A Powys couple have called for the Air Ambulance to stay after the husband was rescued after being crushed by a ride-on lawnmower.

Charles Harvey and Maggie Brown have both praised the work of emergency services after Charles was badly injured whilst gardening in Meifod earlier this month.

 “After lunch Charles continued to mow the grass which in parts of the garden had got out of control," said Maggie.

“He was at this point on his sit-on lawn tractor which is regularly used.

“I was in the house, fortunately we both had our mobile phones.

“He was just starting on an upward going path close by. The long grass obscured a dip, and edge, which a wheel went into resulting in the machine unbalancing, falling over, taking him with it.”

Despite some severe injuries Charles was able to get to a nearby chair and ring Maggie for help.

“I went to him and realised at once he was injured, and could not move further,” said Maggie. “Fortunately, we have two neighbours who have hospital jobs.

“I ran for their help and we called 999 at once.”

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At this point Charles had suffered severe injuries including multiple broken ribs that required immediate treatment.

“The woman who replied, I think at Welshpool, kept on me the phone, asking for details, which were being shared by emergency staff,” said Maggie.

“In about 15 minutes, as I started to head for the main road to flag down ambulance, I found it was arriving in front of the house, with an extremely experienced Welshpool Paramedic who took over.”

Emergency services then started streaming into their home, before the Wales Air Ambulance arrived.

“As the excellent paramedic rapidly worked on diagnosing fractures and stabilising my husband, we heard to surprise the air ambulance circling, landing in our field below,” said Maggie.

“The doctor on board was impressive too and joined with the local paramedic in treating my husband.

“By 5pm they had put him in the helicopter and taken off to the Royal Stoke University Hospital which at this point I had never heard of, which has a specialist trauma unit.

“It took just 25 minutes to get there - this compares to at least 90 minutes by road as there is no direct fast road as I subsequently found out.”

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Charles has now returned home to recover and the couple are now offering their thanks to all the emergency staff who helped - but also raising concerns about the air ambulance being lost in Welshpool.

“Before the Welshpool paramedic left he spoke very kindly to me, words of reassurance, that the hospital was the leader and though further away than Shrewsbury or Telford was exactly the right place to be – so it has proved,” added Maggie. “It is impressive, expert, and efficiently run.

“When he arrived by ambulance he was surrounded by about 20 medics including a consultant. The hospital is modern, the nursing staff at all levels are cheerful, kind, responsive. It is a beacon of hope and in my experience and that of my husband, quite at odds with the received view that the NHS is a troubled, even failing, underfunded organisation.

“Wales lacks such specialist hospital care within easy reach, and the Air Ambulance is a life saver. It is a way of compensating for this big gap in services.

“I have followed the apparent decision to close the Welshpool site with great concern, and having seen it in action can only plead for its retention. Anyone who has seen it in action in our largely rural communities would surely agree.

“I just hope other people who need emergency treatment can benefit from the presence of the range of help from Welshpool and Llanfyllin we received so speedily, on a grey cold Sunday afternoon, including the locally based air ambulance.

“We thank every one of them.”