Editor’s note: What was your best team save? With EMS Week 2013 approaching — and its theme of “EMS: One Mission. One Team.” — we want to hear about your TEAMSTRONG moment. Submit your story on when teamwork saved the day on EMS1 or on the EMS1 Facebook page by May 14 and you’ll have the chance to win some cool prizes. Need inspiration? Check out my story below — and then tell us about the moment your team came together to save or change a life.
At the northwest corner of San Francisco are cliffs that fall into the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful as they are, they are deceiving in terms of their height and descent.
Folks who are unfamiliar with the terrain often try to climb down the cliffs to the beach, only to get stuck — or fall.
One winter’s night this occurred to a pair of young men. They were trying to make it down the cliffside to a spot on the beach below.
About halfway down, it became evident that at least one lost his footing. We never found out if the other man tried to save his friend but both fell about 50 feet, crashing against the side of the cliff as they fell.
The rescue team consisted of the fire department cliff rescue team, the US Coast Guard boat and helicopter units and EMS, of which I was a member.
It was crazy poor conditions — dark, wet from recent rain and cold. Several of us took a trail down to the part of the beach where the victims had fallen. It took nearly 20 minutes to reach the victims.
One was face down in the sand, the other in a crumpled heap against a rock. It appeared that both experienced head injuries; one was already posturing and hyperventilating from the effect of increased intracranial pressure. The other appeared to be in better shape, but was unconscious.
We got to work. It was immediately evident that extrication was going to be by helicopter; the ocean’s choppy breaking waves, along with near-blackout conditions made boat rescue too unsafe, and the climb back up the trail would take too long.
EMS began on-scene care while the vertical rescue crew prepared for a “long line” rescue by the USCG helicopter. Communications were constant between the different crews.
Each of us had a specific task to perform, and they had to be in concert with each other.
Every few minutes, one of us would touch base with the other team members to make sure the scene remained safe and that we were moving in a forward direction. We knew that our patients’ outcomes were dependent on our success.
It took more two hours to complete this mission; it took additional time to empty all of the wet, sticky sand out of gear, uniforms and boots.
I remember how exhausted, yet elated we all felt after the incident was over. Lots of handshakes and back slaps went around; then as quickly as we came together, each crew went back in service and left the scene.
While one patient succumbed to his injuries, the other survived, based on the hard work done by the two dozen personnel that night.
Although I will never remember who all of the other team members were, the fact that we were able to assemble, coordinate and execute a difficult rescue while on the run is something that I’m especially proud of.
