Desert Air - 32. DA Ch 32 - Medical Evac

“Anyone have a pocket knife with a screwdriver on it?” I asked as more people appeared, “Yes I have one,” Auggie and one other student said together. “Good, both of you remove one of the bedroom doors, we will need to use it as a carry board. “What about one of the camp stretchers?” the professor suggested.

“Even better and quicker too,” I replied, and moments later we had a camp stretcher bed in the room, and using the sleeping bag under her, we lifted her very carefully onto the stretcher, and covered her with a blanket, before four male students carefully lifted and carried the stretcher outside and down to the helipad, as we heard it approaching.

“You had better go with her Jexon, we will see you when you get back,” Professor Quinn said to me, as I handed my Sat phone over to him. Once the helicopter had landed, the two back doors were opened, and the stretcher was carefully carried through, with it taking up most of the width of the inside of the chopper, before the doors were closed and I climbed into the front passenger seat and strapped in.

“Quick as you can mate, she has appendicitis, and need urgent surgery,” I said to Ted, once I had my headphones on, and the students and lecturers stepped back away from the helipad, so we could take off. Ted must have pushed the chopper for as much speed as possible, as we arrived at the hospital in less than twenty minutes, and we landed in a clear space at the back of the hospital, where a trolley and a group of hospital staff were waiting for us.

Following close behind the trolley, as they wheeled it around to the nearest entry point and into the hospital, I rattled off all the information that I had gathered before leaving the island, and when we arrived on the first floor, I stopped outside the lifts and sat down at a nearby chair to wait.

I dozed on and off and I was woken up by a voice. “Excuse me, are you the gentleman who brought Ms Albertson via helicopter?” the nurse asked me, “Yes, that is me, Army Field Medic J. F Kendrik is my name,” I replied.

“Well Mr Kendrik, the young lady came through from surgery but there were some complications, which means a longer recovery. She will be here for about two weeks before discharge, and her next of kin has been notified, and will be arriving from Melbourne later today,” the nurse informed me.

“Thankyou for the update nurse, I must go, as I have some work to do,” I responded before heading out of the hospital. Once outside I gave the helicopter charter company to see if I can get back to the island.
“Ah Mr Kendrik, we have been expecting a call from you,” Ted said when I said who was calling, and I chuckled.

“Is it possible for one passenger to Eclipse Island please,” I asked nicely and Ted laughed. “I will see you in twenty minutes at the usual location, bye,” Ted replied before ending the call. When the chopper landed on the island, I thanked Ted once again before he headed back to the mainland; I walked over to the house, where it was nearly empty, with just Dr De Souza in the building.

“You have returned, how is Ms Albertson going?” he asked me, as he was chopping vegetables for dinner, and I joined him at the kitchen and I picked up a spare knife and began chopping vegetables. “She got through surgery with some complications, which will mean a longer time recovering in hospital, but she is fine,” I eventually replied.

“That is good to know, the rest of the team is out doing various field work, and they will be back in about an hour,” Dr De Souza said to me, and I spent the next half an hour chatting while we prepared dinner, which I found quite relaxing.

“I think I might take up cooking some more, I have really enjoyed this today,” I commented, as the dinner was placed in the oven, “I am glad, I find it helps me to unwind after a difficult day,” the Dr replied.

The following day, after breakfast we paired up into two teams, and I was assigned to the Marine Biology team, and with two rigid dinghies we lowered them into the water from the new steel platform, and with four of the team being qualified scuba divers, they made a series of dives, collecting water samples at different depths, as well as photographing the marine life that lived around the island.

While they were diving, I and the other two members of the team would be snorkelling to photograph the marine life from the surface level. Luckily we were issued with wet suits as the water was quite cold when we entered the water for the first time.

Thankfully the thick layer of rubber from the west suit and our body heat soon compensated for the cold water, and we spent three lots of half hour sessions in the water, documenting the marine life around the island, which I found to be a rewarding experience.

When we returned to the house at the end of the day, we were all very cold, wet and tired, as we headed for the showers to warm up and changed into dry clothing. As I was dressing, my sat phone rang, and I quickly retrieved it.

“Hello, Jaxon speaking,” I said when I answered the call, and I listened to the caller inform me of some urgent news. “Ok, thanks for letting me know, I will speak to the professor and we will call back soon, bye,” I said at the end, before putting on a jumper and I went in search of the Professor, who was in the dining area, talking to the other staff.

“Sir, we have a situation…” I began as I approached the staff. “Has it anything to do, with your sat phone, ringing regularly for the past hour?’ Dr De Souza asked me. “Oh, it has, ok and yes it does, that was the pilot of the charter company, informing me that a large storm is approaching the west coast, and it is a big storm. A tropical low has linked in with a cold front, and it is going to affect most of the state in the next two days,” I announced.

