity SIMCAS, together with a Critical Care Paramedic from the South East Coast Ambulance Service gave her advanced treatment to relieve her pain and enable her to be extracted via a disused building back to street level. She was trapped for nearly two hours before being she could be moved to safety.
Dr Pearce said "This was an extremely difficult location, both to get to and to work in. We needed the help of the East Sussex Fire Service to get access via long ladders and members of the South East Coast Ambulance HART (Hazardous Area Response Team) provided extra medical manpower and equipment. Excellent teamwork between the emergency services got a good result from a very dangerous situation"
Notes to Editors
- Dr Alan Pearce is a GP in Hailsham, East Sussex. He is chairman of SIMCAS and has been a responder for over 20 years. In June he is due to receive the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his services.
- The South East Coast Immediate Care Scheme (SIMCAS) has been active for over 20 years. It is an emergency care charity and provides properly equipped, experienced doctors or nurses at the scene of an accident or emergency when requested by the Fire, Police or Ambulance Services. It sends specialists to about 900 incidents per year.
- Many areas around the UK now have their own immediate care scheme. Nationally these are grouped under the BASICS (The British Association for Immediate Care) organisation.
- SIMCAS is fortunate in its close links with South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb). SIMCAS provide the Medical Incident Commander (or MIC) for a major incident anywhere in Kent, Surrey or Sussex.
- SIMCAS volunteers have a wealth of experience in pre-hospital care and include GPs, emergency medicine consultants, anaesthetists and nurses. They have specialist medical training as well as driver training and assist as part of the emergency services response in their own vehicles (which are equipped with lights and sirens).
- Being able to provide advanced pain relief as well as performing life saving surgical procedures can mean the difference between life and death.
- We work in our communities, assisting the road and air ambulances to bring life saving care to the victims of major trauma. The majority of SIMCAS volunteers' work involves serious road traffic collisions, penetrating trauma such a stabbings but can involve managing major incidents.
- HART - The Hazardous Area Response Team is a specialist unit of South East Coast Ambulance that is trained and equipped for working in and rescuing patients from hazardous areas.
- www.simcas.org.uk. Registered U.K. Charity Number 297590
- For further information contact Dr Neil Iosson (07866 424754 or neil@iosson.net)