Today's action: Taking off the roof

This morning I went to my first call in over two weeks. Fortunately I am feeling better again! But here's a story about a lady for whom things didn't go too well today. Driving down the road, coming out of a bend, she somehow lost control and her car went off the road. There she crashed into a tree and unfortunately for her it was exactly the drivers side front door that hit the tree. The impact of the collision was such that she was trapped in the car, complaining of severe back and neck pain.

So here come the fire fighters and the paramedics. To get the driver out safely they needed to get to work very cautiously. Soon it was apparent that getting the driver out through the door was not an option. The injuries could possibly be too severe to risk turning her body sideways. So the paramedics decided that she had to be taken out up straight, on the longboard. And that required taking off the roof.

A mistake that quite often is made after a road accident is letting a casualty take a seat in a car that is not involved in the accident, with the best intentions to help, awaiting the paramedics. Then, if after a few minutes have passed, the casualty starts complaining about back or neck pain, the paramedics might have to decide to do the same. So never let a casualty of an accident take a seat in any car. It might be that a perfectly well working and undamaged car will have to be turned to waste, because it needs taking off the roof.