Huron Expositor, 2006-06-21, Page 11News
Medical students discover accidents
likely to happen in Huron County
Jeff Heuchert
maiseum
The Huron Perth Healthcare
Alliance welcomed around 15 first-
year medical students from the
University of Western Ontario
recently, where they got a glimpse of
what their future might hold if they
find themselves working in Huron
County down the road.
As a year-end require-
ment, students must
participate in what is
called a Rural
Medicine Discovery
Week, and according
to Seaforth
Community Hospital
administrative assis-
tant Grace Dolmage,
the students .were
kept busy at the
Seaforth Community
Hospital.
"They got to shadow
with all of the
Seaforth physicians,
they put on a presen-
tation to students at
St. Anne's in Clinton
about the sort of med-
ical training they've
received up to this
point and they got to
sit in on a video con-
ference," she says.
Arid, according to
HPHA recruiter Gwen
Devereaux, that's not all they got to
do.
"They got to sit in on a surgery,
ride in an ambulance and travel
with doctors when they visited a
nursing home," she says.
In addition, the students were vis-
ited by David Lew, manager of
emergency medical services in
Huron County and Phil Oliver, who
is amidst his training to become an
advanced care paramedic.
The students were most curious to
learn what kinds of accidents both
Lew and Oliver had encountered in
this area, and what kinds of acci-
dents were most common.
Oliver recalled an incident when a
farmer in Clinton was
badly burned after an
explosion at a silo,
which brought him to
note another service
that is used in the-
county.
hecounty.
"He had really bad
burns on his face so we
decided to have the
patient helicoptered to
London," he said.
"A helicopter is a
good way to transport
someone. Especially if
they're m critical condi-
tion," he added.
"And, it keeps our
services available," he
pointed out.
Lew said being an
rural setting, Huron
County sees the regular
handling of heavy
equipment, which will
lend itself to more seri-
ous injuries.
"I've seen kids get run over by
tractors, people get their arms stuck
in hay balers and combines - and we
have to get people to come and try
and dismantle the equipment," he
said.
"These are the kinds of situations
you'll encounter in rural areas," he
'I've seen kids
get run over by
tractors,
people get
their arms
stuck in hay
balers and
combines - and
we have to get
people to come
and try to
dismantle the
equipment,' --
David Lew, Huron
County emergency
services manager
Wallace man
A 19 -year-old Wallace man
was airlifted to the London
Health Sciences Centre on
June 17 after a single vehicle
crash in Brussels at approxi-
mately 12:30 p.m.
A 1995 Dodge neon was
travelling into the driveway
of a private residence on Elm
Street Brussels.
The 19 -year-old passenger
was hanging out the car pas-
senger window when the dri-
ver, a 37 -year-old Cambridge
man, lost control of the car.
The car passed through a
barbed wire fence catching
the 19 -year-old by the arm
and upper torso pulling him
out of the vehicle as it trav-
elled past, causing serious
injuries.
The driver is charged with
The Huron Expositor • June 21, 2006 Page 11
added.
The two also explained to the stu-
dents, who were mostly from large
urban centres, that unlike what
they're used to, getting an emer-
gency unit to an accident quickly is
not always as simple as it should be.
"Our main challenge is not so
much the number of people we
cover, but making sure we have an
ambulance nearby," Oliver
explained.
He went on to say that in Huron
County, 13 vehicles are assigned for
medical services, which are based at
four main locations in Wingham,
Tuckersmith, Goderich and Exeter.
Lew explained the Huron County
area gets many visitors from urban
centres who come to spend the sum-
mer and expect the same kinds of
response times they would get back
home.
Lew said that to better reach
every corner of their coverage area
they've added three posts, which
each house an additional ambu-
lance.
They are located in Ashfield,
Brussels and Bayfield.
"Before we had
those posts our
response time to
a life threatening
call was 18 min-
utes and 38 sec-
onds," said Lew.
"Since re-
deploying our
assets, we've
brought down
our response
time to 16 min-
utes and two sec-
onds," he added.
injured in Brussels car crash
one count of impaired opera-
tion of a vehicle causing bodi-
ly harm and one cout of dri-
ving with over 80 milligrams
of alcohol in his blood.
He is scheduled to appear
in court in Goderich on July
17.
Clinton man dies
in farm accident
A Clinton -area man died last
week after a 900 -pound hay
bale fell from a flatbed trailer.
Huron OPP were called
to Nott's Farm, east of
Clinton, on June 13.
According to the offi-
cer's report, a flatbed
trailer of hay bales was
being unloaded with a
front-end loader when a
bale fell, striking R.R. 4
Clinton resident Wayne
Layton, 57.
Layton was taken to
Clinton Public Hospital and
then transferred to the
London Health Sciences
Centre's critical care trauma
unit .
He succumbed to his
injuries on June 14.
The Ontario Farm Safety
Association has been notified
regarding the incident.
What's
coming
to
Seaforth?
Watch for
details.
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