AFD at Blarney Blowout trying to get to a patient on Fearing Street
Not that I needed a graphic reminder or anything, but the compassionate professional and timely manner in which the
Emergency
Medical
Services responded to my 12-year-old daughter yesterday underscores why I'm such a BIG fan of public safety.
When my wife called to say Kira had been thrown from a horse at a farm just over the town line in Hadley I instantly said, "Call 911!". She already had.
Hadley FD (Rescue 1) arrived quickly and when I was en route at speeds a tad greater than the speed limit I heard them over the scanner hand her over to AFD for transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
That alone was calming, knowing she was in good hands and that they were heading to CDH rather than Baystate Medical Trauma unit in Springfield.
I got there in time to be with her for a few moments in the back of the ambulance and my wife went along for the ride to CDH. Amazingly it was her first trip in an ambulance, as it was for my daughter. They both thought the speed, sirens, flashing lights and occasional honking of the horn was "pretty cool."
Fortunately she was wearing a well fitted helmet and hit the somewhat soft earth rather than the wooden fence. And hospital x-rays showed no damage. A happy ending indeed.
This attention getting incident served to remind me of how vital our first responders are, and how easy that is to take for granted. I just wish AFD had the staffing level to provide this kind of quality service 24/7, seven days a week.
Because had my daughter been in need of an AFD ambulance at other times of the day or night, she may have had to wait for a mutual aid ambulance to arrive from a surrounding town.
As both a parent and a taxpayer, I find that
unacceptable.
Meanwhile, over the weekend,
half the EMS calls to UMass were for drunk students.
A safe way for Kira to ride
If you like this story help make this happen:
