Courtesy Photo | Sgt. 1st Class Jody Miller, a Kentucky native and member of 1st Battalion, 337th...... read more read more
By Amy May
Camp Atterbury Public Affairs
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind., -- A First Army Soldier in town for training may have helped save the life of an Edinburgh, Ind., man after a car accident June 19.
Sgt. 1st Class Jody Miller, a member of the 1st Battalion, 337th Aviation Regiment from Fort Knox, Ky., had just left Camp Atterbury, Ind., and was heading south on U.S. 31 for his hotel in Columbus, Ind., when he noticed the wrecked trucks. The trucks, a small Ford Ranger and a larger flatbed pickup, were in the middle of the road. The flatbed's front corner was smashed into the Ranger's driver-side door.
"I pulled over to see what I could do. I got there about 45 seconds after the wreck," Miller, a Kentucky native, said. "I was the second person on the scene."
The young man who was driving the flatbed was walking around and seemed OK, Miller said. The man in the Ford Ranger, however, was not.
"I see the man is bleeding and he's pretty messed up, so I grabbed my combat lifesavers bag out of my van," Miller said.
The victim, 42-year-old Jeffery King of Edinburgh had a bleeding cut on the back of his neck, a broken nose, a cut on his leg and bruising on his left side, which could indicate broken ribs and internal injuries, Miller said. The bone on King's left elbow was visible through a severe laceration.
Although King was in and out of consciousness and not always oriented to what had happened, he didn't have blood in his ears and his pupils were normal — good signs that he didn't have a brain injury.
Miller used supplies from his medical kit to bandage the wounds and stop the bleeding. More importantly, however, he may have kept King from going into shock.
"Once shock starts, it's a roller coaster ride. It might have killed him. He wouldn't have been conscious when the ambulance got there. He might have bled to death," Miller said.
Miller kept King awake and alert by talking to him, sometimes rather bluntly and rudely, to keep him engaged.
"If they get mad at you, then they are concentrating on being mad instead of their pain," Miller said. "It works, it really does."
He said his wife sometimes tells him he has the worst bedside manner, but his colonel emphasizes that being nice is not the most important issue as a first responder. The sweet, good Samaritan type isn't always the most effective in an emergency.
"It's not our job to comfort, but to stabilize, save the person's life and get them ready for transportation to the hospital," Miller said.
The ambulance arrived about 10 minutes after the crash. Miller helped the paramedics pull the door open on the Ranger and get King out, taking care to stabilize his head and neck in case of spinal injuries. Once King was on the stretcher, he struggled, saying it hurt to lie down. Miller bluntly asked him if he "wanted a little pain now or a lot." He explained that if he didn't lie still, the paramedics would have to strap him down, which would be a lot more painful. If he endured the pain, he would soon be at the hospital where he would receive pain killers.
Full time Soldiers take a combat lifesaving course every six months, Miller said.
The first responder training gives them the ability to aid a comrade who is injured until the medical personnel can get to the scene. The training not only covers war-related injuries, but other mishaps, such as auto accidents, as well.
"For some courses, people think, 'I'll never use this,'" Miller said. "It's like high school geometry. Then one day, you realize you need it and say, 'Oh, I remember this from school.'"
The training gave Miller, who has been in the Army since 1987, confidence that he would be able to help when he saw the accident. He was able to immediately start assessing King's condition and determine what the worst injuries were.
"I can honestly say I was glad to have that training," he said. "If I hadn't been combat trained, I probably would have been one of the 'breakneck' people driving by," he said.
Miller stayed with King and the ambulance personnel until they decided to drive King to Columbus Regional Hospital instead of waiting for the medical helicopter.
Although a 'thank you' was not necessary, Miller still got one.
"As I was leaving, Mr. King said, 'Thanks, Sergeant ... Hooah!'"
| Date Taken: | 06.21.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 06.22.2007 07:58 |
| Story ID: | 10925 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 573 |
| Downloads: | 486 |
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