12:22PM, Nov 26, 2009
Assistant Producer Georgina Kiedrowski reveals all about filming with an Air Ambulance crew.
Zooming around in a helicopter all day may sound like a dream job, but as Georgina Kiedrowski reveals, shooting for Sky Real Lives series The Real A & E really put the production team in a spin!
I’ve never enjoyed flying. In fact, I’d go as far to say as I hate it. It may seem strange then, that I should say yes when Mandrill Television asked if I would go filming with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance for a couple of months as part of Sky Real Lives series - The Real A&E.
I arrived on my first day slightly nervous at the prospect of either getting air sick or passing out at the first sign of blood, or worse still; BOTH!
I got issued my orange jump suit, met the team and sat down to a briefing with Captain Richard Craske. That was that. The next time the phone rang - I’d have to swallow my fears and get to work. The phone did ring - and it kept ringing - in fact some days it didn’t seem to stop. Someone has fallen off their horse, there are people trapped in an upturned car, there is a lady impaled on a metal fence, there has been a plane crash….
The WNAA team are some of the most impressive and dedicated people I’ve ever been lucky enough to work with.
When that phone rings with a job for the team - it could be any manner of emergency. And, tirelessly, they give their all over and over again as they are faced with life threatening situations.
From taking the call, to scrambling to scene (I use the word scrambling aptly, I’ll come to that in a minute ) to being faced with what can only be described as scenes of total chaos.
I wished I thought through quite how physically fit the crew would be before I started filming - I knew I wasn’t too fit myself - I had no idea! Turns out my fear of flying - flew right out of the window and was replaced by a new one. Scrambling! After a particularly long sprint to the aircraft (If it had been easy jet I would have missed the flight) One of the Doctors asked me if I had asthma. I don’t. My panting and wheezing wasn’t even due to being laden with huge bags of drugs and medical equipment! And I can only apologise to anyone who kindly gave me a foot up over a wall/fence/hedge; I heard your groans and hope I’m not responsible for any long running back pain. (*note to self - whilst Paramedic Philippa Gibbs makes lovely homemade cakes- I should put the second slice back) And this workout all takes place before we’ve even got to the patient.
Arriving on scene as an observer is kind of like landing on a film set. Total chaos, but with no Director. I never really got to the bottom of how on earth they know where to start. They just do. They assure me it’s all down to training. Often, by the time I’d even realised what was happening, they were already administering pain relief. The speed at which everybody works is quite mind blowing.
Filming with the team is definitely my most interesting project to date - challenging both physically and mentally but an amazing and rewarding experience. Friends have asked me how I coped seeing such scenes of trauma. My response is this; I wasn’t there to film people in pain, I was there to film the crew make it better. That’s what happened, I saw them saving lives over and over again, and that never fails to be humbling.
I feel privileged to have seen first hand the work that Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance team do. As a member of ‘Joe public’ it is certainly reassuring to know that they are there, if god forbid they are ever required. I met lots of people in the region who are incredibly proud of their Air Ambulance and so they should be. I certainly feel proud to have been a temporary part of their team.
