A Story from an Interstate Median

I don’t like to talk too much about my career in emergency medical services (EMS) because I always ruin the magic and romance for those outside the field. Despite what the media may have you believe, most of what I do is routine and, while never boring, isn’t particularly interesting. In fact, when I am most thankful to be an EMT, I’m usually not even at work. Rather, I’m just living my life. I am about to describe one of those moments.

I make the drive between State College and Morgantown several times each month and consider myself a resident of both cities. The route is hardwired into my head and I could probably drive it in my sleep (but I won’t, I promise!). I rarely notice much of the drive unless something has changed. Earlier this month the trip was running as any other until about 20 minutes from my Morgantown home. Beginning the descent into Morgantown I notice a thick plume of white smoke or dust and traffic is slowing down. I quickly find the source.

A few hundred feet ahead of me is an upside down SUV. A bystander is attempting to direct traffic out of the inner lane. I ask her if fire or EMS is there. She states that they’ve been called but the crash just happened. I pulled into the median, parked, grabbed my phone and my keys and walk up to the SUV wearing a t-shirt, yoga pants, and my favorite red flip flops. While walking over I had to prepare myself for the fact the scene may not be safe and the victim or victims may be seriously injured or even dead.

As I get to the SUV I find two other bystanders helping the driver of the SUV self-extricate from his vehicle. One is a retired police officer and the other a volunteer firefighter, so we cover the public safety trifecta. The victim, now the patient, is in remarkably good shape. His injuries appear to be largely superficial and he is conscious, alert, and completely oriented. The tense situation gives way to a waiting game. But given the nature of his injuries, there are many things we can begin to do in anticipation for the ambulance.

So the volunteer firefighter and I began to clean up and control bleeding. At any point when I or anyone else needed anything to help this person, it magically showed up. When we asked for water, a case of bottled water showed up. When we asked for more bandages, someone had gauze pads in their vehicle. When we needed a blanket or a coat, someone volunteered one in their car.

After about 20 minutes, the Cheat Lake Volunteer Fire Department and Monongalia EMS arrived on scene. Before letting them take over entirely, there was one last way to help. The patient had insisted on standing up once freed from the vehicle, something I can’t blame the patient for. But given the mechanism of injury, spinal immobilization was indicated. We call the technique a “standing takedown” where a patient is immobilized from a standing position. While the firefighters did all of the lifting, I stabilized his head and neck (great mental picture: I’m wearing a t-shirt and yoga pants and the firefighters are all wearing yellow turnout gear). Once he was packaged it was time for me to go. When I got back to my car, which was strategically positioned to act as protection from traffic, I took one quick picture of the scene before one of the firefighters created a gap in traffic for me to continue on my way.

I sure hope the patient had a good outcome and safely made it to wherever they were going!