Feature Article Janaury 15, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeTeamwork response to accident on 509by Helen ForseyAt 6.25 p.m. on the snowy evening of January 7, volunteers with the Emergency First Response teams at Snow Road and Ompah got a call on their radio pagers. Ambulance Dispatch informed us of a single-car accident on Highway 509 near the Lavant turn-off.
Snow Road's EFR team, based at the Palmerston-Canonto Fire Station #2, was first on the scene. They found a vehicle upside down at the bottom of a gully, with the single occupant still inside, banged up but conscious. The car had apparently skidded in the fresh snow, gone through the guard rail, flipped end over end and plunged to the bottom.
The EFR team went to work right away. Team members slid down the 20-foot embankment to give immediate care to the patient and ensure there was no further danger from fuel or sparks. Up above, others set up the generator and floodlights on the edge of the road to provide light to work by. They tied two heavy ropes to the guard rail posts and threw them down the steep slope to permit people to climb and descend safely.
When the Ompah EFR van and team members arrived minutes later, the situation was under control, but added help was welcome. More light was needed, so the Ompah lighting equipment was quickly put to use. Blankets and emergency supplies were passed down the slope while the radios crackled with messages to and from the ambulance and police en route to the scene.
"Even with the lights it was pretty dark down there," said Karen Davis Robinson of Snow Road, who stayed with the patient throughout the ordeal. "Lights can't shine through metal, and she was still in the car. But I was able to check her over, make sure she had mobility and keep her warm." With snow still coming down and temperatures dropping, it was not the easiest working environment, but there were no complaints as everyone tried to make sure the patient was as comfortable as possible and prepare for transport to the hospital.
"What impressed me the most was the overriding calm that characterized the whole incident," said Peter Bunnett of Ompah, who has been with the EFR team since it started in 1995. "The way the vehicle had landed, right at the bottom of the gully, made it hard to move around and get things done. But everyone worked together and it went amazingly well."
Another Ompah team member, Jennifer Dunham, did not let the fact that she is expecting a baby in April keep her from sliding down the snowy embankment to attend to the patient. "I was only with her a while before the ambulance came," she said. "I told her about the baby and got a chuckle out of her."
When the ambulance arrived, the First Responders and paramedics maneuvered the patient onto a backboard and eased her out of the vehicle. A "basket" - a cross between a canvas sled and a stretcher - was lowered down the slope, and the EFR volunteers gently pulled the patient up to the road's edge. From there it was into the ambulance and off to the hospital, while the teams and police finished what they had to do at the scene.
For Karen Robinson, what stands out about this and other calls she has been on, is how well the teams work together. "It sure makes everybody's job easier," she says. "We all focus on the patient. I'm proud to be part of the team."
