Richard Ilderton
Richard belongs to: Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
Richard is an Advanced Technician with the Ambulance Service. He joined the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade in 1993 and is a Section Leader.
Richard was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 18 January 2006. The interview took place at Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade and lasted 12 minutes and 17 seconds.
Call out routine
"Well initially the pager would go off, I would flap for a bit"
Well initially the pager would go off, I would flap for a bit, sort of blinding panic and then remember I have to ring coastguard and work out what was going on. Nowadays we’re… members of the initial team… of the initial response team are issued pagers, radios and all the PPE that we require.
When the pager goes off you ring coastguard, find out what the job is, where the job is and depending on where it is, say I am from Whitley Bay, so if it’s say up at St Mary’s Lighthouse there’s no point coming down here to the watch house at Tynemouth to get, to get to here and then head up to the lighthouse. So you head straight there, see what the job is, radio in the coastguard and say you’re on the scene, what’s happening, give them a sit –rep, a situation report, let them know what other services are going to be needed, so they might have the ambulance coming but if you think, “right, it’s a spinal job, it’s an awkward place, let’s get the helicopter from Boulmer out.” And then you can liaise with the lads that bring the land rover up and say, “right, well I’m here on the scene,” bring across the spinal board and the trauma kit and what have you.
So that’s basically it, you just sort of ring and find out what it is and head straight there. Or if you’re nearby the watch house you’ll come down you’ll get the land rover and take that straight up.
Richard has 8 memories in the memorynet:
Richard's memories with a Volunteering theme:
Joining the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade- Changes at Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
- Call out routine
- First serious call out
- The importance of volunteering with the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
- What does the sea mean to you?
Cliff rescue equipment
Richard's other memories:
This memory has these themes:
Roles and Routines | The North East | Volunteering
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