Mending Wounded Hearts

The ambulance personnel put Espen and the gurney in the ambulance and Jerry and Brandon climbed in with him. The doors were closed and the ambulance pulled out, heading for the football field.

Dennis put in that he would put Jerry’s car in their driveway and he could get it when he got back.

I walked to my own kitchen door with Cammie and found the three boys trying to work out a tune on piano and guitar.

"Where’s Brandon?" they all asked.

I gave them a synopsis of the afternoon’s events and told them I would be headed over to pick up Doc and Brandon and that Cammie would stay with them until we returned. I put on my gun belt and hooked my uniform badge in the holder on the belt. I fired up my truck, turned on my radio gear and started out for the high school.

I selected the aviation radio and dialed up 122.75 which is the helicopter Unicom channel. 

"Sheriff’s department to Air Ambulance inbound to Ojai, do you copy?"

"Three-two bravo, yes sir, we copy".

"I’m en route Nordhoff High school and I’ll advise on obstacles at the football field. What is your ETA?"

"Approximately two-five minutes, copy?"

"Roger, copy that, I will be back to you as soon as I’m on site in about ten minutes."

"Roger, three-two bravo, copy and out."

"Sheriff’s department out."

I put on my overheads and the siren and started moving faster. 

I found the ambulance at the gate to the field which was locked. I dug my battery powered angle grinder out. I kept a cutting blade on it for just this sort of occasion. I cut the chain link next to the lock so their Security would only have to relock the gate. 

Brandon helped me swing the gates open and the ambulance went on through, and I followed after. I told the driver not to drive onto the field.

I put on my headset and plugged it into my hand-held aviation radio, and contacted the air ambulance.

"Three-two bravo, do you copy?"

"Three-two bravo, roger."

"Okay, the field is oriented North, Northeast approximately zero two three degrees. You have two-zero foot goal posts at the north and south ends. And there are four each, three-zero foot light posts on the east and west sides of the field. Wind is calm and I am placing a strobe in the center of the landing zone. Copy?"

"We copy, thanks for the assistance. We’ll contact you on approach; it should be about ten more minutes. Three-two bravo out."

Roger three-two bravo, I copy and I’m standing by."

I could hear the distant whine of the Airbus EC 175 as it approached.

Brandon had hopped back in the ambulance to talk with Espen. 

"That’s a strange name," I thought, "Swede or Norwegian perhaps?" 

My headset came to life as the sound of the helicopter grew louder.

"Three-two bravo to all traffic in the area; we’re on approach to Ojai Nordhoff High School."

I activated the strobe and the helicopter circled once and landed right on top of it.

As the helicopter powered down, the medical crew swung open the big barn doors and began unloading gear. With its high main and tail rotors you can walk under it while it’s spinning, but it’s not recommended practice.

Once the main had stopped turning, I called Brandon to follow me and help with the equipment. A young woman of about thirty-five hopped out and introduced herself as Dr. Allison Noble. The RN didn’t give a last name just Jess. I introduced Brandon and myself and asked what they needed carried.

Brandon carried the heart monitor and I carried the oxygen. All that would have to be swapped over before they could load him in the helicopter. Jess brought the special gurney that fit the locks in the floor of the helicopter. Allison chattered all the way to the parked ambulance that had backed onto the field. I introduced her to Jerry and got out of the way. Since the weather was good they decided to do the whole changeover outside.

Jerry and Allison discussed Espen’s condition quietly. Jerry had immobilized Espen’s ankle and found another twig piercing his abdomen and another one that was dangerously close to the femoral artery if it was deep. Brandon looked at me with concern. Jerry mentioned edema which I believe means there is some internal bleeding. I wasn’t surprised; the boy had taken a hell of a beating. I hugged Brandon’s shoulders and told him to relax.

Allison asked me why the boy was so dirty.

"He was knocked off a horse by a falling tree limb and carried down a steep incline partially under it. The ground was muddy, wet and had a lot of leaf mold. He had tried twice to get himself back up to the trail on his own before Brandon and I found him." I told her.

"Jeez, what a tough little dude." She marveled in awe.

"I’m sure he’ll be happy to tell you the whole story on the ride in," I added.

"It might keep his mind off his situation. Is there a parent or guardian present?" She asked.

I was about to answer when there was a bunch of noise by the gate. I heard a woman’s voice say, "Get out of my way boy, or your balls will be in your throat!"

I thought maybe I better prevent Kenny, the school security guard, from being maimed for life.

"Mrs. Lindstrom?" I asked.

