A few years ago I had an interesting Halloween.
I'm at the fire station Sunday morning for a quick, one hour meeting with the head of our membership committee discussing membership issues. After the meeting I get to run up to my son and his wife's home to see everyone, including the little grandkids and their costumes. As an added bonus I also get to participate as an actor in my son's fantastic Halloween Celebratory Garage especially designed to scare kids of all ages. Their garage is so popular that local organizers made the garage a stop on the hay wagon ride.
So, anyway, near the end of the meeting the other party and I are looking to wrap things up when an alarm comes in for a bad two vehicle crash. The house clears out, but one ambulance is still in the garage. Hmmm. I'm a driver and she's an EMT. She looks at me and says "Let's go!". We hop in the last remaining ambulance and are on our way to the accident site.
Turns out it was a head on collision between a small compact car and a large SUV. The SUV won. There were seven people in the SUV and six in the compact car. SUV folks/kids were all belted in. Car occupants apparently were not. SUV occupants are not badly hurt, car occupants are. When we arrived on scene people were laying on the shoulder of the road like cord wood. The driver of the car was DOA and a nice looking young lady in the back seat was unconscious with a compound fracture of the arm. We had to cut the car out from around her. When I say "we" I mean the folks who were doing the work and me, standing there with the back board upon which to load her. The car had bent due to the impact, trapping the young lady's legs between the back of the front seat and the front of the back seat. Finally had to take a hydraulic ram to bend the car away from her so her legs were freed from the back of the front seat.
What a mess.
We ended up with about 8 ambulances and TWO medivac helicopters. The hospital went on Mass Casualty Incident Alert and we started shipping wounded to the hospital. I drove two wounded to the hospital, came back to the scene and then drove three more to the hospital. Quite an experience. THEN we had to restock the ambulances and retrieve missing equipment. There was so much equipment spread around that it was all taken back to our station where we hosted a sorting party. By the time all was said and done I no longer had time to visit the Infamous Halloween Celebratory Garage.
Rats.
Big rats.
I go home, shower up, have a bite to eat, and head on back to the station. I'm on duty at the fire station at 6:00 p.m. We had one call early in the evening for a little kid, allergic reaction to peanuts. A neighbor gave the kid a caramel coated apple as a treat, forgetting that he was allergic to peanuts, a component of the caramel covered apple. The call went well. The young guy reacts much less negatively to peanuts than in the past. He's in good shape. I take his blood pressure and it was 120/80. I look at him and to make him feel better say "Man! I wish MY blood pressure was like that!". The father looks at me and says "ME TOO!". We threw an oxygen mask on the kid just to help his breathing. Later on during the call the kid sneezes into the mask, blowing snot all over the inside of the mask. I look at the kid and say "That mask is ALL YOURS now, buddy!. The kid grins and the father laughs. That's me ... "Don, the Stand Up Fire & Rescue Comedian". Truth be told, it's good medicine. The medics took the kid to the hospital, non-emergency, for a check up. I suspect he's fine, except for missing Halloween. He and I should have a beer sometime and whine to each other about that.
Late that night, about 11:00 we get another call. Elderly gentleman, classy guy with a nice wife. Reminded me of my folks. He had a skin graft site start to bleed. Nothing big. We put a fresh bandage on the site and told him to stop whining, at least he didn't miss Halloween.
Went to bed about midnight.
4:30, we get an alarm. Elderly woman, cardiac arrest at a retirement home. Not a good sign. We get on scene, along with the more experienced medics. It's evident that she has passed away but because she is still slightly warm to the touch we need to work on her. When I say "we" you should reference previous related comment. It was amazing to see the pros at work. If she had a chance of living this would have done it. The EMT for whom I drive is performing the chest compressions while the lady is on the floor of her apartment. The EMT runs out of steam and I'm up to bat. I start chest compressions. It's time to transport so we place her on a cot (with wheels). I'm still up to bat so I hop up on the lower support bar of the cot, grab onto the other side with my right hand and continue chest compressions with my left. Just like in the movies. We are wheeled down the hall, into the elevator, through the lobby and out into the parking lot. All the time I'm performing chest compressions. We get to the ambulance and things go a little awry. As the cot is stopped at the ambulance everyone (except me, 'cause I'm still working) let's go of the cot, a wheel decides to lock up (stone?) twisting the direction of the cot, stability is lost and .... over we go.
Time slows down.
My adrenal glands, still asleep at that time of the morning, are awakened by the silent scream in my mind. Suddenly I am keenly aware of the fighter pilot's prayer ("Please God, don't let me f**k up"). Adrenalin shoots through my body, replacing approximately 50% of my blood.
What happens next is viewed like a slow motion movie.
This unfortunate lady is NOT going to hit the pavement.
My left hand catches one of the straps holding her upper torso onto the cot. My right hand grabs the upper hand rail. There is NO thought process to this. It just happens very, very fast. I stop the fall of the cot at about a 45 degree angle and block her body roll with my body. She is securely belted in, but she is shifting due to the angle. The other guys are still half way through the fighter pilot's prayer when I'm already righting the cot. I hop back on and continue the chests compressions.
GOOD GRIEF!!!!
We load her up into the medic's unit and send them on their way.
I'm ready for a beer. Where's that kid that missed Halloween? It's 5:00 p.m. SOMEWHERE in the world.
We finally get back to the station at 6:45 a.m.
My little phone alarm has been singing it's heart out in the bunk room since 6:00. I had it set to "
Quite a day.
I LOVE volunteering with fire and rescue.
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