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Home  News Latest PMC shines in crisis
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Wednesday, 25 July 2007 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
 TUESDAY WRECKS – (Top) This 1955 Rambler apparently blew a tire while traveling north on I-15 just past the Ledger overpass. The driver lost control and the vehicle rolled into a ditch along side the highway. (Bottom) This late model Ford Tarus was headed north on I-15 when the driver lost control of her car. It went into the center median and rolled ending on up its roof in the southbound lane of I-15. This accident took place at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, just past the Midway Road overpass. The vehicle was from Jefferson (Boulder) County and had a mother and baby in the car. The MedAlert Flight (fixed wing aircraft) was called in for the mother. The baby had minor injuries. I-O Photos by Buck Traxler
Long about 8:15 p.m. that all changed, when all hell seemed to break loose. Emergency vehicles were screaming into town, escorted by city and sheriff’s vehicles with sirens wailing, and what seemed like all sorts of aircraft filling our air space.
A vintage Rambler with four passengers from Great Falls had crashed and rolled just north of the Ledger overpass on I-15. On top of that, minutes later, another vehicle also shattered the evening when the driver lost control while traveling in the north bound lane of I-15 near the Midway Road overpass.
It came through the center medium and rolled, landing on its roof in the southbound lane of I-15. The Ford Tarus carried a mother and baby.
In the blink of an eye, six victims of two separate accidents were making their destination the Pondera Medical Center. Injuries ranged from minor to critical.
In a heartbeat, years of training and going through simulated disaster drills were becoming a virtual test of reality.
Ruth Erickson, director of the ambulance service said that seven first responders and two emergency vehicles went out on the initial calls.
“We were humming and buzzing,” she said, making first team assessments as to who went first to the PMC. “We loaded the critical ones up and got them into town.” Once there, ambulance crewmembers stayed with that patient doing what ever was need to assist.
Dr. Jay Taylor set up the triage, a system of sorting and allocation of treatment to patients according to a priority designated to maximize the number of survivors.
Director of Nursing Vicki Newmiller, who lives out of town, was notified of the crisis and immediately began an emergency nurse call-in, a calling tree if you will, before she sped back to the hospital. ”We had two (patients) in the ER (emergency room), one patient in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and one in a treatment room,” she said.
The Mercy Flight as well as the MedAlert (fixed wing aircraft) was called. In addition two advanced support ambulances from Cut Bank came down to help. One was released to return.
“Our goal in a disaster like this is to stabilize the victims,” Newmiller noted. Patients were as ready as possible for transport to Great Falls for further treatment and surgery procedures.
And while this flurry of activity is going on, there are still patients in rooms in the acute care wing that need to be monitored.
On a side note, the second accident was called in by OnStar.
Based on wireless technology, OnStar uses GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite technology that measures how long it takes a radio signal from a satellite to reach a vehicle, and then calculates distance using that time to get an accurate vehicle location. Keith Thaut at Van Motors (OnStar is available to GM vehicles only) commented, “This is real-time, personal help, 24/7-365 days a year. It just shows what a life-saver it can be.”
Working like the precision of a fine timepiece, it is a testament to the professionalism of the entire staff at the PMC that this crisis was handled without a glitch.
As Newmiller noted, this is why, “We have disaster drills, to prepare for emergencies like this.”
Tuesday night was not a TV show, it was human drama and reality handled with compassion and professionalism.
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