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Tenn. EMS crew aids critical crash scene en route to separate call

While heading to pick up a patient, the EMS crew discovered the crash while traveling in an ambulance after their helicopter was grounded due to bad weather

By EMS1 Staff

HICKMAN COUNTY, Tenn. — EMS providers in a critical care ambulance happened upon a serious crash scene and aided injured patients after their air ambulance was grounded by bad weather.

The Vanderbilt LifeFlight crew was scheduled to fly an air ambulance to another county to pick up a sick patient, but poor weather conditions forced them to travel in a ground unit instead, according to WKRN.

While on the highway en route to the patient Saturday night, they came across a man waving for help on the side of the road, where they discovered a vehicle crash scene and two injured patients.

“Minutes did matter in this situation and our team was in the right place at the right time,” said Michael Wallace, director of the LifeFlight Ground Transport Program.

The EMS personnel also happened to be driving a new Critical Care Transport Unit that enabled them to provide advanced care at the scene. One of the patients was critically injured and transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center.

“The odds of our teams coming upon a situation like this in the middle of the night in bad weather conditions is extremely rare. It was a miracle,” Wallace said.

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