I was on my way to work yesterday and came-upon this accident scene about the time the vehicles had come to rest. Vehicle body parts and mechanical parts were strewn across half a 6-lane divided highway. This is in Hollywood FL.
The white Ford F150 was going the wrong-way down the divided highway. He was heading head-on towards a tractor trailer (in the pics) and swerved to the side to avoid hitting him, but didn't see or didn't care about the Chevy S-10 pool service pickup next to the tractor/trailer. The two pick-ups hit almost head-on, and this is what resulted.
There were only two drivers involved, no passengers. The airbags deployed on the S-10 but not on the nearly-new F-150! Go figure.
The S-10 driver walked-away from the accident, w/assistance. The F-150 driver was trapped in the truck, a crew cab. His two driver's side windows were either shattered or down, and the rear window to the bed was shattered completely. The F-150 driver had a seat belt on, and when I saw the state of damage of the vehicles, I stopped to see what I could do before Fire-Rescue arrived. No-one of any useful training was there. I tried all the doors and they were all jammed-shut. The driver was unconscious and unresponsive to voice. His skin was ashen-colored and he was bleeding bright-red blood from his mouth. The steering wheel was bent out of position. I didn't see engorged neck veins and a cyanotic face/neck which are signs of traumatic asphyxia which is really-bad news for the victim.
Seeing the only way to get hands-on the victim, I dived-through the driver's side rear window, and held cervical spinal immobilization while trying to assess him further. He was breathing deeply and slowly, and he kept having bright red blood slowly flow out of his mouth.
Fire/Rescue arrived, and they came to the truck w/a halligan tool and a flat-head axe, and I suggested they needed their hydraulic extrication equipment instead. Meanwhile a firefighter/paramedic started to assess the driver, and I told him the guy was breathing more-infrequently, and that he needed an advanced airway. Right-about then, the driver stopped breathing. The firefighter/paramedic pulled-out an LMA which is a good airway choice for situations like this, since they still hadn't popped-open the truck for egress or to remove the victim. He started using a ventilation bag/valve on the LMA airway, and I asked, "does he have a pulse?" When he tried for a carotid pulse there was none.
At this point, the driver was clinically dead. With the firefighter/paramedic working to deliver ventilations from outside the truck, I began performing closed-chest heart massage (the "C" in CPR) while hanging-over the back seat. I kept it up for about 3 minutes, and was about worn-out from the awkward position. By that time two of the fire/rescue guys who were on-scene recognized me and had brought me a pair of gloves I had asked-for, which I wore.
They wanted me to move-away from the driver while they used the hydraulic spreader to open the door, and to exit, so I was able to use both feet to kick-open the passenger rear door and to vacate the cab.
They removed the victim onto their gurney and into the rescue unit and headed to the Level I trauma facility about 3 miles-away as a trauma alert/code blue. I waited around to deliver a statement to the traffic homicide investigator (THI), after I had gotten cleaned-up at one of the rescue units, and then continued on my way to work. The THI told me the P.D. unit at the hospital informed dispatch the guy was still hanging in-there! That's a tribute to the trauma team. Just crossing the trauma room threshold is $10K. They have multiple MD's to attend to you, and they get you to surgery quickly.
So one of the firefighter/paramedics was a former employee of mine teaching EMS, one of the firefighter/paramedics was a former student of mine, he became a paramedic through the program where I am, and one of the rescue units had one of our program's paramedic students, in her second semester, riding on the rescue unit for her 'in-the-field' rescue-riding day, a 12-hour shift. It was a rewarding day and a good demonstration of what you can do to help your community if you have the right job for you.
Then on the way home from school tonight, I was getting on I-595 expressway in Davie, a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale FL and saw some fire/rescue units way-behind me. As they got closer, I pulled over to the side, and where I was, there were several cars parked on the swale. On the inside swale, there was a bloody guy lying on his back, in a t-shirt and shorts, and lots of blood.
The fire/rescue units parked, and I cautiously proceeded past the accident. After I cleared the scene, I saw a Sportster lying on its side, stuffed halfway-under the Armco barrier. It was a motorcycle accident, and if I hadn't pulled-over to let the fire/rescue trucks by, I would have beaten them to that one.
