The Most Dreaded of Calls

On January 18, 2014, Allina Health EMS President/EMS Chief Brian LaCroix received the call every EMS chief fears: An Allina ambulance had crashed and two employees—EMT Tim Daly and paramedic Brian Nagel—were hurt. Daly was conscious and being treated locally; Nagel was unconscious, intubated with a head injury and being transferred to a Level 1 trauma center.

In this month’s cover report, “A Profound Impact,” LaCroix writes about the immediate response to the crash, including the process of notifying Nagel’s parents that their son was critically injured, and how the Allina leadership had to tread a delicate balance between patient privacy and sharing information on the status of Daly and Nagel with both staff and the wider EMS community. “In the age of social media, the idea that any of us can ‘control the message’ is an outdated concept,” notes LaCroix.

It’s rare to see a leader write about a critical incident with such transparency. Be sure you read the lessons learned LaCroix shares and post them prominently in your agency.

Accompanying the cover report is an article by Noah Smith, an EMS specialist with NHTSA’s Office of EMS in Washington, D.C., which outlines the role NHTSA plays in understanding the causes and effects of ambulance crashes in order to help improve safety for both patients and providers. Click here to find out what NHTSA has learned from over a decade of investigating serious ambulance crashes. The agency’s most significant finding is a tragically simple one, writes Smith: EMS personnel are not buckling up.

LaCroix and Smith will co-present on this topic at EMS World Expo, September 15–19, in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, see EMSWorldExpo.com.