Kenny tried to speak, but I gave him a look that made it clear that I didn’t want to hear from him.

"Yes, I’m Claire Lindstrom, are you Deputy McKenna?"

"Yes, Ma’am, Espen is getting prepared for his flight at the rear of the ambulance. I’m sure he’d like to see you. He’s banged up quite a bit and muddy as well. So don’t overreact, he needs you to be calm," I told her.

"Thank you, I’ll be strong for him."

I walked over to Kenny. "You’re lucky to be alive Kenny; you ought to know better than to get between a mama bear and her cub. If you want to help, keep the reporters out; later on I’ll tell you what it’s about and you can tell them. I gotta go." 

I hiked back to the ambulance to see how things were progressing. I found two men in blue flight suits standing near the ambulance.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, how was your flight?" I asked.

"Not bad, some frisky updrafts near the hills but otherwise just dodging the civil traffic from Santa Paula. You must be our guide, great work by the way. A lot of the time ground personnel don’t have a clue what we need to know. Oh, I’m Mark, I drive this bus and this is John, my copilot and navigator. Luke is still on board, he runs the winch if we have to do a basket run."

"So, where’s Mathew?" I asked.

"Huh, what!?" Mark sputtered.

"Well your only three of the four apostles so often quoted. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard that before," I marveled.

"Nope, that’s a new one on me. Shit that’s funny," Mark grinned.

"Luke will like that, he’s an ordained minister. He’s got a great sense of humor."

"Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Rob McKenna with the Sheriff’s department."

"You must be a pilot too, who else would have the radio gear or know how to find us. Usually we have to go through a communications center and stuff gets lost in translation."

Dr. Noble interrupted, "Rob we have a problem. The patient’s mother can’t fly. I need you to witness her giving permission to treat Espen so we can get him assessed and prepped for surgery. He’s stable right now and in good spirits, so I’d like to get airborne a.s.a.p., are you okay with that?"

"Sure, I’ll run her down to VCMC in my truck so I won’t be more than a half hour behind you if I go noisy," I advised.

Ally and I joined Espen and his Mom who looked stricken with guilt. She explained that she had a phobia of flying ever since she was in a very bad air crash as a child.

I assured her that I understood and that I would get her there by ground, but we needed to deal with the mechanism of approving treatment so he could get going.

Allison had taken down a history for Espen. I told Claire that all she needed to do was tell Dr. Noble in my presence that she was authorizing any treatment needed for her son, Espen. 

Claire spoke very clearly and Allison had her authorization.

I helped get the gurney to the helicopter and watched Jess lock it into its lifting device. Then he punched a button on a little remote control and the gurney was pulled into the helo.

I shook hands with the pilots and Allison.

"I’ll be at the hospital unless we get called out again, I’ll see you there I hope.

The engines came to life and the rotors spun up, I heard John say," three-two bravo departing Ojai for VCMC.

"Have a safe flight three-two bravo," I offered.

"Thanks, three-two bravo… out."

I asked Brandon to help Claire into the truck and I gave Kenny a quick rundown of the situation.

Claire had phoned the neighbor who brought her to let her know she would get home on her own and thanked her friend for her help. I waved at the ambulance crew and made for the gate. Kenny backed his school system Camry out of the way and I headed out the drive.

I called the watch commander and filled him in and requested permission for code 3 down SR33 to VCMC. He approved and told me that the 101 was closed at Seaward so Ventura/Thompson Rd. was the best bet. I thanked him and promised to tell him the whole story later.

I turned on my overheads and started down the 33. I didn’t need the siren much until just before the 101. I navigated that interchange without the need to run over anyone and made it over to the number one lane. I gave the inattentive types a blast of air horn and when they saw all the lights they moved right.

Still it took almost half an hour to go twenty miles. I killed the siren and lights a block from the hospital and pulled up at the E.R. door.

"Brandon, I’m guessing you can handle a big truck so this one should be easy. I’d like you to come around here and park this beast while I take Espen’s mother inside. Hang out in the E.R. waiting room and I’ll be back down to get you." I pointed out the area where police and fire vehicles park and left him to it. I think I can confidently say he was thoroughly pumped that I would have him do that. He gave me a big grin and climbed in behind the wheel.

I walked inside with Claire and asked Rose, the Head Nurse, where we would find Espen. 

"You mean the boy on the air ambulance? He’s up on four," she indicated with her thumb.

"Thanks Rose, I know the way."

"Rose is a good person to have on your side," I told Claire.