Feb. 16, 2009
Far North Country -- the Van Wreck
I am sincerely grateful for the outstanding Wilderness First Aid/CPR class I took 2 years ago, and am sending this story to my instructors (one's a paramedic in Eureka, the other does search and rescue in Yosemite) to thank them. Every thing they taught me kicked in instantly, like a total reflex.
I was driving up NZ Hwy 1, almost at the very northern extreme of NZ, when there was a torrential downpour. I came over a rise, and saw that a van had careened off the side of the road and people were still in it.
Now, I really didn't do anything major, but it's helpful to reflect on how things went down.
1. The first thing that happened was I pulled over and was about to flip open my door (into traffic) and heard my instructors: "Stop. Look. Assess the situation." Now, that all sounds kinda obvious, but when you've got possibly injured people in an overturned car, its raining sideways, and huge lumber trucks are barelling down the highway, you really do have to stop for a sec. I spent all of 10 seconds in my seat, assessing the scene, and saw that people were standing in the road. That was the most pressing thing. Then, I got out of my car, grabbed my first aid kit, and ran over to the car.
2. I yelled to 2 girls and an Asian woman with a cell phone to "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!". they did.
3. I yelled at the Asian woman: "you, brown hair, call an ambulance". she said she had already..
4. I approached the van, where the man was standing inside the "cab" area (on its side), and a blonde woman was on all fours in the broken glass at the bottom of the van. I said, "I know CPR, and I can help". (if you've taken the course, you know this is the SOP).
5. The man was trying to talk the woman into climbing out of the bottom of the wreck. I said to the woman, "don't move; we need to make sure that you don't have a spinal injury."
6. I tried to check out the woman, but it was pretty difficult through the broken glass window. She was too shaken to talk. I communicated with the man and deduced (as best as possible) that she had been moving around in the wreck and most likely did not have a spinal injury. In retrospect, I should have made her stay, but she was totally freaked out and was going to try and crawl out no matter what I said. So, as she was crawling out, I dropped to a knee, cross-braced one of her arms (shaking like you wouldn't believe), and guided her out with my other hand on her head so that she didn't smash into the broken glass. (In retrospect, I can't remember *what* she climbed out through -- was it the fucking skylight? I look at the photo and I think it must have been, though I wasn't really aware of that at the time.)
7. The woman came out, and couldn't talk, but she seemed OK. The guy walked out and he was fine. There were also 2 girls who had already climbed out and they, too, were fine. They said they weren't wearing seatbelts and I have no idea how they all made it out unscathed.
8. At this point, my concern was the barreling traffic on the highway just feet away from the wreck. I asked if any one had a flare, and they didn't. So, I made a Mexican flare -- I grabbed a soup can from my car, put stove oil in the bottom, and ripped a an 1/8 of a towel to use as a wick. I ran up the road, lit it, and put it in the middle of the road. Even in the pouring rain, it worked really well, and all the incoming traffic slowed.
so, that's about it. The fire truck/paramedics arrived 5 min. later, but by that point it was clear that there were no injuries.
Anyways, all's well that end's well. I am, again, super-grateful for that course.
Far North Country -- the Van Wreck
I am sincerely grateful for the outstanding Wilderness First Aid/CPR class I took 2 years ago, and am sending this story to my instructors (one's a paramedic in Eureka, the other does search and rescue in Yosemite) to thank them. Every thing they taught me kicked in instantly, like a total reflex.
I was driving up NZ Hwy 1, almost at the very northern extreme of NZ, when there was a torrential downpour. I came over a rise, and saw that a van had careened off the side of the road and people were still in it.
Now, I really didn't do anything major, but it's helpful to reflect on how things went down.
1. The first thing that happened was I pulled over and was about to flip open my door (into traffic) and heard my instructors: "Stop. Look. Assess the situation." Now, that all sounds kinda obvious, but when you've got possibly injured people in an overturned car, its raining sideways, and huge lumber trucks are barelling down the highway, you really do have to stop for a sec. I spent all of 10 seconds in my seat, assessing the scene, and saw that people were standing in the road. That was the most pressing thing. Then, I got out of my car, grabbed my first aid kit, and ran over to the car.
2. I yelled to 2 girls and an Asian woman with a cell phone to "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!". they did.
3. I yelled at the Asian woman: "you, brown hair, call an ambulance". she said she had already..
4. I approached the van, where the man was standing inside the "cab" area (on its side), and a blonde woman was on all fours in the broken glass at the bottom of the van. I said, "I know CPR, and I can help". (if you've taken the course, you know this is the SOP).
5. The man was trying to talk the woman into climbing out of the bottom of the wreck. I said to the woman, "don't move; we need to make sure that you don't have a spinal injury."
6. I tried to check out the woman, but it was pretty difficult through the broken glass window. She was too shaken to talk. I communicated with the man and deduced (as best as possible) that she had been moving around in the wreck and most likely did not have a spinal injury. In retrospect, I should have made her stay, but she was totally freaked out and was going to try and crawl out no matter what I said. So, as she was crawling out, I dropped to a knee, cross-braced one of her arms (shaking like you wouldn't believe), and guided her out with my other hand on her head so that she didn't smash into the broken glass. (In retrospect, I can't remember *what* she climbed out through -- was it the fucking skylight? I look at the photo and I think it must have been, though I wasn't really aware of that at the time.)
7. The woman came out, and couldn't talk, but she seemed OK. The guy walked out and he was fine. There were also 2 girls who had already climbed out and they, too, were fine. They said they weren't wearing seatbelts and I have no idea how they all made it out unscathed.
8. At this point, my concern was the barreling traffic on the highway just feet away from the wreck. I asked if any one had a flare, and they didn't. So, I made a Mexican flare -- I grabbed a soup can from my car, put stove oil in the bottom, and ripped a an 1/8 of a towel to use as a wick. I ran up the road, lit it, and put it in the middle of the road. Even in the pouring rain, it worked really well, and all the incoming traffic slowed.
so, that's about it. The fire truck/paramedics arrived 5 min. later, but by that point it was clear that there were no injuries.
Anyways, all's well that end's well. I am, again, super-grateful for that course.
1 comment:
dude, that is some seriously heroic shit! you make a fellow tiger proud.
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