As a mountain rescue team, we are obviously associated with providing help and assistance to people who get into difficulties out on the hills. Because of the core skill set that we have to develop in order to support this primary role, our volunteers are also often called upon to use these skills in a wide variety of different settings.
We now play an increasing part in providing assistance to the ambulance service, especially when they are dealing with casualties in a rural setting as they do not have the equipment and training to transport casualties over open, unstable or inaccessible ground. Also, in winter, when roads become inaccessible, using our specialist vehicles, we are able to get to patients who would otherwise be cut-off and we can also provide medical care to these patients while we transport them to either an ambulance or hospital.
Our team is often called to assist the police when searching for missing vulnerable persons. We have the training, expertise and command and control facilities that are required in order to perform a proper thorough search of any area of ground, whether it is in a rural or urban setting.
Most of our team members are trained in basic water safety, and some members are trained in working in swift water situations and we have all of the necessary safety equipment to support these tasks. So in situations where assistance is needed in times of flooding or water based searches, we provide specialist assistance to these activities.
Team members are also trained to provide emergency medical care and we often deploy these skills in support of a number of events within the community, for example, mountain bike races and fell races. As well as providing the event organizers with safety cover, it also provides the team with good hands-on experience to keep medical skills refreshed and up to date.