Longmont Train Accident, as paged

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jimmnn

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Initial reports are that four people trying to jump on train - it ran over a 17yo girl severing both of her legs.

She has been flown to Denver Health via Medevac-2.

O/F 154.175, DTRS, Online

Jim<
 

nathancarlson

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I am glad that they blocked out the callers number on the 9-1-1 recording! My Brother In Law had his number and address in the audio from the 9-1-1 call when their was a stabbing at his neighbors house, and he got flooded with media calls! Thanks for finding that link! It is always neat to hear the audio when its available, and compare it to what I hear on the scanner. Their were some details that I wish would have made it to the air to make it easier for the rescue personell to find the victim, but I can understand the stress and the adrenaline pumping when an incident like this happens. It was an interesting event to monitor.

I just did not know what Railroad Freq. to monitor. The only one that I have in my scanner is 161.145 and its usually locked out. Also, a Longmont Police Officer was asking if he needed to coordinate with a "law enforcement official" from the railroad. Who might that be? Thanks
 

soundchaser

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I just did not know what Railroad Freq. to monitor. The only one that I have in my scanner is 161.145 and its usually locked out. Also, a Longmont Police Officer was asking if he needed to coordinate with a "law enforcement official" from the railroad. Who might that be? Thanks

161.160 is the freq for that section of railroad. A nice diagram showing the mile posts and sidings is here:
http://www.railroadradio.net/content/view/182/220/
 

nathancarlson

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Thanks! I have always monitored PS and ham, and am starting to look into aircraft and railroad! That looks like a great starting point!
 

poltergeisty

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wtnfs

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Current research shows that Tourniquets are not as bad as everyone thought. One good thing to come out of Iraq and A-Stan is the medical knowledge that has been gained in trauma care and even more important is that we are remembering it.

Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support and the National Registry of EMT's both now have the same recommendation - Direct pressure then tourniquet for uncontrolled extremity bleeding. No more pressure points or elevation. It is possible to bleed out from femoral wound in less than 5 minutes and in some cases all it takes is 2-4 minutes (depending on the your heart rate). You need to get the tourniquet on fast while the patient still has a good blood pressure so your application time is further decreased down to 1-2 minutes and if you waste time with pressure points or elevation it may be too late to apply a tourniquet effectively.

Tourniquets have been left on patients in Iraq and A-Stan for 6 hours with no neurologic or tissue damage. You are not going to lose your arm or leg from a tourniquet. If you have ever had hand surgery the doc uses a tourniquet to stop the bleeding so he/she can operate. The big problem is you must use a correct tourniquet, no boy scout tourniquets here. The best tourniquets are the Combat Application Tourniquet (CAT) or the Special Operations Force Tourniquet Wide (SOF-T Wide). These work and have saved many lives in combat and just as civilian EMS picked up using helicopters from Korea and Vietnam they are slowly picking up the current military methods for hemorrhage control and more.

There are some EMS agencies in the Denver area that are using them now and they are in Denver Metro Protocols. There is a ton of research available and if anyone wants it PM me and I will make it available.

In this case it is hard to make the call not seeing the wound, but a tourniquet would have been more than appropriate in this case, if the hemorrhage was not controlled with direct pressure and it is a correct tourniquet.
 

krokus

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Add my vote for the CAT. I learned about them with my military "self-aid and buddy care" class, and have purchased a few for my personal kit.

Sadly, I will be risking my medical license if I use them, as they do not fall inline with my county's medical protocol. Hopefully that will change, soon.
 

krokus

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Back to why to not apply a tourniquet: I haven't read the article yet, but the legs might be severed high enough, that there isn't room for one.
 

04Z1V6

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Well said this is not only about killing a limb but also about return blood flow from the extremity that is involved. If placed for to long of a time and not release and replaced you could case damage to major organs that will absorb the chemicals etc that build up and then are released. In a total amputation and I have seen this it can be very easy to control major bleeding in other ways. In a city were hospitals and transport times are so close you would probably not have a problem with a tourniquet, stopping a big time bleed is more important at that point.
 

04Z1V6

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Back to why to not apply a tourniquet: I haven't read the article yet, but the legs might be severed high enough, that there isn't room for one.

Then you had better know were the pressure points are for that limb in the pelvic area are.
 

wtnfs

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Then you had better know were the pressure points are for that limb in the pelvic area are.

You need at apply the TQ at least 2 inches above the wound, with an amputation I would try to go even higher. From the 911 call it sounds like the Left leg could have had a TQ placed (amputated at the knee), but the Right leg may have been to high of an amputation to effectively place a TQ.

This is what Hemostatic Agents were developed/improved for. Cpl. Jamie Smith who died in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu (Blackhawk Down) died from a high femoral artery injury, too high for a tourniquet. Currently Combat Gauze is the best Hemostatic Agent available on the market and the only one the military uses. It is not exothermic, it is easy to debris the wound, and it saves lives.

Just as important is learning proper wound packing techniques. If you have a GSW to the thigh and the femoral artery is severed, direct pressure alone will probably not do the trick, there is just too much muscle mass for the average person to compress and stop/control a severe hemorrhage. If you have good wound packing techniques you can stop a femoral bleed with standard gauze.

As a far as TQ time, if you put one on, you leave it one until they have arrived at the hospital. There are a few caveats to this but for 99.9% of the time it stays on until they get to the hospital and the docs can prepare for and treat the acidosis. Acidosis can be treated (you have time to treat this), severe blood loss cannot (you do not have time to treat this).
 
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