Mates keep Craig alive after waterfall accident

It was a meeting months in the making and one that will stay with Flight Critical Care Paramedic Lauretta Howarth forever.

In November, Lauretta and the crew from QG Air met Craig Simpson, a patient they cared for in March after he fell down a waterfall and sustained critical injuries.

“Craig really shouldn’t have lived,” Lauretta said.

“He was critically injured and unconscious on arrival with head and multiple other injuries.”

Lauretta said it was one of the most challenging scenes she had ever worked on.

“There was so much more to it than we realised,” she said.

“It was wet, slippery, steep, uneven, rocky terrain with fast flowing water very close by which was not only hazardous but very noisy.”

When they reached Craig, they saw just how badly injured he was.

“We had to weigh up whether to do a high-risk procedure in a high-risk environment, or just get him out of there,” Lauretta said.

She said they wanted to minimise their time on the ground, but with Craig’s condition rapidly deteriorating, the decision was made for them.

“Extricating Craig via helicopter winch without a secure airway was too great a risk, given he was unconscious and hypoxic with multiple injuries.

“We made the decision to secure his airway via Rapid Sequence Induction and decompressed both sides of his chest,” Lauretta said.

Then the challenge of extricating Craig began.

“We had to be careful with every step we took, it seemed like everything was happening frustratingly slow,” Lauretta said.

If it wasn’t for Craig’s mates, however, the operation would have taken double the amount of time.

Lauretta said from the moment Craig fell, his mates kept him alive by pulling him out of the rapids and keeping his airway open until help arrived.

“They worked so well together to keep him alive, even the girl who made the Triple Zero (000) call was so calm, there was no panic and she answered every question by passing information up the track.

“They communicated really well to get us the information and to look after him,” she said.

Reflecting on the job, Lauretta said it was amazing no one was injured.

“It wasn’t until we looked back at the photos, we realised how close to another fairly steep drop-off we were,” she said.

“They risked their own lives to help their mates, and that’s pretty incredible.”

Craig has made a full recovery from the terrible fall, apart from one black spot in his left eye and a few scars to tell the tale.

Lauretta has since used this job in her professional development sessions.

“We learned so much from this job and it has really planted some learnings in my mind I know I’ll take to other jobs that may influence my decision making there,” she said.

“That day cemented to us all it was his mates and the people that were there that really saved his life.”

Craig’s family was told to say goodbye while he was in hospital.

Preparing to air-lift Craig.

Main title photo: Craig Simpson and his mates who helped save him with the rescue crew from QAS and QG Air.