Portland neurosurgeon on way to Seattle aids victims at scene of Amtrak derailment. Inspiring.
Something inspiring. This neurosurgeon just happened to be close to the scene and was able to help:
On the way to a shopping trip in Seattle, a Portland neurosurgeon helped two dozen people -- as young as a baby and up into their 80s -- involved in the Amtrak derailment Monday morning that killed at least three people south of Seattle.
Dr. Nate Selden, chair of neurological surgery, and director of the neurological surgery residency program at Oregon Health & Science University, was driving to Seattle from Portland on Monday morning with his 18-year-old son. The two were several miles south of the derailment in Washington when the incident happened.
When traffic slowed, they looked on their phones trying to figure out what was happening. Selden said they knew something was very wrong when his son noticed there was no traffic heading south. "In the last few minutes before we got there we saw dozens upon dozens of first responders," Seldon said over the phone Monday.
When they arrived at the scene, around 8 a.m., Selden said he and his son were two of hundreds trying to help survivors.
"These train cars were just littered across the highway," Selden said. Quickly, he began helping first responders already on the scene triage victims. "They didn't have tents up yet. They set the tents up around us as we were working."
Selden worked with EMTs, firefighters and other medical professionals who had happened upon the scene to do first aid and assess the status of each victim. One of the people he was working alongside was a nurse from a small local hospital. While they were triaging victims, he said the nurse was called into work to help with the influx of patients from the accident. He said she told the hospital she was on the scene already and kept working.
Selden said he saw around 25 people in the just over two hours that he was working at the scene. While most of the people on the train seemed to be business travelers, he said the youngest patient he saw was an infant that had been thrown from its mother's arm during the first impact of the derailment.
"Dad caught them before the second impact," he said. "This little infant appeared completely unharmed," Selden continued, calling that incident "one few moments of joy in that devastating scene."
snip
Selden said that while he has always respected first responders, he was amazed at how quickly and professionally they worked on such a devastating scene.
"I certainly have additional respect after seeing them in the field today," he said.
"We should be very grateful as citizens," he added, "that they are there, ready to go."
More at link:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/12/portland_neurosurgeon_triages.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
