Today two lives were changed forever. Two different accidents. Two different events. Both of them in a way connected and preventable.

The first accident was a man riding his motorcycle. He decided that wearing a helmet was not for him today. According to witness on scene he was going fairly slow, came through the 90 degree turn and hit some gravel and flipped the bike. He had an injury around his eye, that was all we could see. But there was another problem. He was not able to answer all our questions… because he had made another decision. The decision to ride his bike under the influence. Therefore we could not determine whether he had a head injury or if he was just high. Thankfully we could transport him to the hospital for further care. Sadly, I doubt that he learned anything from this. How stupid his decision was and the possibility that he could have hurt someone else.

Another man made the decision to drink some alcohol and then drive somewhere else. He also decided, (or forgot), to wear a seatbelt. He passed a small town and came into a school zone. Don’t think he even realized it because I don’t think he slowed down. Instead he slammed head on into a business sign that was mounted on a base of bricks. Upon impact the truck lifted the backwheel and the truck turned 90 degrees. Since the driver didn’t wear a seatbelt he flew up, hit his head in the windshield that cracked like a spiderweb, and landed with his head on the floorboard on the passenger side and his feet still under the pedals. This was an older model of truck with the shift next to the steering wheel so the driver was laying on the floor, pinned in. The impact was huge. That the man was still breathing was a miracle. But there was blood everywhere.
An helicopter had been requested and due to good work by our dispatchers they landed shortly after just nearby so we didn’t have to stop traffic more than necessary. A total of 9 people on scene worked on this man to save his life. That is not including law enforcement and fire department on scene (one firefighter/paramedic did assist us). This is not including all doctors and nurses in the hospital that took over the care when he made it to the hospital.

Honestly, I don’t believe that this man will make it. That is my personal thought. I’m not a doctor and I hope that I am wrong. But what I can say is that if he makes it, he will have brain injuries. He will not be able to go back to the life he had at lunch today. We worked so intense, we didn’t even have time to know his name or age before he left in the helicopter… DPS had to do some investigation to figure out who he was…

Regardless of your decisions, I will always do whatever in my power I can do to help you and save you. I will always pray for you and I will thank God for protecting everyone that crossed your path when you made that decision. At the time the man hit that sign, school just across the street was about to end and several school buses would soon be on the road and kids walking home. There was a lot of traffic on the road he was traveling. Thankfully no one else was injured. A business property was damaged and it will be a huge hassle for them to get that back to how it was before. But that can be fixed. A life can not.

We had to go out of service after the second call to restock and clean up. Clean up the truck, the stretcher, the equipment, and ourselves. It took 75 minutes of scrubbing to get the blood off the stretcher and the floor. It had dripped into places and corners I didn’t know was possible. Everything had to come off, get cleaned and put back. Thankfully I had an extra uniform in my car and the dispatcher let us go back so I could change. This was too much blood to try to get off, especially on my pants…

As I’m writing this I’m waiting for the laundry to be done so I can put another one on. Need to make sure I have two sets of uniforms ready to go for another 3 days of work. But it doesn’t matter. I’m just grateful that we were able to do everything in our power to help both of you. And I am very grateful that no one else was hurt.

Please… don’t drink and drive. Don’t use drugs and drive. Don’t take new medications that you don’t know the effect on and drive. Wear a helmet when you ride a bike or a motorcycle. And always wear a seatbelts. Two accidents today that could have been avoided. Two lives that will forever be changed, because the wrong, stupid decision was made. Don’t be my next patient. I love what I do, but please… choose wisely!