Office Observations and Lessons in Physics

Evening Surfriders , People always ask me about stuff I see as a Paramedic , they think we always go to crazy car wrecks . The truth is , as I do work in Wilmington I do respond to a bunch of accidents { Wilmington is the most dangerous place to drive in N.C.}, most are pretty routine with few serious injuries . Yesterday I responded to this tractor trailer vs. pick up truck over by the battleship , the driver was in critical condition and the extreme forces displaced through the pick up were impressive. The driver of the pick up made a unfortunate decision and pulled out to make a left turn and was struck in the driver door by the tractor trailer coming down the bridge toward the battleship .There was no impact to the passenger side of the vehicle in the picture , this was damage from the force of the impact to the driver door as it tore the bed off the frame . There was 3 feet of intrusion into the driver compartment as it tore the seat of its mounts and drove him through the center console , ***but his seat belt did not fail and kept him from being ejected*** . I was first on scene , we had a 6 minute on scene time as we only had to perform minimal cutting as he was displaced into the passenger seat and hanging partially out the door . We had a 7 minute transport time to New Hanover Regional Medical Center , in which patient received all the bells and whistles ,{ 2 large bore IV's, intubation , and ALS trauma protocol . My coworkers are awesome , we can flat out make some shit happen in 13 minutes. The patient was alive this morning in ICU , severe internal injures . It goes back to those early days , " look both ways when crossing the street " and wear your seat belt . Tomorrow is not guaranteed , take your time and arrive alive . , Zog

P.S. - If your into short term , high stress assignments , we're looking for some help : )