Bushland winch marks memorable first day for Mansfield paramedic

Mansfield Paramedic, Courtney Farren, did not imagine her first day on the job would start with assisting in a winch operation to rescue an injured dirt bike rider. Last month, a man became stuck in the Lake Eildon area after injuring himself on a dirt bike. Courtney responded to the scene after just receiving her Ambulance Victoria paramedic epaulettes that morning. Applying her skills she performed a technically demanding operation of winching the patient into an air ambulance. Courtney said it’s a case she will never forget. “This case will be very memorable for me – there were quite a few firsts,” she said. “I remember thinking afterwards, I have such a cool job that I get to do something like this to help a patient receive the care they need, even in such a remote location”. Winching was the only way to get the patient, Bradley Borg, into an ambulance for transport to hospital, after a fall off his dirt bike left him with a fractured pelvis and ribs at the top of a steep 4WD track. Bradley’s friends drove Courtney and her partner, Mansfield paramedic Will Telley, to the top of the hill, allowing the paramedics to assess his condition and provide pain relief while the helicopter was on the way. “He was in a position where he was in excruciating pain if we tried to move him. "It made it difficult to fully assess his injuries and put a pelvic splint on, which we want to do to keep the pelvis stable,” Courtney explained. Once the air ambulance arrived, they provided additional support for the ground paramedics in treating the patient. “Together we were able to get the pelvic splint on, and bandage and splint his legs together in a position that was somewhat comfortable for him for the trip to hospital,” Courtney said. The highly technical operation then began to get the patient into the helicopter. “During my year as a graduate paramedic, I attended plenty of cases where the air ambulance helicopters attended, but never one where they’d conducted a winch. “They had always landed and it was a very controlled handover in the back of the ambulance,” Courtney said. The pilot and paramedics, worked alongside the Mansfield team to winch the patient up with the challenge of the downwash of helicopter blades. “My job was holding the rope, known as a tagline, and letting it out as the flight paramedic was winched up to the helicopter with the patient in a specialised stretcher. “I kept the rope tight to stop them from spinning out of control in the air, which would put the safety of the flight paramedic and our patient at risk,” Courtney said Bradley was safely airlifted to The Alfred and is now back at home to continue his recovery. “I’ve been better, but I’m very thankful to everyone involved in treating me and getting me safely to hospital,” he said. Courtney, originally from Melbourne, said supporting winch operations in bushland was not something she had pictured herself doing when she set out to become a paramedic. “When I started studying paramedicine, I had no idea that I would be moving up to Mansfield and working rurally – I always imagined working in the metropolitan area,” she said. “I went into paramedicine thinking there’d be exciting days and interesting cases but nothing to this extent. “Working rurally has been amazing, I love it.”