And Sometimes It Takes a Village….
In the course of an average business day, we receive 15-40 telephone inquiries, here at SBFD-Fire Station #1. On February 9th I received a call from a concerned City resident asking “why was our ambulance sitting on Spear St. in the Town of Shelburne, yesterday afternoon? Don’t they have an ambulance?”
Indeed, they do. SBFD Ambulance 2 was answering a request from Shelburne Fire & Rescue Departments for an additional ambulance to respond to the scene of a serious motor vehicle crash, with an unknown number of injured. This response is not uncommon in the County and is referred to as the Mutual Aid System. A system utilized by all public safety agencies throughout Chittenden County and the State for more than 50 years.
In this particular case, a middle age male had suffered a significant number of injuries when his car was struck by a small dump truck, just in front of the car’s driver’s door. In less than 30 minutes, Firefighter/EMTs and Rescue EMTs from three agencies were able to seamlessly work together to extricate the patient, by removing the roof of the damaged vehicle Patient care was transferred to SBFD A-2.
Our personnel noted that the patient’s condition was beginning to rapidly deteriorate, and identified signs of significant blunt force trauma to the patient’s chest. Our firefighters continued to assess the patient’s condition, and our firefighter/paramedic preformed a needle decompression to relieve the effects of the patient’s lung injuries. The patient’s badly compromised respiratory system quickly improved. From the time of impact, to time of continuing definitive care in the UVM-MC ED, was 43 minutes. Nicely done all!
Sometimes it takes a village to help you when you are having a really, really bad day.
Thanks for the question. Be Well. Wear your masks, keep social distance, and buckle up when driving. It works!
