My first flight

Only two hours after starting my first shift I was called out on an AME (aeromedical evacuation). I must confess I had planned to pull all my equipment apart and examine what was where but beggars can't be choosers. My local drivers and I filled the ambulance with a small mountain of equipment and we drove out to the airfield where we met the AME doctor with whom I work.

Normally we would fly in the giant Super Puma helicopter but this had been tasked to another job so we reconfigured a Twin Otter "fixed wing" aircraft with our equipment and took off for Kirakira on the island of San Cristobel, 200km to the southeats of Guadalcanal. The fight was smooth and the views were absolutely stunning. As the Otter is unpressurised we flew at only 9000 feet which allowed a great opportunity for pictures along the way. The temperatutre at 9000 feet is also a lot less so we were able to cool off a bit too. Humidity hovers around 100 percent so even the slightest effort results in torrents of sweat. Reconfiguring the aircraft had our eyes stinging with our perspiration.

As we apprached the grass strip I was a little surprised to see firstly how short it was and secondly that both ends were bordered by coast! The Otter takes off and lands in a very short distance and thankfully we had a little to spare. The fact that the grass was at least knee high also increased our decelleration after landing.

Our patient was a local woman who had been in labour for 18 hours but was unable to deliver. As we pulled up she jumped out of the back of an old 4WD and marched up the stairs. Solomon islanders are very tough people. We secured her on the stretcher and took off again. She required a caesarian section at the National refferal hospital and we didn't want to waste time. As is all too often the case her firrst and only child had died at age 5 from a tropical disease so there was a lot riding on the successful delivery of her second child.

The flight was uneventful. Her blood pressure was very low after so long in labour so we put a drip in her and gave her some anti nausea medication as a precaution. When we landed at Honiara we trabsferred her to the waiting ambulance and she was taken for an emergency C-section. All the while her heart rate was 120, indicating both a low blood pressure (which we raised with the drip) and a significant degree of pain. She declined any pain relief and at no time did she complain. If it were not for the presence of RAMSI and their willingness to use their resources for the local population (technically we are the medical support only for RAMSI personnel) she would have almost certainly died during an unsuccessful childbirth. It is an interesting feeling, a mixture of elation and humility to have almost certainly saved a couple of lives.