Chapter 1 Continued

"Careflight One to Dispatch" I call out as we cross over the scene on our way to the makeshift landing zone.

"Dispatch"

"On Scene and on the ground" I call as Jeremy sets our helicopter on the ground. I wait for Jeff to signal that it is ok to exit the aircraft before heading out to the car to see what is going on. Lily and Becca quickly follow me over to the car so that we can see what is going on. I am amazed that anyone survived this wreck as the vehicle is mangled beyond recognition. I quickly find Mike and start talking to him. We discuss the patient as the engine and rescue crews work to free the young girl from the destruction that she is currently trapped inside. I try to stand in a position that I can see the patient and talk to Chris at the same time.

"Hey where is the driver?" Becca asks.

"He is in the back of Medic 92. From all looks of it he only has a few scratches compared to his other friends. He is also quite out of it at the moment and lawyering up already." Chris replies.

"ETOH?"

Chris starts laughing. "Um he smells like a brewery."

"Great"

"Hey Chris, you guys might want to get over here, she is looking a little pale." calls out one of the rescue techs.

Chris and I rush over to the side of the vehicle and I see that she is starting to go into shock. Lets get her on a board and into the back of a truck so that we can get the processes started. We quickly get her strapped to a backboard and lift her onto the stretcher that we brought from our helicopter. We move rapidly to the back of one of the medics and quickly work to do a primary survey. Becca and Lily work on checking out what kind of injuries our patient has while I start an iv and talk with her.

"Hi My name is Michael and I am a flight paramedic with Careflight. Can you tell me your name?"

"My name is Maria, and can you tell me how my friends are doing?"

"Maria, I am not sure, We just got here and my main concern is taking care of you right now, can you tell me what happened tonight?"

"The last thing I remember was telling my what is going to be former boyfriend Jeff to slow down. After that I am not really sure until the guy standing next to you started talking to me. I realize that I was in some kind of accident but I can't tell you what happened."

"That's ok. I am going to explain to you what is going on right now. My two co-workers Lily and Becca are getting you ready for a ride to the hospital. Because of time that it took to get you out of the car, you are going to ride with us in the helicopter. I am going to start an IV in this arm to give you some medicines. Hey Chris, can you get a blood pressure for me?"

Chris quickly gets a blood pressure as I hook up our heart monitor to Maria, as I am hooking her up, I look at Becca who makes the signal that we need to get moving.

"Chris, do you need us to take anyone else?"

"Yeah, the other female in the car needs to go with you guys.

"Lily can you go with Chris to do a quick eval. Becca and I are going to Load Maria and we will wait for you at the helicopter."

Becca and I pull Maria's stretcher out of the back of the ambulance and start for our helicopter. We quickly load her into our aircraft and get her situated. I provide her with a pair of headphones so that she can hear us and talk to us. I am talking with Maria as I listen to Becca talk to Lily on the portable radios.

"Michael, I am scared. I have never been in a helicopter before."

"Becca, it is ok to be scared. We are going to take great care of you and get you to the hospital in one piece." I look up at Becca who is motioning me to listen to the portable."

"Hey, I think that we aren't going to be able to take both of these patients on the helicopter. I am going to go with the ambulance to Crescent with her where we can get her stabilized and then transport her to SVRTC. She is not looking very good at all." radios Lily. "I am going to come grab our second nurses bag and ride with them."

I look outside our helicopter and see Lily hop our of the ambulance and start high tailing it over to our aircraft. She shakes her head and grabs the nurses kit and waves as she turns to head back to the ambulance.

Jeff looks at Becca and I and shrugs and starts to get the aircraft back to flying mode.

"Careflight One to SVRTC." I call over the medicom radio.

"Valley go ahead."

"Careflight One on Medicom 1 enroute to your facility with a 19 year old female. Patient has bilateral repeat bilateral femur fractures, and a broken wrist. Patient was restrained front seat passenger in a SUV that was struck by a semi. Patients vitals are as follows Sinus tach at 118. BP 140/99, respirations 18, pulse ox 98 % on 2l. Patient has 2 16 guage IV's running wide open. We have given 4 of morphine for pain control at this time. We expect to be at SVRTC in 20 minutes. We are requesting a trauma activation at this time. No orders requested at this time."

"Valley copies. Trauma one on arrival. Please advise when five minutes out. Call with any changes enroute."

"Careflight One."

Jeff has already gotten us on our way to SVRTC and let our dispatch know that we are headed for SVRTC without one of our nurses.

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tbc