“How long before it reaches us here in Albany?” the Professor asked me, “Late tomorrow afternoon sir, so we need to be off the island well before it arrives,” I replied, “Very well, call pilot back, ask him to prepare to make trips to ferry us all back to the mainland, from 9 am tomorrow morning,” the Professor said to me, and I nodded before heading back to my room to make the call.

When I returned, everyone was now gathered in the dining area chatting about today’s events when the Professor called for silence as he had an announcement. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry to say that our trip is being cut short, because of a major storm front that will reach Albany tomorrow afternoon, so as of 9 am tomorrow we will be returning to the mainland by helicopter.

Jexon, how many seats does the helicopter have for passengers?” the Professor asked me after making the announcement. “There are five passenger seats, but with personal luggage, it will only be four seats per trip,” I replied.

“Ok, after breakfast everyone is to be packed and ready to be airlifted back to the mainland by helicopter, and if we have some fine weather we may be able to stay in the region, if a certain place is free to accommodate us. Jexon, can you get the number for the Quaranup Camp please, it is probably listed under Department of Sports and Recreation,” the professor said.

Five minutes later I had the number and I had called them to enquire about availability for eleven university students and three lecturers, and made a tentative booking for tomorrow. I relayed the information to the professor, who asked me to call them back and confirm the booking for a five day stay.

After dinner, most of the uni students headed to bed early, and I stayed up and Auggie joined us. “Sir, to get all 14 of us, our luggage and food supplies off the island, it will be at least three return trips between the mainland and here, and a extra trip will be needed to bring the rest of the supplies,” I said to the professor.

“Yes, I had gathered that, does that mean you and your friend here have volunteered to be the last two off the island with the last of the supplies?” the professor replied, and I saw August open his mouth to object to volunteering, but without speaking he closed it again and just nodded his head.

“Yes sir, we will be happy to do that,” I said smiling, “Good, we will all assist with carrying everything to the helicopter landing thing or what ever you call it, so you just have to load the last of the supplies and yourselves in,” the Professor said.

“It is a helipad sir, and yes that is fine,” I responded, “I will pack everything ready for the trip first thing in the morning, with the eskies of cold and frozen food needing to go in the first two trips, Dr De Souza said, “That would be good, maybe you should go on the first trip and arrange transport for us to get to Quaranup,” the Professor suggested.

After a brief time of discussions, we all retired for the night, with the fire stoked up to keep us nice and warm during the night, and as usual I was the first to wake up at dawn, and I got the fire going again, before making myself a cup of tea.

Remembering from my trip over to the island 2 days earlier, I knew that the helicopter flight from the island to central Albany takes twenty minutes each way, so once the first group are leaving the island, it would be at least 2 ½ hours before the last of us and the supplies leave the island.

When the helicopter landed for the first time, I walked around to Ted’s side of the chopper to speak to him, “ Me and my friend will be the last to leave along with the last of the supplies, so you will have to make four trips in total,” I shouted over the noise of the rotors spinning.

“Copy that, I may be able to shorten the time line, if I drop the first lot in town and the rest at Whale World, which is not that far from the Quaranup turnoff, as the storm is coming in a lot quicker than we thought,” Ted replied, and I gave the thumbs up in understanding as I stepped back, and watched Ted take off and head for the mainland.

“Storm is coming is quickly sir, so once this first load is dropped off in town he will make the other two landings at Whale World, which is a shorter distance and fairly close to Quaranup,” I said to the professor, who nodded his head in understanding.

When Ted arrived to make his third trip, it was beginning to drizzle with rain and the wind had picked up a bit too, and he waved to me to come to talk to him. “This will have to be my last trip, will you two be ok here for a few days until the storm clears?’ Ted called out, and I smiled.

“I’m a seasoned islander after the last time, so yeah, we will get by, we still have a bit of food here with us,” I replied, and Ted waved to acknowledge what I had said, as the last four members of the team boarded the helicopter, and I waved them farewell, as they took off.

“Come on mate, that is the last trip, as it is getting too windy for the chopper, so we have to bunker down for a few days,” I announced to August who looked at me in shock. Once he had recovered, he followed me with our backpacks and the two remaining boxes of food, and we headed back to the house to shelter, and it only took me a few minutes to get the fire going again.

“Check the boxes and see what we have in the way of food?” I asked Auggie as I stacked the fire with more wood. “Oh look, we missed an esky before,” Auggie announced as he opened it. “Excellent all the essentials are here, plenty of UHT milk, plus we have butter, eggs, bacon, sausages and some defrosted steaks.

In the first box we have cans of baked beans, red cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, string beans, plus apples and oranges,” Auggie continued as he searched the first box, and I opened the second box. “In this box we have two loafs of bread, coleslaw dressing, the container of muesli, container of weet-bix, plus sugar, cordial, coffee and teabags, can of Milo and two large packets of marsh-mellows,” I added.