By Steven Elbow
The Capital Times
Copyright 2008 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
MADISON, Wisc. — Snowplows and emergency vehicles teamed up during Wednesday’s blizzard to get a seriously injured young girl to St. Mary’s Hospital.
Fire Department spokeswoman Lori Wirth said that shortly after 6:30 p.m., Dane County 911 dispatchers got a call about an 8-year-old girl who had suffered a critical injury on the city’s east side. The quick-thinking dispatcher not only called for an ambulance, but also for city snowplows, which led the ambulance to the hospital.
The move came after numerous emergency calls during the snowstorm resulted in ambulances and fire engines getting mired in the snow. Wirth said the department handled 26 emergency calls between 4:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
“If there was a hill, they’d have to park at the bottom of the hill, go up and get the patient and bring them down to the ambulance,” she said.
But the call for a patient in critical condition prompted the dispatcher to call for a city snowplow.
“They went in front of the ambulance all the way to the hospital - and this was the far east side,” Wirth said.
Because of confidentiality rules, she could not divulge the nature of the girl’s injuries. She said the girl was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.
TOO MUCH DOPE?: Police say a Madison man who called for emergency help Wednesday after smoking marijuana and taking allergy medication tried to drive himself to the hospital - in a stolen ambulance.
According to a Madison Police news release, Michael C. Gilson, 26, called the ambulance to his West Gorham Street apartment about 6 p.m. for a possible drug overdose. Paramedics arrived but couldn’t find Gilson. The emergency workers returned to the parking lot in back of the building to find Gilson behind the wheel of the ambulance trying to drive off, but the ambulance got stuck in the snow.
An officer who arrived to arrest Gilson noted that his eyes were red and his speech slurred, the release said, adding that Gilson explained that he had been smoking dope and had taken a lot of allergy medicine and felt he needed medical attention.
Gilson was arrested on tentative charges of driving a stolen vehicle, driving while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.