Hello all. I have been reading these forums for quite a while now, but this recent experience caused me to join. I have had an interest in EMS for a few years now, but am already in a career. I told my family that I wanted to quit my job and go to EMT school, and everyone acted like I was crazy...
Anyway, I had my first experience with a bad MVA Saturday night. It's affected me more than I thought it would. It seems like everyone shares my sorrow who I talk with, but no one really understands what I'm going through. That's why I'm hoping it will help me get over this by writing it down. I don't expect anyone to read it all either. It's just something I want to write down...
I live about 45min outside of Nashville in the country. Every week, the local newspaper has pictures and stories of terrible accidents. Saturday night, I got a taste of one.
I was driving home late that night from Nashville after a concert. It was about 11:30pm and I was almost home. On the way home, I have to pass a small private airfield that just recently had lights installed for the small planes to land at night. Well, as I passed the field, I saw that the lights were on and I could see a small plane nearby circling to land. So, I pulled into a driveway near the field, shut the engine off and got out of the car to watch it land. Since I was about 5 min from the closest town and it was so late, everything was very quiet. About 1 min passed and I heard a car coming down the road towards my direction. I noticed that the engine was surging, like the driver was giving it gas and then letting off. All of the sudden, I heard the tires screech and heard a loud bang. IT was just about 200 yards from me. I was wondering if that was really happening! I got into my car and drove that direction. As I got closer, I saw glass on the road and then noticed that an older Ford Mustang was wrapped around a tree. I got out of the car and yelled if anybody was hurt. Didn't hear anything. So, I called 911.
The dispatcher asked me to look in the car. I got my flashlight out and started looking around. I didn't see anyone at first, but as I came around to the back of the car, I noticed that a man in his early thirties was in the backseat. He was breathing, but unconscious. It struck me how 1. his mouth was full of blood and he was having trouble breathing and 2. he had some deep head lacerations that weren't bleeding very much. I asked the man if he could hear me and if he was OK, but he didn't respond. Just then, a girl pulled up and jumped out of her car. I was very impressed with how calm she reacted. She ran and got a blanket as I looked at the windshield to make sure no one had been ejected. The dispatcher told me that Fire and EMS were enroute. The girl and I both met back at the back of the car. The car impacted a tree on the drivers side and the driver was pinned from the waist down. He was still breathing, but was struggling to. The girl asked me if we could move his head to help clear out the blood, but I didn't know what the hell to say. I was thinking about C-Spine injury and plus nether of us had gloves and the guy had blood all over his head and it was coming out of his mouth. I'm thinking AIDS and Hepatitis. We decided not to move him. She felt for a pulse and he had one. I then heard the Q siren in the distance. As we stood there telling the guy help was on the way, we saw that he stopped breathing. She felt again, and his pulse was weak. Then, he breathed a couple more times and got a pulse back before stopping breathing and having no pulse. We were both in disbelief! We both looked at each other and shook our heads. I told the dispatcher we thought he was gone. She stayed with the guy while I made sure our cars were moved out of the way. A few people pulled up and I was proud of myself for "controlling" the scene and making sure everyone kept moving so the first responders could get there. It took less than 5 minutes for them to get there.
As the ambulance and 2 fire apparatus, along with police arrived, I ran back to the car. Still, no signs of like. Fire started working on the car as the medics hooked the victim up to monitors. I watched and could see that he was flatline on the monitor. They disconnected everything and called for the Highway patrol. (I guess they have to do the accident report here in TN if there's a fatality.) Meanwhile, they got ID, registration and cell phone off the driver. One of the officers contacted his wife and asked her to come down there. I spoke with one of the medics who was really nice and explained how there is just nothing you can do in those situations with so many injuries... The body just can't keep living with that much trauma. I did notice that this was the first fatality for the female medic. She was upset, and very quiet.
The police were very nice and chatted for quite a while. One was telling me what he thought had happened before the THP arrived. It looked like the driver went off the right side of the road and overcorrected. When he got it back on the road, he went off the left side and overcorrecting again, slid sideways into the tree. They don't think alcohol was envolved.They asked me to fill out a report.
What affected me the most was when the victim's wife arrived. When they told her what had happened, she started screaming and lost control. She was only in her 20's. At that point, I almost started to cry (which I haven't done in years). That just really struck me how someone's life can end so fast. The guy was heading home after getting a burger and was less than 5 minutes away. She was screaming crying for a long time.
From the time I heard it happen until the time I left to go home, about an hour and a half had passed. I left before they removed his body. When I got home, I felt like I could puke. I got in bed and turned the TV on, but couldn't sleep at all. I was wired. It was about 4am when I finally fell asleep. I woke up really early and just kept going over everything over and over again in my head. I just wondered if there was something I could have done differently. I just had to keep telling myself that he was going to die anyway. I tried to read and do other stuff, but I just couldn't focus.
I called and told a few people and they thought it was horrible what had happened. I went out to church that afternoon even though I didn't want to because I didn't feel like seeing anyone. But I did, hoping it would help me feel better. On the way, I had to pass the spot where the accident happened. When I passed it, the guy's wife was there with someone else crying. I started to stop, but decided not to. I'm going to get the police report and send her a letter later.
I felt terrible all day. I just had this weird feeling. I didn't want to go to work today at all either! I started to call in sick, but decided to go after all. I'm feeling much better now. I guess the initial shock has worn off. It's funny though because this situation makes me want to get into EMS so much!
I work in PT care areas at Vanderbilt medical center as a Spanish interpreter, so I see alot of stuff. I've done ride-alongs with Metro Nashville Fire/EMS and even a shift with Vandy LifeFlight. Even so, I've never see anyone die right in from of me. This whole situation has really make me appreciate life so much more. It's made my desire to help people in bad situations, even stronger.
