183 – Paging Dr Bill Griggs

Come and see us and be part of our show at the Adelaide Podcast Festival. Feb 28 and Mar 7. It’s $10 at the door at includes free Coopers pint (8pm-11.30pm) at the Elephant British Pub in Cinema Place. Feb 28 will feature Alexis and Pete from The Show PBA-FM and Mar 7 will feature Dan Drummond in the local music challenge.

Plus, we might have Kytons Hot Cross Buns to give away. They hit stores Wednesday, Feb 22. When do you think baking started?

Oh, and Steve asks if Nigel can smell under his arms? Steve is trialling a new, fragrance-free deodorant made locally by Jon from JAMA Australia. It has no nasties and it seems to be working very well.

The medical career of Dr Bill Griggs AM ASM, began in 1976 and there’s no easy way to calculate how many lives have been saved by his decision to pursue this interest and passion. From volunteering with St John Ambulance to serving in the Gulf War as Group Captain of Australia’s specialist medical reserve, and from inventing the Griggs technique to championing the Roads 2 Survival initiative, Bill has been the man you turn to in times of emergency and nowadays when you want to act on prevention. So it is quite rare to have found him at home tonight and available for a conversation.

Let me get the swooning over with.

Robby Cummins A Great Man, It will be fascinating

Bev Smith-Trim Not really a question, just a comment. “Thank you Dr Bill for all your amazing efforts for so many people over the years. I sincerely wish that we had people of your compassion and clear thinking in the Administration of our Hospitals and indeed in SA Health”.

How do you respond?

You’re on long service leave. Most people are easily replaceable. How many platoons of doctors do they bring in for you?

Many of us have fond memories of visiting the old pie carts in Adelaide but why are they significant to you?

You have been a volunteer with St John Ambulance Australia since the mid-1970s, ironically, I was also a volunteer with St John’s at that time. What happened to me?

I left because I was squeamish. What attracts you to seek out not just medical work but TRAUMA work?

Are you driven by empathy or the challenge?

You’ve faced some pretty horrific scenes, with body parts in bags and tsunami victims by the hundreds, how do you process this

Is there a difference between attending natural disasters compared to murder, accidents or terrorism?

Dr Gill Hicks has sent some questions.

In my case, I was able to have enough presence of mind to tie tourniquets around the tops of my legs to stem some of the bleed out …. at the time of rescue the paramedics noted the tourniquets and decided to administer to others with limb damage…. I later was told that the practice of tourniquets was replaced prior to London bombings ….. and re introduced POST … What are Bill’s thoughts – is it best to tourniquet or not…

Also, it was an hour before rescue could get to me – I now understand how precious every minute is. I was shocked to learn that there is a military term ‘ the golden hour’ – meaning if someone has been laying injured for that time and longer they are considered ‘gone’ …. Can Bill enlighten any more on the ‘golden hour’ and what are his thoughts ….

Does he believe in miracles? Then give him a huge hug!!!!!

Did the HIV era make your work even riskier?

Bill has been interested in car accidents to changes in injury types over the years. I have mentioned to him about Birdwood car museum doing a special show about dark motoring.

He has strong interests in road safety and injury prevention. In 2004 he conceived, designed and funded the Roads 2 Survival Program, a community-based young person road safety initiative. Will it reduce accidents?

There is also shock from seeing accidents. The airplane crash in Victoria today affected bystanders, we know families forever changed by witness death happen infront of them. What can we do about this?

You get involved in surgery when needed, ASk him about what he sees with automation in teh operating theatre, robotic surgeons etc.

