Paramedic training is about to get a WHOLE lot more exciting.
The sight of paramedics being choppered into precipitous locations to assist and rescue the injured and stranded has become commonplace.
But is that the most effective way to provide these emergency services?
What if a suitably trained medic was kitted up with a jetpack instead of riding in a boring old helicopter?
While that might sound just a bit bonkers, UK charity The Great North Air Ambulance Service is actually testing just such a thing.
“A jetpack could allow paramedics to soar up the mountain in 90 seconds rather than hiking for 30 minutes,” operations director Andy Mawson told the BBC. “That could make the difference between life and death.”
The jet-powered medic would carry a medical kit packed with pain relief for those walkers and climbers with fractured limbs and a defibrillator for those who may have had a heart attack.
The charity is collaborating on the idea with a mob called Gravity Industries, which is led by a Richard Browning, a daredevil type who has made headlines over the last couple of years for completing several flights inside an “Iron Man-style” suit and setting speed records.
Kind of makes the Royal Flying Doctor Service look a tad tame by comparison.
If you see something out there, say something out there … send fuel to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au.
