Injured EMTs recall crash

CHARLES TWEED/BRANDON SUN Enlarge Image

Gene Banks stands front and centre with his son-in-law Rick Bugg beside him. The Melita and Area Ambulance EMTs are recovering after their ambulance was hit head-on by a car that crossed the centre line near Souris on Jan. 5. Banks is standing — something he couldn’t do less than a week ago — with his granddaughters Tori and Keira Bugg.

"Thank you."

Enlarge Image

Emergency workers attend to the occupants of the damaged ambulance involved in the two-vehicle collision on Highway 250 approximately five kilometres north of Souris on Jan.5. (FILE PHOTO)

Those were the first words emergency medical technician Gene Banks scribbled on a piece of paper while he laid in a hospital bed clinging to life at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

The message was for his colleague and son-in-law Rick Bugg, after the two were involved in a collision near Souris on the evening of Jan. 5.

Hours before the crash, Banks and Bugg, both EMTs for the Melita and Area Ambulance service, met at Melita Hospital for a routine ambulance trip to Brandon. After loading Ron Nestibo into the back of the ambulance, the three set off on their voyage — a voyage that would come to a screeching halt.

"It was just going to be a normal transfer," said Banks, a 15-year EMT.

A little over an hour into the trip, on Highway 250 about five kilometres north of Souris, the ambulance Banks was driving was hit head-on by a car that crossed the centre line. Banks remembers hitting the brakes, then everything going dark.

"The next thing I remember I was sitting (in the ambulance) and it was deathly quiet," Banks said, although Bugg confirmed it was anything but still, "It wasn’t quiet at all, it was very, very loud," Bugg said.

The impact of the two vehicles killed the 54-year-old driver of the car and trapped Banks in the driver’s seat of the ambulance. The floor of the vehicle had been crumbled up into the bottom of the driver’s seat. A seat had been driven back up against the cube of the ambulance, where there is typically six to eight inches of space. With blood pouring from the top of his head and down his face, the 60-year-old Banks knew it was serious when he looked down at his leg.

"I could see a foot, but it was pointing the wrong way to be mine," Banks said.

Bugg, who was in the back of the ambulance with Nestibo, had just sat down when the vehicles collided.

"I flew to the front," said Bugg, who was fortunate he wasn’t belted in because the seatbelt in the back of the ambulance runs perpendicular to normal seatbelts and would have caused considerable damage.

"I was caught by the net," Bugg said.

All ambulances are outfitted with a net between the cab and the back cube to protect emergency workers from being thrown out the front window.

After coming to on the ambulance floor, Bugg’s training kicked in. First he checked Nestibo, who was thrown out of the stretcher and was now sitting behind the driver’s seat in the back of the ambulance. Bugg tended to Nestibo’s head and reassured him before turning his attention to Banks.

"They were both bleeding from the head, so I wrapped them up," said Bugg, who held pressure on Banks’ head to slow the bleeding from an eight-inch laceration on the top of his head.

Bugg continued to care for the two until Fire and Emergency Services from Souris, Rivers and Hartney took control of the scene.

"I was still trying to help them put stuff on and they kind of slapped my hand a little and got me to settle down."

Emergency crews used the Jaws of Life to extract Banks from the twisted steel. Being lifted from the seat took Banks’ breath away due to the fact he had fractured all of his ribs on his left side and two on his right.

From there, Banks was transfered to Souris Hospital and less than four hours after the initial crash, he was in Winnipeg, airlifted by STARS from the Souris Airport.

In critical condition and induced into a coma, doctors performed surgery on his ruptured diaphragm. The following day Banks’ condition was upgraded from critical to guarded. He would end up spending 20 days in the hospital, undergoing three surgeries — one on his diaphragm, one on his broken tibia and fibula in his left leg and another on his shattered right heel.

His wife, Lynn, lovingly refers to him as the bionic man as Banks now has 27 screws, two plates, two pins, a rod, "and an angel on my shoulder," Banks added.

But the toughest part of the whole process for Banks was putting his family through the whole ordeal — a testament to a man community members described as a selfless volunteer that would do anything to help you out.

After writing "Thank you," to his son-in-law Rick, Banks asked if his other daughters knew about the accident.

"Do they know?" he scribbled on the paper, thinking of his family first.

Three of Banks’ daughters — Tracy, Angie and Rhonda — were aware of the accident.

His other three daughters — Kathy, Micki and Jen — were south vacationing and hadn’t been informed of the crash.

The daughters arrived at Winnipeg airport three days after the crash with family there to meet them to break the bad news and bring them directly to the hospital.

With family at his side, Banks still wanted to be "dad" and take care of everyone else first.

"I felt guilty because I knew why they were there," Banks said as his eyes filled with tears.

The EMTs and Nestibo have now started the long recovery process, beginning with countless trips to Winnipeg, Brandon and Boissevain for physio.

Banks is still confined to a wheel chair with a compression boot on each of his legs. Doctors just recently told him he can begin to put weight on his left foot and that he is expected to make a full recovery, but only time will tell if that is completely accurate, he said.

Bugg suffered bruising to his face and body, a compression fracture to one of his vertebrae and tore a tendon in his shoulder, which he is receiving physiotherapy for in the hopes of avoiding surgery.

Nestibo, who was sleeping when the accident occurred, had a six-inch laceration to the top of his head and is undergoing physiotherapy for sore muscles. He credits the relaxed state he was in for not being more badly injured.

"I was glad to see the ambulance door open and a lady standing at the back saying help was on the way," Nestibo said.

The woman, who called 911, was in a vehicle following the ambulance and had to swerve into the ditch to avoid hitting them.

Nestibo credits Bugg for taking control of the situation, calling his actions heroic.

"(Rick) was hurt and he was running on instinct," Nestibo said. "He was doing everything he could for me and for Gene."

All three men said emergency service workers that showed up from neighbouring detachments did an incredible job.

That same sentiment was echoed from Banks and Bugg regarding the community support their families have received since the accident.

"The community couldn’t have been better," Lynn Banks said.

"Between the community and the board (of Melita and Area Ambulance) we’ve wanted for nothing."

There was also more than one community at play.

As Melita and area pulled together to help the men, a brotherhood of emergency workers stepped up to support injured colleagues.

"Anytime it’s a member of ‘our family,’ there is a little bit of added stress," STARS spokesman Cam Heke said.

Pilots and paramedics in the helicopter took the time to visit during his recovery, Banks said.

"There are a lot of big hearts around this place and patient care doesn’t stop at transport," Heke said.

STARS pilots braved high winds and used night-vision goggles to ensure Banks got the best possible care in the shortest amount of time.

"All of the stars were aligned right that night," Bugg said. "And we consider ourselves very lucky."

The Banks and Bugg families have written a card of thanks in this issue’s letters to the editor section.

» ctweed@brandonsun.com

Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition March 7, 2012