A moment of your time

I know this post is coming right on the heels of my last, but I’d be sorely remiss if I didn’t address this too.  There is a story I just put up below, but I would like to interrupt myself, and ask for a moment of your time.

As you all can probably tell from reading here, one of the biggest enemies our patients have is time.  Speed is important, and so is the best care possible.  One of our biggest weapons, and allies, is the use of a strong group of local med-evac crews in the area.  These people are heroes every day.  They get the worst of our worst, and do amazing things enroute; all the while speeding our patients to the right resources as quickly as possible.  They are a true lifeline for us, and our patients.  They are our brothers and sisters.  

Tuesday, in the Washington area, one of these flights crashed while making a routine transport of a very critically ill patient.  Onboard, as the flight medic, was a good friend who ran with us a few years back.  He was the Rescue Captain, just two or so before me.  He has also been a big influence in why I love having newer people on my unit.  When I was a new, curious EMT, he was a new, and rising medic.  He lived at the firehouse and was studying for his medic classes.  He would be up late and still take time to explain the real reason things happened with our patients.  He taught me a lot of the first ALS things I ever knew, and made me really see how important it was to take time with new EMTs to teach and share whatever we can.

The crash is still being investigated, and I only know stories 3rd and 4th hand, but from all accounts the pilot did amazing things to avoid killing a lot of people on the ground and in the hospital.  The patient did not make it, but the crew did, though they were all seriously injured.

He is doing very well for someone who fell a couple hundred feet out of the sky, and I am hoping to visit him soon.  He and the rest of his crew continue to recover, and while he has several fractured ribs, vertebrae and a cracked sternum, he is expected to recover fully.  I ask you to keep all of them, as well as the family of the patient they were trying so hard to help, in your thoughts and prayers.  

I know several of you who read here know this crew.  I will gladly pass any comments, thoughts or wishes you may have along.