When stuff goes wrong, it's amazing to see qualified people step up. The first response at the accident scene was amazing. Two EMTs stepped forward, one Nick took control, his buddy providing support. The questioning ensued to assessed the nature and extent of injury and whether there was any head injury involved and whether he could be moved. Bill was on the wrong side of the river.When it was determined that he could be moved, he was shuttled over safely in an inflatable. Other people took control of gear and boats left behing by those taking care of Bill. Bill was pretty mobile while his own adrenaline was still pumping, but during the wait for the ambulance it started to subside and you could see the pain taking over. The EMTs stuck around to report to the search and rescue and then local authorities took control until Bill could be transported to an appropriate site large enough for a chopper to land. He had to pretty much get himself into the chopper, the pain of which would have been overwhelming, but for the morphine the ambulance guys administered. Plus they had him on oxygen because they weren't sure of the extent of lung damage. We hoped they would take him to Ogdensburg but the closest trauma centre was Syracuse. No less than three physicians, neuro, orthopaedic, and (I forget who else - it was almost 3 a.m. by this time) checked out our friend.
I think the only reason he was able to go home is that one of the doctor's cleared Bill to be discharged. Dr. Berube was from the LaChute area and did a bit of whitewater paddling and Larry even showed him some video of the Beaver. Dr. Berube questioned all of us for a bit, knew where Ottawa was, knew how far the drive home was and then asked Bill if he wanted to get out there that night. Bill said that would be his preference and the good doc said he would give Bill some pain medication for a couple of days and that would enable him to endure the ride home. Dr. Berube needed two other docs to sign off and two others came in to see him as well. Once we were in emerg at SUNY it was clear that he had been sent somewhere that had the resources and the professionals to do what was necessary. One of the Doctors definitely did not want him leaving. It was touch and go and when the drugs hit we didn't think Bill could make it out of there on his own steam. Larry called me over and said he didn't want to risk it and I was fine with that as long as Bill understood we would be leaving him there. There was good reason to leave him in a medical facility where he could receive qualified medical attention, instead of sticking him a station wagon with a burnt out headlight pumped up with narcotics, with two other guys with no medical training, not in their own country, never having been in Syracuse at 3 a.m. in the morning trying to find an open gas station before hitting the interstate.
We were about to leave under medical supervision and figure out some way to retrieve him in a couple of days and he said, "Let's give it one more try."
As you can tell from Larry's post, we all got home.
Lesson #1 - When you go across the Border, make sure you have travel medical insurance! This would have been a very different story if he didn't have it.
Lesson #2 - Paddle with friends. It's good to be with friends during the good times and even more so when the #@(! hits the fan!
Lesson #3 - I'm seriously thinking that if I'm going to keep paddling this stuff there might not always be EMTs around and getting some good first response training seems like a dam good idea right about now.
