In 2001 I was working a one car MVC. I was first on scene and the only EMT. My patient was in critical condition and needed to be airlifted to the trauma center. the passenger seat was non-existant and all doors were locked. I had no access except for a small side window. By the time the chief arrived, he found didn’t have a chain saw on the rescue to cut the tree off the top of the care (he was always moving stuff and not telling anyone and then would forgot about it). I was working as well as I could with my patient through the triangle side window of the new VW bugs. I was talking with the deputies when the chief called them over and asked them to help remove the rest of the tree off the car. While I was talking with the patient, the three of them threw a tree that was about 10′ long and about 10″ in diameter. It landed on my lower back. Even though they knew what had happened, they still wanted me to take care of the patient. I had to crawl over to her to oversee the packaging and thank-god the medic showed up. She was airlifted and I pretty much had to beg to go to the hospital for my injuries because the chief didn’t want to fill out injury paperwork. |
Be aware of what EVERY ONE is doing when they are working near you! When injured, you take care of yourself and pull yourself from the scene. You only injure yourself more and you can’t take addequate care of your patient. When the chief is wrong…sometimes you have to tell him so! |