I'm sure with time I'm going to forget how hard this was to deal with, but I know that I will remember that Saturday night for the rest of my life!
Anyway, I had my first experience with a bad MVA Saturday night. It's affected me more than I thought it would. It seems like everyone shares my sorrow who I talk with, but no one really understands what I'm going through. That's why I'm hoping it will help me get over this by writing it down. I don't expect anyone to read it all either. It's just something I want to write down...
I live about 45min outside of Nashville in the country. Every week, the local newspaper has pictures and stories of terrible accidents. Saturday night, I got a taste of one.
I was driving home late that night from Nashville after a concert. It was about 11:30pm and I was almost home. On the way home, I have to pass a small private airfield that just recently had lights installed for the small planes to land at night. Well, as I passed the field, I saw that the lights were on and I could see a small plane nearby circling to land. So, I pulled into a driveway near the field, shut the engine off and got out of the car to watch it land. Since I was about 5 min from the closest town and it was so late, everything was very quiet. About 1 min passed and I heard a car coming down the road towards my direction. I noticed that the engine was surging, like the driver was giving it gas and then letting off. All of the sudden, I heard the tires screech and heard a loud bang. IT was just about 200 yards from me. I was wondering if that was really happening! I got into my car and drove that direction. As I got closer, I saw glass on the road and then noticed that an older Ford Mustang was wrapped around a tree. I got out of the car and yelled if anybody was hurt. Didn't hear anything. So, I called 911.
The dispatcher asked me to look in the car. I got my flashlight out and started looking around. I didn't see anyone at first, but as I came around to the back of the car, I noticed that a man in his early thirties was in the backseat. He was breathing, but unconscious. It struck me how 1. his mouth was full of blood and he was having trouble breathing and 2. he had some deep head lacerations that weren't bleeding very much. I asked the man if he could hear me and if he was OK, but he didn't respond. Just then, a girl pulled up and jumped out of her car. I was very impressed with how calm she reacted. She ran and got a blanket as I looked at the windshield to make sure no one had been ejected. The dispatcher told me that Fire and EMS were enroute. The girl and I both met back at the back of the car. The car impacted a tree on the drivers side and the driver was pinned from the waist down. He was still breathing, but was struggling to. The girl asked me if we could move his head to help clear out the blood, but I didn't know what the hell to say. I was thinking about C-Spine injury and plus nether of us had gloves and the guy had blood all over his head and it was coming out of his mouth. I'm thinking AIDS and Hepatitis. We decided not to move him. She felt for a pulse and he had one. I then heard the Q siren in the distance. As we stood there telling the guy help was on the way, we saw that he stopped breathing. She felt again, and his pulse was weak. Then, he breathed a couple more times and got a pulse back before stopping breathing and having no pulse. We were both in disbelief! We both looked at each other and shook our heads. I told the dispatcher we thought he was gone. She stayed with the guy while I made sure our cars were moved out of the way. A few people pulled up and I was proud of myself for "controlling" the scene and making sure everyone kept moving so the first responders could get there. It took less than 5 minutes for them to get there.
As the ambulance and 2 fire apparatus, along with police arrived, I ran back to the car. Still, no signs of like. Fire started working on the car as the medics hooked the victim up to monitors. I watched and could see that he was flatline on the monitor. They disconnected everything and called for the Highway patrol. (I guess they have to do the accident report here in TN if there's a fatality.) Meanwhile, they got ID, registration and cell phone off the driver. One of the officers contacted his wife and asked her to come down there. I spoke with one of the medics who was really nice and explained how there is just nothing you can do in those situations with so many injuries... The body just can't keep living with that much trauma. I did notice that this was the first fatality for the female medic. She was upset, and very quiet.
The police were very nice and chatted for quite a while. One was telling me what he thought had happened before the THP arrived. It looked like the driver went off the right side of the road and overcorrected. When he got it back on the road, he went off the left side and overcorrecting again, slid sideways into the tree. They don't think alcohol was envolved.They asked me to fill out a report.
What affected me the most was when the victim's wife arrived. When they told her what had happened, she started screaming and lost control. She was only in her 20's. At that point, I almost started to cry (which I haven't done in years). That just really struck me how someone's life can end so fast. The guy was heading home after getting a burger and was less than 5 minutes away. She was screaming crying for a long time.
From the time I heard it happen until the time I left to go home, about an hour and a half had passed. I left before they removed his body. When I got home, I felt like I could puke. I got in bed and turned the TV on, but couldn't sleep at all. I was wired. It was about 4am when I finally fell asleep. I woke up really early and just kept going over everything over and over again in my head. I just wondered if there was something I could have done differently. I just had to keep telling myself that he was going to die anyway. I tried to read and do other stuff, but I just couldn't focus.
I called and told a few people and they thought it was horrible what had happened. I went out to church that afternoon even though I didn't want to because I didn't feel like seeing anyone. But I did, hoping it would help me feel better. On the way, I had to pass the spot where the accident happened. When I passed it, the guy's wife was there with someone else crying. I started to stop, but decided not to. I'm going to get the police report and send her a letter later.
I felt terrible all day. I just had this weird feeling. I didn't want to go to work today at all either! I started to call in sick, but decided to go after all. I'm feeling much better now. I guess the initial shock has worn off. It's funny though because this situation makes me want to get into EMS so much!
I work in PT care areas at Vanderbilt medical center as a Spanish interpreter, so I see alot of stuff. I've done ride-alongs with Metro Nashville Fire/EMS and even a shift with Vandy LifeFlight. Even so, I've never see anyone die right in from of me. This whole situation has really make me appreciate life so much more. It's made my desire to help people in bad situations, even stronger.
I'm sure with time I'm going to forget how hard this was to deal with, but I know that I will remember that Saturday night for the rest of my life!
