HEMS doctor becomes patient

A DRF Luftrettung crew found they were treating a familiar face in early June, after they picked up a patient who turned out to be a colleague. The team from the organisation’s Christoph 37 base was called out after a man injured his arm while undertaking some property renovation work in his spare time. The man turned out to be a flight doctor from the base.

Pilot Marco Cramme described the crew’s surprise to find their colleague on the helicopter’s stretcher, rather than in his usual seat: “We have been amazed when it turned out that the patient … was our colleague. The day before, he had been sitting in the back of the helicopter treating a patient.”

The alert was raised by the unnamed doctor who put in a call to the emergency services. The Eichsfeld control centre then dispatched the DRF Luftrettung crew from Nordhausen for their fifth tasking of the day.

The emergency physician commented: “It was very strange to witness a rescue operation by Christoph 37 from the other side. Usually, I’m the one who sits in the helicopter at the patient’s side, monitoring and reassuring them. To looking on the stretcher looking up at the ceiling of the helicopter myself was a new and very special experience. I can better empathise with the fears and concerns of our patients now.”

The doctor was flown onboard ‘his’ helicopter to University Hospital Göttingen for treatment.

Cramme said the crew wished him a speedy recovery and hoped to see him back in the helicopter (seated this time) soon.