hey all, well after 8 -10 inches of snow and 70 km/h winds all night we got our first call at 6 this am , after we left the pt's house for the hospital, (pt was a very stable regular) we burried the amulance in a 6 foot drift. also our other units are horrible in snow and wouldnt of even got out of the garage. It took an hour for someone to come pull us out.... this ever happened to anyone ?? not sure what i would of done if our pt had a serious problem.
Blizzard
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zmedic
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You would either have found a vehicle driving by that you could put the patient in, or you would have sat in the back, stuck in a snow drift and watched your patient die.
Sucks but if you are stuck and no one can get you out what are you going to do?
Sucks but if you are stuck and no one can get you out what are you going to do?
Jeffrey_169
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Yes, I have seen it happen before. In NM, CO, and even certain parts of VA I have seen it. What do you do? You improvise. In NM we mutual aided the CO volunteers, and due to the pt being pretty bad off and no ambulance any where near us, and the Helo being unavailable, we threw her on the LSB, put her in the back of the crew cab, and intercepted the Medics half way. It cut the transport time in half, and luckily the Medics were in a 4wd suburban. The mud an snow was unreal.
In those situations you only have two options: find another way, or watch your patient get worse and possibly die.
In those situations you only have two options: find another way, or watch your patient get worse and possibly die.
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Tincanfireman
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Living in the South I can't speak to blizzard protocols, but during tropical storm season we do have guidelines on when we do not respond to calls. It sounds cold-hearted, but there's no sense sending crews out in unsuitable equipment to provide care, then ending up with a patient and a crew who both need rescue. In your situation, call for FD assistance and hope they can get to you before the patient deteriorates or all three of you freeze to death.
TransportJockey
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I did a call at the service I used to pull PRN shifts at a county over from where I live. We got there slid off into a ditch in a 2wd Type II. Not fun. Luckily the county borders are laid out weird and there was a Santa Fe County FD 4x4 box that was able to mutual aid us and get the pt to ABQ.
Tincanfireman
Airfield Operations
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I spent a delightful (not!) weekend day digging a big old 4WD Blazer out of a creekbed with my no-driving buddy one afternoon in the Jemez. That's a lonely feeling out there in the Santa Fe National Forest...
h34r:
TransportJockey
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I spent a delightful (not!) weekend day digging a big old 4WD Blazer out of a creekbed with my no-driving buddy one afternoon in the Jemez. That's a lonely feeling out there in the Santa Fe National Forest...
Done that
We got a FSJ J2000 truck stuc to the frame rails out there. Took my old CJ, 2 TJs and 1 XJ to pull it out
Outbac1
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If you drive in enough snow storms eventually you will get stuck. When you start pushing snow with the bumper its just a question of time till you're stuck. I've been in two type twos that got stuck like that. Much shoveling later we got out. I got stuck on an on ramp in a storm with a pt in the back. It wouldn't have been too bad but for the tractor trailer stuck in front of us. I got stuck trying to go around him. 40 min of shoveling and a snow plow later we got out. I don't remember what was wrong with the pt.
Last year during a storm on new years day my partner and I got stuck responding to a call for a 1yr old seizing. The two lane hwy wasn't plowed and the type 3 got stuck at the bottom of a hill in 2 ft of snow. My partner continued in a police 4x4 and almost didn't make it. Two hours of shoveling and a locals snowblower later I still couldn't get out. Finally a tow truck came and towed me backwards 300meters to get me out. The baby and my partner eventually got out another road and was fine.
When the weather is nasty I always put my compact shovel in. Sometimes if you're not stuck too bad a little shoveling will get you out.
If the stom is bad our dispatch center will (with a DR) pre triage our calls so we only go out for what could be really life threatening. Others are told they will have to wait.
Last year during a storm on new years day my partner and I got stuck responding to a call for a 1yr old seizing. The two lane hwy wasn't plowed and the type 3 got stuck at the bottom of a hill in 2 ft of snow. My partner continued in a police 4x4 and almost didn't make it. Two hours of shoveling and a locals snowblower later I still couldn't get out. Finally a tow truck came and towed me backwards 300meters to get me out. The baby and my partner eventually got out another road and was fine.
When the weather is nasty I always put my compact shovel in. Sometimes if you're not stuck too bad a little shoveling will get you out.
If the stom is bad our dispatch center will (with a DR) pre triage our calls so we only go out for what could be really life threatening. Others are told they will have to wait.
Only gotten stuck with a patient once. We sent an SUV with a backboard down the road to meet us and take the patient to another ambulance on the plowed road, since it was rather slippery and far to walk and we didn't want to risk getting anything else stuck. We were lucky the patient was in good shape and that we had another ambulance available. Afterwards, an engine towed us out.
I've also been stuck a couple times without a patient. When we couldn't dig ourselves out within a few minutes, we called for help. Once we waited for almost an hour before a local redneck with a really big pickup came by and got us out.
I've also been stuck a couple times without a patient. When we couldn't dig ourselves out within a few minutes, we called for help. Once we waited for almost an hour before a local redneck with a really big pickup came by and got us out.
mycrofft
Still crazy but elsewhere
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Another Polar Vortex coming! New notes for an older thread?
Time to reference back. Here's one called "Blizzard". Any lessons from earlier this season to add?
Time to reference back. Here's one called "Blizzard". Any lessons from earlier this season to add?
topemttraining
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In such situation, you will have no other alternative except - try and try and try. At least, you will have satisfaction that you tried your best for the patient. This is also one of the best ways to gain valuable experience, and be prepared for such weather and calamity.
"Pray, and let God worry".
Martin Luther
mycrofft
Still crazy but elsewhere
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Yeah, but experience is a hard teacher. Learn from the others as well!
Is it ok to take one of a limited number of ambulances offline? How many potential calls are missed then? Or say the muffler gets crushed by the undercarriage snow and now carbon monoxide is getting into the unit, or at least the unit will need repairs to make more runs.
I was forced off the road into a 3 ft drift in my car with my 3 y/o son, ambient temperatures about 20 F. Happily the offending county road truck (!!) came back and twenty minutes later we were on our way. I never want that experience again. I'd hate to be doing CPR in it too. (Talk about prehospital hypothermia therapy!)
cruiseforever
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When we feel we might have trouble. A city or state snowplow will be called in to give us an escort. Also with the huge number of private plow owners we rarely have an issue.
Bullets
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Sounds brutal but in those conditions we may not have responded
We have a 6x6 enclosed gator , 2 4x4 trucks, and then our OEM has a few 2 1/2 ton and a 5 ton truck. If they cant operate, then we tell them we arent coming
No requirement to respond in NJ...