Thursday, December 01, 2005

29B05 Traffic / Transportation Accident - Unknown Status

Well it was a fairly usual mid-week night shift; we had just cleared from a call and were heading back to station via the BP to fuel up. As we turned onto the final straight back to the station the radio sprang into action with its "do do doop" noise and there it was "Outside Jet Garage, Main Street... MY VILLAGE!!" My colleague asked what it was and I told him, so lights on and off we went. Further "Do do doops" tell us that the call that we are attending is a two car accident with the Police en route and then the radio starts ringing (indicating that the EMDC Dispatcher wants to speak with us... He tells us that they are being told that the car has rolled and that there are reports of persons trapped and requested an update ASAP... I advised that we would be on scene within the next 30 seconds and would update as soon as.

With this we swing around the corner and see a warning triangle in the middle of the road and beyond in the glow of the garage lights a car on its roof with other cars scattered around and people milling about. As we slow through the cones that were places to protect the scene (Thanks to the Jet garage for their supply!) We are flagged by a bystander who updates that everyone is out and have been taken into the garage. I jump out and my colleague goes to check the car for damage etc.

As I enter the garage I am met by what can only be described as a blood bath... which is coming from one of the 4 occupants of the car, there is blood pouring from his left arm and his hysterical girlfriend is waving her bleeding hand around. I update the EMDC Dispatcher and request a second vehicle. I got the two most seriously bleeding patients into the ambulance so I could check them out properly.

The lad had multiple lacerations to his left arm, which turned out to be the side that had came into contact with the road for the period of time the car had slid along. There was lots of glass fragments in his arm and hair, this was cleaned to the best of our ability. My colleague treated his girlfriend and she was complaining of neck pains, because of this we treated her as a possible spinal injury and she was placed on a rigid spinal board and a collar applied with head support blocks.

By this time the second ambulance had arrived and they began dealing with the other two patients (who had minor injuries) and one of the crew popped his head into our vehicle to see if we needed further help, his offer was declined and we started to get ready to leave.

Because of the nature of the incident, we could not take any of the patients to the local A&E and had to travel to the larger A&E centre in Edinburgh. We arrived there 22 minutes later and both patients were taken into the Immediate Care section of the department and handed over to the nursing staff. We then had the task of cleaning the vehicle, which to anyone passing would resemble a butchers shop with the amount of blood on the floor, walls and seats. 30 minutes later and a nice clean ambulance we were ready for another call... We got one; it was a voice call from the EMDC Dispatcher offering us our meal break.

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