Today at work an 18 wheeler collided with my ambulance. We were stopped on the side of the highway caring for a patient who was in an accident of her own, when a trucker drifted over onto the right shoulder and hit the back of my ambulance. The semi was doing about 70-80 mph. The pictures show the damage, but don’t show that his truck pushed mine about 60 feet further down the road.
My partner was standing next to me and just has a few bumps and bruise. I was sitting right behind the patient and hit my jaw on the back of the bed. I have a swollen jaw and a bruised knee. My intern (paramedic student) was sitting on the bench next to the patient. He flew across the back of the truck into the cabinets that are destroyed, hit his head, and landed on top of the patient in a crumpled mess. He was knocked out for about two minutes, and awoke with repetitive questioning. The patient was on the stretcher. She was actually okay after her first accident, but complained of chest pain and shortness of breath after the second accident.
The highway patrol here in Nevada witnessed the accident and immediately called for help. My partner and I were trapped in the back of the ambulance and cared for both the first patient and my intern until more help arrived. We had to wait for the fire department to return and cut us out of the truck. It is a surreal experience to be working on patients in a demolished ambulance.
The good news is that my intern is okay, all of his x-rays, CT scans, and and MRI to double check his c-spine were all normal.
Bad news is the 80 year old lady I was taking care of now has three spinal fractures from the second accident. When I left the hospital she still didn’t have any neurological deficits, hopefully she will stay that way.
Holy crap! I hope your patient recovers well. You guys are lucky to be alive. The good news is that you can get those pictures on a coffee cup. (Am I the only one who found that amusing on the photo page?)
As a retired trucker I’ll neither defend, nor condemn, the driver who caused this. Let the chips fall where they may. Having said that, it’s hard to conceive of a situation where this couldn’t have been avoided by a true professional.
The trucking industry in the U.S, is in crisis, and has been for at least a decade. Just in Time delivery (avoiding local warehousing for large corps.) is the norm. That puts tremendous pressure on truck drivers. Trucking companies seem unable to pass on expenses and continue to hire almost anybody w/ a pulse to put behind the wheel. I retired several years ago because it reached the point where I refused to play anymore. This situation will continue until, sooner or later, it gets the public attention necessary to bring about change. Until then, I offer my condolences to you, your workmates and your patient. I hope you all come out of this in good health.
Holy hell! I hereby retract all the griping I did today about my neighbors disturbing my sleep with their power tools. Glad everything turned out more or less ok.
Wow! I’m really glad to hear that everyone’s okay! The worst I’ve had was somebody hitting us in a parking lot. I wasn’t even in the ambulance at the time. My condolences about the AMR thing, too.
Nightsong given the choice, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the back of the ambulance. It’s pretty much impossible to both wear a seatbelt and work at the same time.
While I’m as amazed as everyone else, I’d like to point out that it’s amusing, in a very bad way, that you can get that picture on a mug/t-shirt/whatever, but the stickers show a person skiing. Thanks Kodak!
This is where we may have to agree to disagree. I have a hard time understanding how even a rank amateur would have a problem keeping the truck in its own lane. The OP is from Los Vegas, the highways around there are flat and straight. It is not like he was on a winding mountain road.
I do believe that is the first ambulance I have ever seen that wasn’t either white or yellow or both. Very strange to me!
I’m glad most of you are ok, and I hope your patient’s injuries aren’t too severe… she must be feeling like she has the worst luck in the world! At least you were there to keep taking care of her!
Yeah, maybe the old lady is cheating death like in that horror series Final Destination and you guys were just unlucky enough to be near her while the Grim Reaper was gunning away! :eek:
Those are some amazing pictures, I imagine it looked much worse from the inside out before it was cut open. I’m very very glad to hear you and the intern are both alright, even if you will be on oatmeal and soup for a while.
I wonder how her health/auto insurance will decide who pays what, hmm.
I like the options at the bottom of the page. Are you going to frame the photo, get a coffee mug with it, buy prints, or make stickers? I vote for the coffee mug.
I don’t have the photo of the truck handy, I’ll see if I can get it, but it ripped off the entire right side of the cab of the 18-wheeler. The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital by ambulance. I never spoke to the driver of the truck.
I later saw him at the trauma center. Again, I didn’t speak to him, but he appeared to be in “good” health.