I think I'll try an alternative route to and from work tomorrow.
The white Ford F150 was going the wrong-way down the divided highway. He was heading head-on towards a tractor trailer (in the pics) and swerved to the side to avoid hitting him, but didn't see or didn't care about the Chevy S-10 pool service pickup next to the tractor/trailer. The two pick-ups hit almost head-on, and this is what resulted.
There were only two drivers involved, no passengers. The airbags deployed on the S-10 but not on the nearly-new F-150! Go figure.
The S-10 driver walked-away from the accident, w/assistance. The F-150 driver was trapped in the truck, a crew cab. His two driver's side windows were either shattered or down, and the rear window to the bed was shattered completely. The F-150 driver had a seat belt on, and when I saw the state of damage of the vehicles, I stopped to see what I could do before Fire-Rescue arrived. No-one of any useful training was there. I tried all the doors and they were all jammed-shut. The driver was unconscious and unresponsive to voice. His skin was ashen-colored and he was bleeding bright-red blood from his mouth. The steering wheel was bent out of position. I didn't see engorged neck veins and a cyanotic face/neck which are signs of traumatic asphyxia which is really-bad news for the victim.
Seeing the only way to get hands-on the victim, I dived-through the driver's side rear window, and held cervical spinal immobilization while trying to assess him further. He was breathing deeply and slowly, and he kept having bright red blood slowly flow out of his mouth.
Fire/Rescue arrived, and they came to the truck w/a halligan tool and a flat-head axe, and I suggested they needed their hydraulic extrication equipment instead. Meanwhile a firefighter/paramedic started to assess the driver, and I told him the guy was breathing more-infrequently, and that he needed an advanced airway. Right-about then, the driver stopped breathing. The firefighter/paramedic pulled-out an LMA which is a good airway choice for situations like this, since they still hadn't popped-open the truck for egress or to remove the victim. He started using a ventilation bag/valve on the LMA airway, and I asked, "does he have a pulse?" When he tried for a carotid pulse there was none.
At this point, the driver was clinically dead. With the firefighter/paramedic working to deliver ventilations from outside the truck, I began performing closed-chest heart massage (the "C" in CPR) while hanging-over the back seat. I kept it up for about 3 minutes, and was about worn-out from the awkward position. By that time two of the fire/rescue guys who were on-scene recognized me and had brought me a pair of gloves I had asked-for, which I wore.
They wanted me to move-away from the driver while they used the hydraulic spreader to open the door, and to exit, so I was able to use both feet to kick-open the passenger rear door and to vacate the cab.
They removed the victim onto their gurney and into the rescue unit and headed to the Level I trauma facility about 3 miles-away as a trauma alert/code blue. I waited around to deliver a statement to the traffic homicide investigator (THI), after I had gotten cleaned-up at one of the rescue units, and then continued on my way to work. The THI told me the P.D. unit at the hospital informed dispatch the guy was still hanging in-there! That's a tribute to the trauma team. Just crossing the trauma room threshold is $10K. They have multiple MD's to attend to you, and they get you to surgery quickly.
So one of the firefighter/paramedics was a former employee of mine teaching EMS, one of the firefighter/paramedics was a former student of mine, he became a paramedic through the program where I am, and one of the rescue units had one of our program's paramedic students, in her second semester, riding on the rescue unit for her 'in-the-field' rescue-riding day, a 12-hour shift. It was a rewarding day and a good demonstration of what you can do to help your community if you have the right job for you.
Then on the way home from school tonight, I was getting on I-595 expressway in Davie, a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale FL and saw some fire/rescue units way-behind me. As they got closer, I pulled over to the side, and where I was, there were several cars parked on the swale. On the inside swale, there was a bloody guy lying on his back, in a t-shirt and shorts, and lots of blood.
The fire/rescue units parked, and I cautiously proceeded past the accident. After I cleared the scene, I saw a Sportster lying on its side, stuffed halfway-under the Armco barrier. It was a motorcycle accident, and if I hadn't pulled-over to let the fire/rescue trucks by, I would have beaten them to that one.
I think I'll try an alternative route to and from work tomorrow.
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