Life in the air rescue business is highly unpredictable. You can spend many hours idling away the time in an obscure, basement office. But when an emergency call comes, you literally don’t have a second to grab a pen on the way out the door.
So it was on one November day, when I did a ride-along with Stanford’s illustrious Life Flight air ambulance service, the oldest in California. The team graciously agreed to let me accompany them on a flight for a story for Stanford Medicine magazine, whose current issue is focused on the role of time in medicine. Life Flight, I figured, would give me a sense of the split-second timing that can sometimes make a difference between life and death in an emergency situation. I was scheduled to fly with the crew in late October, but instead I spent that day learning about the service in what proved to be a leisurely day with no calls.
On my second ride-along day, it appeared that history was about to repeat itself when, just as my shift was about to end, the emergency call came in at 3:39 p.m. I became an eye witness to the rescue of a toddler who suffered a serious head injury when a heavy, ill-secured cabinet at her preschool crashed down on her head during naptime. The story was so dramatic that it made the local news. The school was shut down several days later by local officials because of code violations.
Things could have gone poorly for little Aeshna, the 3-year-old victim of the accident, who was left dazed, not fully conscious and vomiting as a result of her injury – clear signs of head trauma. She could have suffered significant bleeding in the brain and permanent brain damage – a prospect that was a major concern for her parents and caregivers.
The two Life Flight nurses, who have a breathtaking array of skills, and their veteran U.S. Navy pilot made it to the scene at the Fremont, Ca. preschool across the bay within 23 minutes of the call and were able to bring Aeshna back to Stanford for quick assessment and treatment.
You can read the minute-by-minute scenario of Aeshna’s rescue in the the magazine, which came out last week.
Previously: Stanford Medicine magazine reports on time’s intersection with health, Comparing the cost-effectiveness of helicopter transport and ambulances for trauma victims, Stanford Life Flight celebrates 30 years and Ask Stanford Med: Answers to your questions about wildnerness medicine
Illustration by Lincoln Agnew