Nina wrote in: I guess as a shotgun victim myself and still fighting the battle have now been diagnosed with ptsd and ongoing treatment for this is,required. I guess my anger is that of 20 years down the track surgeries had in between and my frustration of the waiting game!!! I’ve now been told I have possible ms unable to have mri due to shrapnel where does that leave me as a patient and where is the patient care… 4years of me in and out if hospital neurology doctors are putting me in the too hard basket….. I guess what sort of medical advice could he give in the way I tackle this situation?! I’m not sure how to word,it but I’m very frustrated with this ordeal and the way the hospital has dealt with the quality of care… How do i query it!? I’m not good for words at the moment. I praise his work and his strong determination of all his hard work over the years… But as,far as emergency medical treatment I find they lack knowledge and don’t follow up with patient care what are his thoughts?! I was presented last week into neuro ward after being admitted
Not one doc had read my file and I had to constantly tell them what was,happening what had happened… Why don’t they do the research!? The ambulance people to me are more helpful!!! I’m a medical case that I need Dr house!!!! Cavernous sinus thrombosis in the brain 2012 has left me like this and.now I’m to deal with living however I am as there’s not much more they can do?!? Expert advice would be handy haha

Talking of surgery, tell us about the Griggs Technique and was it used in that Tarantino movie, Pulp Fiction?

The news history quiz with Nigel Dobson-Keeffe.

Express and Telegraph – June 1887
Horrible Fatal Accident at the Arcade
Just as the citizens were congratulating each other upon the absence of the slightest accident during the jubilee celebrations and the proceedings connected with the opening of the Exhibition, the terrible announcement was made on Tuesday evening that Francis Cluney, the beadle of the Arcade, had been killed. Mr. W. C. Sims states – I was passing the door of the engine-room with Constable Pawson when the lights suddenly went out, and a young fellow rushed out of a door crying, “There is a man in the machinery.” I and the constable entered the room, and we found the gas, which was fully turned on, escaping in large volumes, blazing several feet above the engine. Understanding the working of gas engines I immediately turned the gas off, and thus perhaps prevented a further catastrophe from fire. The body of the unhappy man was found to be jammed in between the bed of the engine and the flywheel in a space not more than four inches wide. He evidently fell against the revolving wheel, which drew him in. The engine was stopped, and the man’s head was crushed to atoms, his brains being scattered all over the floor. His arms were also broken, and the clothes were all torn off his body, which was extricated by turning the wheel backwards.

Express and Telegraph – February 1907
STAGE FATALITY.
An accident, said to be unique in the history of the Australian stage, occurred during the progress of a sensational drama, “The Favorite” by Mr. William Anderson’s company at Theatre Royal, Adelaide, on February 11. The play includes a racing scene, in which horses pass and repass before the audience. Through the displacement of a board a part of the stage gave way, and two horses were precipitated to the concrete basement 30 ft. below. One rider saved himself by grasping the edge of the staging, but the other was badly injured by the fall The horses were killed however one had fallen against the basement door, wedging it closed and preventing prompt assistance of the injured man. By the time a rope had been arranged to lower rescuers through the broken floor his moaning had subsided and he had died from his injuries.

Evening Journal – November 1890
Horrible Accident at an Adelaide Brewery
A Fall into Boiling Water. Agonizing Death. DREADFUL DEATH.
On Tuesday afternoon, about 4 o’clock, a terrible accident befell Herman Ahrendt at Primrose’s Adelaide Brewery. On a raised platform within the brewery there is a large cone-shaped copper, capable of holding700 to 800 gallons of water. The water is boiled by means of steam conveyed by a pipe to the centre of the copper. Across the copper is a wooden bar used to steady the pipe. Ahrendt, who was known to be a reliable, sober, and industrious man, was-told to go and see whether the water was boiling. Shortly after his ascending the platform, another employee named Fred Hoare heard the poor fellow scream out, and, running to see what was the matter, Ahrendt jumped from the platform into his arms in great agony, being scalded all over. The supposition is that the wooden bar supporting the copper pipe was loose, owing to the vibration caused by the steam, and that Ahrendt, trying to tighten it, slipped, and fell in, and then by a superhuman effort got out again. Others in the brewery hearing the cry and groans rushed in and rendered assistance. The unhappy man was placed on the floor on some soft material, and his clothes being removed was covered with yeast to allay the pain. Dr.W. Campbell was sent for. and on his arrival immediately ordered his removal to the Hospital, where he was conveyed in the ambulance wagon. Though in much agony Ahrendt was conscious -up to the time of his admittance. His injuries were of such a severe character, however, that he succumbed at the institution at 3 o’clock this morning. The Coroner has been informed of the sad occurrence. It might be mentioned that the water, though not boiling, was just on boiling point.