Darlington RAF vet saves woman's life during Storm Dudley

Jord Lozman, an ex-RAF regiment soldier and sharp-shooter, was leaving his home in Gainford, Darlington, during Storm Dudley on Wednesday (February 16) when his fiancée Katie Walker saw a person lying on the floor in the distance.

They immediately ran over and found that an elderly local resident had fallen and suffered a serious head injury.

Read more: Electricity restored to over 30,000 homes left without power after Storm Eunice

Thankfully Jord had medical training, having assisted medics on Chinook helicopters, rescuing seriously injured soldiers and locals in Afghanistan during 2009 and 2010.

His RAF training meant that he was immediately able to assess the woman's condition and take control of the situation.

He phoned for an ambulance, but was informed that due to Storm Dudley, there could be a wait of up to two hours.

From his experiences, he did not believe that the injured lady could wait that long due to the seriousness of her injuries combined with the atrocious weather conditions.

He enlisted the support of two local men to help stabilise her, however he could see that she was deteriorating rapidly.

Jord took off his scarf and jumper to keep her warm and laid her on his coat, then asked Katie to drive his car alongside the prone woman to provide shelter from the wind and driving rain.

He then went to a friend's house and asked them for some blankets, which he wrapped around her and another lady who was in shock after seeing the woman's injuries.

While a local GP was on his way, Jord used iPhone torch to check how the injured woman's pupils reacted and immediately knew that she needed to be rushed to hospital urgently.

The GP arrived and agreed that the priority was to get her to hospital immediately so Jord took her in his own car to Darlington Memorial Hospital, having requested that a medical team be made available for when he arrived.

File photo of Darlington Memorial Hospital A&E Picture: Northern Echo

During the journey, the injured woman began to lose consciousness and upon arrival at hospital, Jord carried her into A&E in his arms.

He was met by medical staff who said that bringing her in so quickly had saved her life and that he should be very proud of what he did.

Jord has since called the hospital each day to check on how she is and sent flowers for her too.

The hospital told him that although she is extremely unwell, her face lit up when she received them.

Yesterday (Saturday, February 19) Jord received a call from the hospital from the injured woman.

She could hardly speak, but did manage to say: "I believe you are the man who saved my life."

Jord said: "When I got the call I was just in bits.”

He explained how his RAF medical training meant he didn't hesitate to spring into action to help the woman but he remained humble about what he did after his brother John shared his admirable actions with The Northern Echo.

“I don’t see it as anything to really mention,” Jord said. “It is just what I am designed to do and I think it’s just natural to help someone like that.

“It’s the same thing that if you see someone fall over, you would help them up and I never really think about it.”

He added: “That lady’s head was really bad, the way she had fallen and bled, I knew due to her age her skull would be thin.

Jord Lozman

“I have seen some bad things in Afghanistan, but seeing it on a little old lady civilian, I just thought ‘I have to get her to hospital as soon as possible’.” 

Jord was also keen to stress that he wasn’t the only person to come to the woman’s aid, saying: “It wasn’t just me, it was everybody who was there, the people who stopped and the two guys who went and brought the blankets out; it was a proper village effort.”

Jord, 30, left the RAF in 2011 and has suffered from PTSD due to his experiences in Afghanistan.

He now works on an offshore oil rig, off the Norwegian coast, but when back in the North East on leave is developing his career as a stand-up comedian, which he finds helps with his PTSD.

He lives in Gainford with his fiancée, Katie and their son Franco, two.

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