The team stretchers the injured boy from the site near Cautley Spout
Nine members of a mountain rescue team put their new qualifications into practice when a 16-year-old boy fell at a Cumbrian beauty spot.
The nine Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team members passed the stringent casualty care qualification last week, and were involved three days later in treating a 16-year-old boy who injured his leg in the Howgills.
Three of the team were renewing their Mountain Rescue Casualty Care qualification – necessary every three years – and six were first-timers for the award.
The test, which involves dealing with practical scenarios for medical and trauma incidents on the hill, follows a detailed written examination. The full course involves many hours of practical and theoretical training, leading to the rigorous examinations.
It entitles rescuers, for instance, to administer morphine for pain relief, the only non-professionals in the UK allowed to do this.
The Kirkby Stephen team’s medical officer David Peebles-Brown said: “It’s important that the majority of the team are fully qualified to deal with any medical emergency on the hill, as we never know what we will find and who will be there.
“It is excellent that we now have even more members with full casualty care certificates. We are very grateful to our team doctor Dr Ian Tod for, once again, running such a successful course.”
Team members Frank Price, David Watkinson and Sian Chapman practise their casualty-care skills on colleague Dan Tracey
On Friday many of the newly qualified team members practised their skills on a simulated mountain bike accident, during the team’s standard monthly exercise.
Then on Sunday their skills were used for real when the 16-year-old boy injured his knee while exploring the waterfalls at Cautley Spout, between Kirkby Stephen and Sedbergh.
The casualty was treated at the scene and lowered on a stretcher, protected with a rope because of the steepness of the slope.
He was taken in a team Land Rover to the roadside at the Cross Keys.
His father, an experienced walker who was with him at the time of the incident, then took him for further medical attention.
