A little too real safety reminder
I know people are always saying to be safe but this week really got the point across to me. I came ripping down a hill at Murphy, a great park near my house, earlier this week and passed a guy sitting on the ground slightly off the trail. I yelled back asking if he was okay and received an odd beckoning wave. I skied back to him and found that he was on the phone. This seemed a little odd until I realized he was talking to a 911 operator and trying to describe where he was. I was immediate extremely glad I had stopped, since I had only seen one other car in the parking lot, and started to try to figure out what I could do to help. He appeared mostly okay and described how he had caught his edge coming down the hill and slammed his leg into a tree. The 911 operators wanted to talk to me so I got on the phone to describe the man’s condition. Apparently with the adrenaline fading and a little pressure off the man knowing things were going to be taken care of his eyes rolled back and he promptly passed out. I was yelling the man’s name and receiving absolutely no response. I knew there was a house through the woods about a half-kilometer back so I tried to convince the operator this would be the best way to get to us since we were 25 min out on a 50 min loop. Unfortunately, she had no idea what house that might be or where we were and did not what me to leave the man to get the address. This meant the paramedic would have to navigate the long ski trail and would be a while. Luckily the man regained consciousness after a long minute and said he thought he had just gone into shock. He seemed stable enough now that the 911 operator let me go and find the house I had seen. A confused lady open the door at the second house I tried, wrote down her address and then called 911 herself at my suggestion. After returning to check on the man I returned to the house and lead some firefighter and a paramedic a ways through the woods and then down the ski trails. I have to admit they seemed a little out of their element tromping through the woods in deep snow. The man had to be carried on a board all the way out of the woods and it took us a while given the snow, brush and what not. The paramedic seemed confident that he would be okay so I returned to my skis to complete my ski with a drastically altered perspective on safety.
I have learned a few very important lessons.
1. It is possible to get seriously hurt cross-country skiing.
2. Always stop and ask people if they are okay.
3. Carry a cell phone. Luckily he had one because I definitely did not.
Heidi Henkel 2:10 am on February 1, 2010 Permalink |
I had a situation last winter in which I was the injured one. I was about 20 minutes of easy skiing away from my car on a very easy, mostly flat community ski trail in a park, one I had skied the day before with a six-year-old at her father’s request. I lost my balance because one of my skis was slower than the other going down a small hill. I decided to “fall” on my butt rather than flail into the woods trying to “save it,” thinking that a sit-down-on-the-trail fall was safer. Well, just under the snow where I sat down, there was a very large, very sharp branch, and it went into the back of my right leg and made a big puncture hole. My leg instantly went numb. I dealt with shock, skiing out with a not very functional leg, getting a ride to the ER (thanks to someone stopping to see if I was OK), massive bleeding, surgery, drugs, systemic infection, more drugs, blood clot which was probably caused primarily by the infection…3 months of one life threatening thing after another. PT involving things like getting the hamstring to contract normally, getting the leg to move normally, getting the muscle fibers to line up normally. 8.5 months of PT. Well I am skiing again, but now I know any stupid thing can happen, even skiing easy on a very easy trail.
I also have had an experience in which I saw 2 skiers collide and I went and asked the one who did not get up right away, if she was OK. Her hip hurt. She wanted to get up and keep skiing, but I convinced her to accept some medical intervention, including a ride in a first-aid sled and an X ray. It turned out she had a femur fracture- it was good that she did not get up and keep skiing.
Yeah, always stop to ask if people are OK. And I definitely give safety more thought than I used to. I guess I learned that stuff does happen, safety is a real thing to take into consideration. And I have a much greater appreciation for simple things like being alive and being in good health.