During the recent heavy flooding across Britain, Ian McKenzie-Purdham (senior lecturer in paramedic practice) played a key part in the disaster relief efforts in Fishlake, Doncaster. Ian and his team provided emergency support and relief in the area in the immediate aftermath of the floods.
Here’s Ian detailing his involvement in the relief efforts . . .
What was your initial reaction to the flooding?
“I was surprised by the speed that the flooding happened. Within 20 minutes, the River Don had burst its banks and flooded Fishlake, a small village in Doncaster. My initial thought was for my family: one of my daughters was at college in Rotherham and planning to go to Meadowhall that very same night. I also happen to have a daughter who now lives in the area of Toll Bar and Bentley, which was hit hard by the 2007 floods.
“I was also worried about my own home. I live in the market town of Thorne, located on the opposite side of the river to Fishlake. If the opposite side of the river bank had burst, it could easily have been my own home and town swamped by the flooding.”
Ian McKenzie-Purdham
What made you decide to get involved with the relief efforts?
“Six years ago, I left the ambulance service, and before that I’d served in the Royal Navy as a medic submariner. Three years ago, I found myself at a loss; I felt I had lost something from my life that I needed to get back. I then saw an advert to join a charity organisation called Team Rubicon UK, which is a humanitarian and disaster response charity based down in Chilmark near Salisbury. It was originally set up in America to give ex-service personnel a sense of worth and belonging again. Since then it has developed to include serving and ex-serving emergency service personnel and civilians. The team responds to situations anywhere in the world where humanitarian aid and help is required. One example would be the recent hurricane in the West Indies. In recent years, Team Rubicon UK has also responded to the floods in Carlisle and Keswick.
“The main driving force this time was that the relief efforts allowed me the opportunity to respond and provide help in my local community. These floods happened to be my second experience of witnessing the effects of flooding in my area of the country. In 2007, I was an operational paramedic on a rapid response car when the floods hit Bentley, Toll Bar, and Fishlake. During this time, my role was as a paramedic providing emergency response to medical emergencies in the area.”
What were you required to do during the relief efforts in Fishlake?
“As a member of Team Rubicon UK, commonly known as a greyshirt, our job was to assess the area and prioritise where help was needed.
“During the early days of the relief effort, the role was to assist the local community by providing the help and food they needed to get through the first few days. The team was also involved in delivering food to some of the more isolated farms and households. By day three, our role was to set up an operational hub in the village hall, working alongside local authority councils in order to assess the needs of the community. We also worked with the army and emergency services, such as when sandbagging various areas to prevent further damage from more flooding.
“By day four, however, the council felt they had full control of the situation, and a lot of the outside agencies were stood down. I stayed on site for a further three days as a liaison officer. I helped out wherever I could: delivering food, moving stores around to where they were required, and offering advice on different aspects of post-disaster recovery.
“I’m still visiting the village once a week to see how the local people are doing and what development have been made. TeamRubicon UK is also still able to bring teams in if required to help the locals clear out their homes and try to get back to a near-normal life.
“Throughout the relief efforts, I was struck by the resilience and community spirit shown by the Fishlake residents. Despite it being such a scary and worrying time, they managed to come together and support one another.
“It was also an extremely proud moment to see how all the responding services – emergency, civilians and the military – came together to work as a team. Watching everyone in action, you would have believed they had worked together many times before.”
