Medical calls make up the majority of contacts with the public for emergency responders. Technical rescue calls make up a much smaller segment of emergency response. While the response numbers are at opposite ends of the response spectrum, they are invariably tied together.
Wellsville Volunteer Ambulance Corps takes the concept of self-sufficiency seriously. Located in rural western New York, 15 miles north of the Pennsylvania border, they are remote, but they know how to get things done.
In early August 2024, Wellsville was hosting Roco Rescue and Roco Chief Instructor Bob Kauer for four days of Rope Rescue and Confined Space training. At 4PM on the second day of class, EMS was dispatched for a man down in a residence. That call triggered a multi-faceted response as responders quickly learned that a 600-lb. man had been down on the floor since 9:30 the previous night. The race was on to get the patient in respiratory distress to definitive care.
While EMS responders started patient care, students from the Roco class quickly broke down rescue gear and loaded on to response vehicles. This included Roco Instructor Kauer who was happy to lend his experience and training to the response.
The first obstacle was getting the patient off the floor. He was unable to assist rescuers who were now faced with lifting the 600-lb. man. A stokes basket was brought into the living room where the man was located. A group of ten rescuers was able to slide four sheets under the patient, and a couple of additional pieces of webbing were positioned for better handling of the patient. The man was then lifted into the basket stretcher.
While responders were moving the man into the basket, rescuers were working to build a system to move the patient to the waiting ambulance. Chainsaws were fired up and the front door was rapidly converted to a garage door to make room. A support beam for the porch had to be removed, requiring rescuers to place spot shores under the porch to provide for patient and rescuer safety during the move. Ramps were built using plywood and 4” x 4” lumber to remove the stairs from the equation.
Meanwhile, outside the house, rescuers, including Chief Kauer, established an elevated anchor on a large tree. A CMC Clutch by Harken became the progress capture device in a 5:1 horizontal mechanical advantage system. Quickly extended into the residence, the system was attached to the top of the stokes basket and tensioned. The haul team began to move the patient in the stokes basket across the floor and the emergency ramp system they had constructed, which allowed the victim to slide straight onto the gurney.
The patient was loaded into the ambulance and delivered to the hospital for definitive care in less than an hour, which was excellent.
Roco extends our congratulations to Wellsville (NY) Volunteer Ambulance Corps for a well planned and executed rescue. Good job!!