At approximately 1600hrs today, while driving home from the Wiregrass Mall, Michelle Ringoot Goodman and I came upon a VERY serious vehicle versus pedestrian accident near the intersection of Bruce B. Downs and SR 56. We must have arrived within seconds of the accident. I immediately pulled my truck up onto the grassed median and retrieved gloves from one of my two medical kits. I did not call 911 due to seeing many people already on their cellphones. There was a group of several people at the scene (1 of whom was the driver of the vehicle who struck the patient). One of the people who were at the scene was a physician. She had already taken some vitals but failed to protect the patients c-spine. Since no one else was being proactive in protecting the patients neck I decided that Id take the responsibility. Just before the arrival of EMS the patient started to regain his consciousness and started to become combative. He had sustained quite a head injury due to road rash and was bleeding a decent amount from the many lacerations. Once he started thrashing around I realized that I was REALLY happy to have donned the gloves. One of the EMS guys finally introduced himself to me and offered to take responsibility of the patients c-spine. Its strange that time perception seems to slow down in situations like this. Once they took over I carefully took my gloves off and asked one of the engine guys where I could dispose of my bloodied gloves where he pointed me to the bio-hazard waste bag in the rescue unit. I hung around for several more minutes as I watched the EMS guys board the patient (he was fully conscious by this time, was quite combative, and in quite a bit of pain). I reflected on the incident while driving home. I learned a few IMPORTANT things today with regards to this. First, I would have to say that I was rather disappointed in the fact that the doctor on scene didnt take any actions to help protect this patients c-spine. Secondly, IM REALLY GLAD THAT I GLOVED UP. Third, I probably need to buy some disposable eye protection for my protection. While I didnt get any blood on my face, eyes, or mouth I could have easily been exposed to it. Lastly, its quite refreshing to see that there are still people in our society who are willing to step up and help their fellow human being. Prayers go out to this elderly man and his family. Hes going to need them at the very least for the next 24 hours or so.......
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:56:51 +0000