A glance towards the side of the road showed Roger, holding Chloe in his arms. It also showed the arrival of a second ambulance, whose crew went straight to the second vehicle on Joe’s signal. Flashing lights from police cars were on both sides of the bridge now and another fire engine was crawling past the traffic buildup. Spectators were being herded further away from the scene, but even with the burgeoning number of emergency service personnel Tori was not asked to step aside.
Instead, she found herself drawn even deeper into the rescue effort.
‘I’m too big to get far enough through this window to be in a position to do anything useful,’ Matt told her. ‘And the fire boys want to try cutting the back of the van first to get in to the other children. There’s a baby in a car seat and a toddler who appears to be unconscious. Are you OK to stay and help?’
‘I’m not going anywhere in a hurry.’ Tori’s smile was rueful as she waved at her VW Beetle, now completely hemmed in by a fire engine and two police cars. ‘What can I do to help?’
‘How would you feel about hanging upside down for a while?’
Tori’s level of circulating adrenaline went up another notch. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Get a collar on if possible. Assess her breathing and put some oxygen on. Get a dressing and some pressure on that head wound before she loses any more blood. Maybe start an IV.’
‘Sure.’
Tori used one end of the log to gain enough height to get through the open window. Matt passed her the pieces of gear she needed. She was perfectly capable of doing any of the requested procedures more than competently in the emergency department. She had done them hundreds of times.
She had never tried to do any of them whilst hanging virtually upside down over a crumpled door, with her head pounding from the build-up of blood and at an angle that was only secure thanks to the fireman hanging on to her legs.
The woman’s airway was patent, the movement of her chest appeared normal and Tori could feel a radial pulse that indicated her blood pressure was not dangerously low, but she was unresponsive. Tori eased the moulded collar into place and secured the Velcro straps. She inserted a plastic OP airway into their patient’s mouth and then she took the oxygen mask dangling by its tubing in mid-air beside her and positioned it over the woman’s nose and mouth, pulling the elastic strap over the back of her head. She covered the laceration with a thick dressing and wound the bandage to hold it tightly in place.
The van rocked slightly as she was securing the bandage and Tori felt the grip on her legs tighten.
‘It’s OK,’ the fire officer called. ‘They’re just cutting into the back.’
Matt’s voice was also close. ‘I’ve got the IV gear ready, Tori. Sam here is going to pass it in to you. I’m going to check on the other children.’
‘OK.’ Tori reached a hand up behind her. ‘Can I have a tourniquet, please, Sam?’
Her head was more than pounding by the time she had tied the tourniquet around the woman’s arm and used an alcohol swab to clean the area above the vein showing in the crook of her elbow. Black spots were appearing in her vision, which didn’t help as she slid a cannula into the vein and screwed a luer plug onto the end.
‘I need the tubing for the IV fluids now, Sam,’ she called. ‘You’ll need to poke the blue spike into the bag and then hold it up.’
Even her fingers were feeling clumsy by the time Tori got the IV fluids running. If she didn’t change her position soon, she would probably faint.
‘Pull me out, Sam,’ she called. ‘I need to stand up for a bit.’
She caught a glimpse of Matt bent over a baby’s car seat—his stethoscope in his ears—through the gap between the front seats, but standing up was a mistake. The sudden change in posture after being upside down for so long made her feel extremely unwell. Her vision went completely black and she could feel her legs crumpling. An ungainly collapse to the ground was prevented only by the strong grip on her arms.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Bit…dizzy…’ Tori managed.
‘Sit down. Put your head between your knees and take a few deep breaths.’
The buzzing sound receded and Tori blinked to find it was Matt’s hand circling her wrist as he took her pulse.
‘I’m OK,’ she told him. ‘I’m just not used to working upside down.’
‘You’ve done brilliantly,’ Matt told her. He smiled. ‘Thanks.’
‘How are the other children?’
‘The toddler seems to be OK. He was conscious— just too frightened to move. The baby’s had a bump on her head, which may be more serious. They’re both being transported, priority one. We’re going to break the windscreen and do a dash roll to get the mother out now.’
‘And the others?’
‘They’re being loaded now. The driver’s OK—badly shaken but no more than a few bumps and bruises, thanks to the airbag. Her husband regained consciousness but had to be sedated. He was very combative due to his head injury.’
Matt glanced up as a fire officer stepped over Tori’s legs. ‘I need you to move a bit so we can get on with this extrication. You feel OK to stand up?’
‘Sure.’ But Tori was grateful for the assistance Matt gave her and she staggered slightly before stopping to lean against the side of the closest fire engine from where she could watch as they cut open the front of the van and used a backboard to secure and move the unconscious woman.
A new ambulance crew was ready to transport the patient and Tori wondered just how many vehicles had been deployed to this scene. The closest emergency department would be that of the Royal, where Tori worked, and that thought made her glance at her watch and groan. They would be hard-pressed to deal with the influx of casualties and she should have been at work over an hour ago.
‘Excuse me,’ she called to the ambulance officer on the end of the woman’s stretcher. ‘Are you going to the Royal?’
‘It’s the closest hospital.’ The female paramedic nodded. ‘They’re working under a disaster management code for this.’
‘I’m Victoria Preston,’ Tori told her. ‘I’m supposed to be on duty in the ED. If you get a chance, can you let someone know why I’m held up?’
‘Sure.’
‘Do you want to go with them?’ Matt had overheard the interchange. ‘The police can arrange for your car to be sorted later.’
‘Are you leaving now?’
Matt shook his head. ‘We’re on standby for the moment in case anyone gets injured, trying to clear this scene. The crane’s arriving now, too, so we’ll wait until we can check the truck driver. Not that I hold out much hope for him.’
‘No.’ Tori looked at the slumped figure in the truck’s cab, still dangling over the side of the bridge.
