4/21/09: Clinicals have started early…

We just completed Advanced Cardiac Life Support class and were released at noon. A classmate and I take full advantage of this and head out to Tillamook State Forest to enjoy an afternoon of mountain biking. We are at the end of the ride about 1 minute from my car when a guy on a dirt bike asks the classic question that either pumps you full of adrenaline or strikes fear in your heart: “do you know first aid?” We found his riding buddy on the trail about a ¼ mile away. Un-witnessed crash from his motorized dirt bike wearing a helmet. Unresponsive, even to pain, with gross amounts of blood coming from the mouth, nose, and ears. Gurgling respirations at 30/min, and heart rate at 80/min. Obvious abdominal injury, and thigh injury, with clear signs of a massive head injury. My classmate and I controlled the airway and took spinal precautions as best we could, and with the help of a prison crew that just happen to be nearby, carried the patient to the trail head on a folding cot. The ambulance arrived, intubated the patient, and whisked him off to the waiting helicopter.