Evening Gazette
Copyright 2006 Gazette Media Company Ltd
All Rights Reserved
Little Rosie Wright, the girl who almost died in the Dreamspace tragedy, is now recovering well enough to start nursery soon. Today Ron Livingstone takes a look at the dedication and top skills of the woman who played a major part in saving her life.
PARAMEDIC Jane Peacock left the road for the air - and has never looked back.
The 41-year-old quit the regular ambulance service and took to the skies with the Great North Air Ambulance Service two years ago.
Now she has a qualification many doctors would crave and has been at the leading edge of incidents most of us hope never to see.
She is believed to be the only paramedic in the country qualified in the transfer of critically-ill patients - a role normally reserved for doctors.
Jane, a mother of two from Middleton St George, near Darlington, played a central role in the recent inflatable tragedy at Chester-le-Street in which two women lost their lives and 14 others were injured.
Rosie Wright, three, came close to death but won her fight for life and has now returned home.
Jane, who has seven years’ service as a paramedic, also played a key role in a road accident where two Darlington brothers were critically injured.
She helped save their lives but also arranged for them to go to the same hospital so their parents would find it easier to visit them.
You might also find her training police firearms officers in lifesaving skills in treating gunshot wounds and traffic officers in dealing with roadside carnage.
And en route to the incidents she may be up front in the helicopter navigating.
Like her airborne paramedic colleagues - and the doctors who work casual days with them - she had to complete the daunting four-week helicopter emergency management (HEMS) course.
To win the coveted Crew Member stripe students must complete a four week course - including a week on aviation.
A further week is devoted to working with other emergency services - including mountain rescue - in hazardous situations and a fortnight in life-saving pre-hospital critical care.
Jane, a former Middlesbrough ambulance station manager, said: “Doing this job was my ultimate goal. It was what my training was all about.
“I’ll never forget how pitiful Rosie looked at the inflatable accident in Chester-le Street.
“Her mum said to me: ‘Please don’t let anything happen to her.’
“I put on a uniform for work but I’m still a mum and I thought ‘fancy giving your child to a total stranger’.
“That’s how important our job is.”
In the crowd, Jane spotted Dr Peter Evans, a consultant anaesthetist she recognised from her training at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital.
“Rosie was critical but with Dr Evans at the scene we were able to put her to sleep for the short trip to hospital. I am over the moon about her recovery.”
The air ambulance shares space at Durham Tees Valley Airport with the police helicopter - a closeness reflected in their operational roles.
Jane said: “We have excellent support from the police. When the two Darlington brothers were seriously injured they took a seat out of the helicopter to fly one of them while we took the other. It was important, particularly when they were critical, to get them to the same hospital. It would have been very difficult for their parents to visit them in separate hospitals.”
The Great North Air Ambulance flies two other helicopters and covers an area from North Yorkshire across to Cumbria and north to the Scottish Borders. It gets no Government funding and is entirely dependent on the generosity of donors.