The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUKESHA, Wis. — The Flight for Life-Waukesha/Milwaukee Base presented its 17th Annual Scene Call of the Year Award for 2010 to the City of Waukesha Fire Department on Tuesday.
The event took place during the regular meeting of the City of Waukesha Common Council, held at the Waukesha City Hall. Mayor Jeff Scrima, department directors and city council members were in attendance, as well as representatives from agencies that assisted with this call:City of Waukesha Dispatch Center, City of Waukesha Police Department, Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, and Flight for Life.
On an early spring morning in May, 2010, the City of Waukesha Fire Department was dispatched to the location of a three-vehicle collision at a busy intersection.
Based on the description of the scene, BC Joe Vitale, while en route to the crash, placed Flight for Air transportation provided by Air Methods Life on standby.
Upon arrival, fire department personnel found three victims, two identified as having potentially serious injuries and one patient with minor injuries. Flight for Life had launched in response, and was confirmed to be needed to assist with patient care and transport to a Level 1 Trauma Center. Fire department and law enforcement personnel identified a secure landing area for the aircraft, and followed established procedures to ensure safe operations.
Extrication and stabilization of the patients was initiated, and the most critical patient — unresponsive and suspected to have life-threatening multisystem traumatic injuries — was triaged for air medical transfer.
After extraordinary resuscitative efforts, this very ill patient was able to be placed in the helicopter and flown to Froedtert Hospital, where emergency and trauma surgery teams had been alerted and were waiting to receive him. In nothing short of a little miracle, several days later the flight crew discovered that this patient survived his injuries and did very well, ultimately being discharged home.
The award applications were evaluated by a panel of judges based on guidelines established by the American College of Surgeons — and supported by the Center for Disease Control — for utilization of air medical transport and transfer to an appropriate trauma center. The submissions were also reviewed for the following: scene safety, patient triage and treatment decisions, integration of the helicopter into the call, and overall incident scene management and interagency teamwork.
The call that the City of Waukesha Fire Department responded to that day highlights the outstanding collaborative partnership that exists among dispatch centers, EMS, fire departments, law enforcement, hospitals, and air medical services as they work together to provide patients the best opportunity for a positive outcome.
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