A Doctor to Remember by Joanna Neil Page A

patient monitor and then locked up the car once more and hurried back down the path as fast as she could go, with Ben by her side.
    They had to make their way carefully over rocks to get to the injured man and all the time she was praying that it wasn’t Matt who was lying there. Whoever it was, he was screaming with pain. A small crowd had gathered around him and she said, ‘Let me through, please. I’m a doctor.’
    People moved aside and she saw that two lifeguards were already by the man’s side. One of them, whitefaced, said quietly, ‘His foot’s twisted round at an odd angle. It’s like it’s been partly sheared off.’
    Saffi pulled in a quick breath. Not Matt, please don’t let it be Matt.
    ‘I’ll look at him,’ she said, shielding Ben from what was going on. ‘Would one of you keep an eye on the little boy for me?’ She glanced around. ‘Perhaps he’d be better over there, out of the way, but where I can still see him.’ She pointed to a sheltered place in the lee of the cliff where there was enough sand for him to dig with his hands.
    ‘Sure. I’ll do it.’
    ‘Thanks.’ She looked down at the kite-surfer and a surge of relief washed through her as she realised it wasn’t Matt lying there. It was his friend, Josh. She laid down her pack and knelt beside him.
    ‘Josh, I’m a doctor…I’m going to have a look at you and see if I can make you more comfortable before we get you to hospital. Okay?’
    ‘Okay.’ He clamped his jaw, trying to fight the pain, and Saffi went through her initial observations. The foot was purple, with no great blood loss, and he was able to wiggle the toes on his other foot, as well as move his leg.
    She didn’t think there was any spinal injury but she needed to take precautions all the same, so she asked the lifeguard to help her put a cervical collar around Josh’s neck.
    Josh’s pulse was very fast and his blood pressure was high, most likely because of the excruciating pain. That was going to make it difficult to move him. He might a doctor to remember also have other, internal injuries, so the best thing to do would be to administer pain relief.
    She asked both lifeguards to help her. ‘I’m going to give him drugs to reduce the pain. As soon as I’ve given him the medication, we’ll have to carefully roll him on to his back and set him up with an oxygen mask. Are you all right with that?’
    ‘Yeah, that’s okay.’
    She glanced at Ben to make sure he was staying put, and then prepared to go on with the procedure. Thankfully, it wasn’t likely that he could see much of what was going on, while three people were gathered around Josh. She made sure Josh was as comfortable as possible, looping the oxygen mask over his head.
    There was a movement on the periphery of the crowd and she saw that Matt had gone to stand with Ben. She looked at him and he gave her a nod of support.
    At the same time, the ambulance siren sounded in the distance, getting nearer.
    ‘Thanks for your help,’ she said to the lifeguards as she connected the oxygen cylinder to the tube. ‘One last thing…I need one of you to help me get his foot back into the proper position.’ If they didn’t do that, the circulation could fail and the foot would be useless.
    One of the lifeguards hesitantly volunteered. ‘I don’t know what to do,’ he said.
    ‘It’ll be all right,’ she said, reassuring him. ‘I’ll talk you through it. We need to give it a tug.’
    He swallowed hard, but a few minutes later the foot pinked up, and she could feel that the pulses were present.
    She sat back on her heels. The paramedics would help with splinting the foot and getting Josh onto a spinal board. Her work was almost done.
    Matt came over to her, holding Ben by the hand, as they transferred his friend to the ambulance a short time later. He’d rolled down the top half of his wetsuit and Saffi couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was hunky, perfectly muscled, his chest lightly bronzed. Her