Boomershoot medical emergency

If you were following my Twitter feed on Thursday you know we had a medical emergency onsite at Boomershoot. This was the worst event we have had in the 18 events we have put on. As usual it had nothing to do with the use of guns or explosives.

Scott K. was walking up the hillside to help pound stakes into the ground, went to his knees and then face first into the ground. From his perspective, as I heard him explain to the medic in the ambulance, he got dizzy then woke up with people standing around him.

From the perspective of Art, Brandon, Rebecca, and Tim Scott was unconscious for a couple minutes, taking only one breath every 30 seconds or so, with a weak and thready pulse that occasionally stopped or couldn’t be found. Then he took a couple large breathes, his pulse became normal, and he woke up.

I wasn’t there at the time. I had just arrived at Boomershoot Mecca when Art S. radioed me and said we had a medical emergency. Scott had collapsed and wasn’t responding. They didn’t have cell phone coverage at their location but since I was at Mecca with the Verizon Network Extender I did. I called 911 and told them what I knew. They dispatched an ambulance. I was at Mecca for a few minutes to make sure if they tried to call back for directions or something I would be able to receive the call.

After the first vehicle with a siren went by and appeared to find the location I headed back. By the time I arrived the scene looked like this:

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A sheriff’s deputy had arrived and was asking questions and handling communication with the ambulance. Scott was conscious and talking and said he felt fine.

A few minutes later an ambulance and another sheriff’s deputy arrived:

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Not too long after that a full size ambulance arrived. The medic from the first ambulance then said they would transport Scott by ground and they could sent the inbound helicopter back.

Yeah. It must have been a slow week in Clearwater County for the emergency response team and they wanted something to do.

All kidding aside, Clearwater County did a great job getting to our somewhat remote site and taking care of Scott. From the time I started my 911 call to the time the first responder arrived was about 15 minutes.

The hospital did all kinds of tests and couldn’t find anything wrong. The high blood sugar reported by the onsite medic apparently was in error. Scott came back the next day and worked as if nothing had happened.

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6 thoughts on “Boomershoot medical emergency

  1. We’ve had a few injuries at the annual Northeast Blogger shoot where there are massive amounts of NFA items, most of which are full-auto guns.

    The injuries have all been from people stepping on sharp objects and picking up sharp things when clearing the range at the end of the day.

    Strange that guns (and in your case explosives) can be so safe!

  2. I am Really Really Really Really Really Really Really Really Really Really glad we didn’t have to start CPR. It was a very scary thing to feel his pulse go weak and uneven and then realize he wasn’t breathing. I think that the breathing pauses were actually more like 5-8 seconds, but it sure felt like 30. The whole experience was strange. It was like his body rebooted itself.

    I’m sure glad for the OEC (http://www.nsp.org/eduprograms/emergencycare.aspx) courses that I took back in the day. I felt like I and the other guy who had apparently held an EMT cert in the past kinda knew what to do at least, even though in my ski patrol career we never had any cardiac events.

    I would urge anybody reading this to take CPR classes until you can do it in your sleep. Even with all the training that we had, we didn’t do quite as good of a job as we could have. It took me a minute or so to start a full assessment and ensure his airway was clear. We recorded pulse, but no breathing rates. We didn’t coordinate ahead of time which direction to roll him if he puked. I’d like to think that if our certs were current, we would have done a better job.

    Train Train Train. And yay Scott, for being a tough guy. 🙂 Thank you for coming out of it without us having to do anything real!

  3. He really, really needs a cardiac work up, do not blow this off.
    Dr should put him on a 30 day monitor & give a stress test, if it has not yet been done. An event like this is never normal.

    • Agree with Mike. My mom went through several episodes like this. She’d pass out but then be fine when they got her to the hospital. Finally, they caught it happening. Long story shortened: She had to have a pace-maker installed. The “wiring” from her brain to her heart wasn’t always “right”…they said.

    • I also had numerous episodes over the course of nearly 10 years before they figured it out. After multiplie ablations and an ICD implant, I’ve only had one event in 7years and that was the ICD giving me a shock in a situation where it may not have been necessary about 2 months after implant. Some adjustments to the ICD’s settings and it’s been fine since.

  4. “It was like his body rebooted itself.”

    It happens.

    It also happens that people die just like that. A good friend of the family walked into his house a while back, like he’d done for over 70 years, sat down on the couch, nodded his head and died right there, in a sitting position as though he’d simply gone to sleep. We found him a day or so later.

    A little over a year ago I was feeling woozy, and so I just took a little lie down on the floor. I woke up with my face in vomit, but otherwise feeling perfectly fine. My wife says I was out cold for a couple minutes or so. I was convinced to go to hospital, where in spite of their best efforts they found nothing. Afterward I said that I now know what it’s like to die.

    A “re-boot” like that can certainly change your perspective. You black out like for a bit, or everyone walks away unscathed from a horrific crash, and it’s time to celebrate. Nothing says, “life is a gift” quite like that.

    Cheer up, People; you’ll soon be dead.

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