Wednesday – March 2, 2016
Medical Emergency
Imperial Dam BLM LTVA
Yuma, Arizona
The Imperial Dam, BLM, LTVA is located in California, just over the Arizona state line, about 20 miles north of Yuma, Arizona. It is comforting to know that help is available here in case of a medical emergency. The LTVA is located within five miles of the Yuma Proving Ground (YPG), a U.S. Army military installation.
Each year, several campers within the LTVA volunteer as emergency medical personnel. CB Radio Channel 12 is used throughout the LTVA to communicate a medical emergency. This channel is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by the medical volunteers.
When a medical emergency occurs, a member of the Volunteer Emergency Team will call the YPG Emergency Center. YPG will dispatch their emergency response vehicles; at the same time, an emergency vehicle from Rural/Metro in Yuma will be dispatched. These vehicles are in radio contact with each other. Should it be necessary to transport a patient to Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC), a transfer will be made to the Rural/Metro ambulance from the YPG emergency vehicle.
During a medical emergency, each member of the Volunteer Emergency Team is assigned a position along the route to guide emergency personnel from YPG and/or Yuma Rural/Metro to the camper needing medical assistance. Response time is usually within seven minutes.
Unfortunately, for one of our fellow campers, we witnessed a medical emergency at 10:30 p.m. The camper, located two campsites north of our campsite in the North Florida Flats section, was ablaze with headlights and flashing warning lights on the five RV’s camped in this campsite. The Volunteer Emergency Team had their vehicles positioned along the route leading to the distressed camper, with their emergency lights flashing on their vehicles.
As we monitored channel 12 on our CB radio, we could hear the Volunteer Emergency Team members communicating with one another the location of the medical and fire personnel that had been dispatched from the Yuma Proving Grounds.
Upon their arrival, the YPG medical personnel sprung into action. After about thirty minutes had elapsed, the person requiring medical assistance was transported away in the YPG ambulance and transferred to a Yuma Rural/Metro ambulance that was waiting at the intersection of Senator Wash Road and Imperial County Road S-24. Our prayers go out to this camper for a speedy recovery.
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
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