Tragedy and Squad 41

Surprisingly (or maybe not so much), I've had a number of people call me to talk about the tragic accident that occurred last night in a rural area not horribly far from here. My mother-in-law read about before I did and was afraid to tell me about because she was afraid that I would be "too upset to go out to the fair"...

Here's how I feel about it, for what it's worth.

A horrible horrible horrible accident. I'm broken hearted over it.

A husband and wife involved in a MVC being transported with whiplash injuries.

Three EMT's (Paramedic's, whatever, what does a certification mean at this point?) are dead. One is a young wife, my age in fact, and mother of five. Her husband, also a member of the service, and was in the squad. He and the driver of the truck were the only survivors. A Veteran of the service who "rarely missed an ambulance or fire run", a young woman who had just recently joined the service, a 2000 graduate of Antwerp Local High School.

All of them... gone.

“They were all just fantastic people. None of them would ever give up the chance to get in the EMS and help out, and they died doing it"

Antwerp is a tiny community, about 1600 people. What an awful blow to this town.

This really hit home for me, and my family. My mother is now completely frantic about the fact that I "ride around in the back of an ambulance with no seatbelt on". I really didn't know what to tell her at this point. I DO wear a belt for long transports, it's just habit. I ALWAYS wear one when I'm in the front of the sqaud, as a driver or a passenger. That being said, when I'm doing patient care in the back it's not always possible to be belted in. And unfortunately in this case, I'm not sure how much it would have helped.

There are a lot of dangers involved in this job. Some of them involve situations that we don't perceive as threatening because that's just how we work. I don't know many EMT's who wear a belt in back. I just don't know what to say, it's all so sad.

We all need to be more careful on the road. And I know that the next time I'm in the back of a squad I'll definitely be more likely than not to have a belt on.

Please be careful out there.