First Aid At The Boston Bombings

boston marathon first aidDr. Jangi recounts the horror and carnage that faced First Aiders, bystanders and medical personnel when the bombs went of at the Boston marathon last month. He tells how he coped with the explosion, the chaos and the horrific trauma of the event.

At the first blast site, he saw bodies piled on top of each other in an area “maybe 20 feet by 40 feet.” He couldn’t distinguish victims from responders. People had curled up beside injured relatives. Caregivers — EMTs, physicians, bystanders — fell to their knees tending to the people on the ground, aware that at any moment another bomb could explode beside them. Rouzier didn’t know how best to help. Triage had already begun; first aid was being administered. “I took off my belt and went to put it around someone’s leg, but then I saw they already had a tourniquet.” When he saw a woman with an open tibia and fibula fracture, he created a splint out of a poster and two slats of wood from a fence barrier. The woman held his arm and said, “I’m going to die right here, and no one is going to know who I am.” Rouzier held her hand and told her, “You’re not going to die.

Full story

 

Comments are closed.