On the way home from a job today, I rolled up in the immediate aftermath of a car accident, less than a mile from my house. Two cars, major damage to both. The occupants of both vehicles were trapped.
I did a quick assessment of the scene, made sure that someone had called 911, and checked the victims. The guy in the first car was coherent, breathing, no serious injuries, just really drunk and trapped in his car.
The occupants of the other car were in worse shape. The woman, who was in her 80's, was unconscious but her breathing was even, and when I checked her, she had a strong carotid pulse. Her husband, who was in the driver's seat (the point of impact), had agonal breathing, multiple obvious fractures and a 7" gash on the back of his head that had peeled back to completely expose his skull.
His breathing had me worried, so I cleared his airway and lifted his head to open it up a little more. It saved his life.
His wife bled out internally right next to me. There was nothing I could do; she was dead by the time the first paramedic arrived on-scene. He pulled in directly after the old couple's daughter arrived; she was on her way to the store and just happened to come up on the accident. Turns out that the old couple was in the States visiting their daughter for the holidays; they were supposed to get on a plane and fly home to England tomorrow morning. Once the emergency crews arrived, I stood with the daughter for a bit. She was in tatters, after watching us drag her dead mother out of a smashed car.
The drunk fuck that caused the accident? He walked away from it. The old man will probably not live through the night, but for now, he has a chance.
It's been a hard afternoon.
I did a quick assessment of the scene, made sure that someone had called 911, and checked the victims. The guy in the first car was coherent, breathing, no serious injuries, just really drunk and trapped in his car.
The occupants of the other car were in worse shape. The woman, who was in her 80's, was unconscious but her breathing was even, and when I checked her, she had a strong carotid pulse. Her husband, who was in the driver's seat (the point of impact), had agonal breathing, multiple obvious fractures and a 7" gash on the back of his head that had peeled back to completely expose his skull.
His breathing had me worried, so I cleared his airway and lifted his head to open it up a little more. It saved his life.
His wife bled out internally right next to me. There was nothing I could do; she was dead by the time the first paramedic arrived on-scene. He pulled in directly after the old couple's daughter arrived; she was on her way to the store and just happened to come up on the accident. Turns out that the old couple was in the States visiting their daughter for the holidays; they were supposed to get on a plane and fly home to England tomorrow morning. Once the emergency crews arrived, I stood with the daughter for a bit. She was in tatters, after watching us drag her dead mother out of a smashed car.
The drunk fuck that caused the accident? He walked away from it. The old man will probably not live through the night, but for now, he has a chance.
It's been a hard afternoon.