Photo By Sgt. 1st Class David Bruce | Sgt. Gerald Dick, of Louisville, Ky., administers an intravenous line to Spc. Dan...... read more read more
EDINBURGH, Ind. — While serving in the military, one can assume that the performance of one‟s duties and occupational specialty will be in the context while “in uniform,” whether on a military installation or deployed. Sgt. Gerald Dick, of Louisville, Ky., assigned to Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, with the Medical Detachment, has found that to be not necessarily the case.
Dick‟s occupational specialty is combat medic and has additional training as a practical nurse; however, he hadn‟t always been a medic. His first enlistment was as a tanker. When he left the Army, Dick became a volunteer firefighter. It was during a response to a fire that led him to being a medic.
“I went to the scene of a fire and I couldn‟t help,” said Dick. “There was nothing I could do to help, other than fight the fire. So I came back in the Reserves and got sent to the (Healthcare Specialist) school. I did quite well and my instructors submitted the paperwork for me to go to the (practical nurse) program. I picked up my licensed practical nurse (certification) for the State of Kentucky,” he said.
Medical training is part of the skills that soldiers learn. While not everybody has the specialized training that Dick possesses, it is something that more people should become proficient in.
“Everybody should have some medical training,” said Dick. “You never know when these skills are going to be needed.”
Case in point, Dick has twice stopped for motor vehicle accidents that he has witnessed during this past year and rendered aid to those injured.
“The first time I was up in Ohio for my brother‟s funeral. I was on my way to the funeral home and a van turned in front of a large flatbed truck. I stopped and did assessments on the drivers. In addition to the injuries sustained by one of the drivers, it turned out that his pacemaker was damaged during the accident, said Dick.”
Dick immobilized the cervical spine on the van driver and once state police and emergency medical service arrived the van driver was evacuated by air ambulance.
Dick seems to have a knack for being at the right place at the right time.
The second time was while traveling to Louisville from Camp Atterbury.
“It was a Friday, I was leaving for Louisville and Ft. Knox, I witnessed a small 2-door vehicle caravan off a concrete divider, hit a van and another concrete divider on a bridge,” said Dick. “I ended up stopping and grabbed my (advanced life support) bag from my vehicle and ran back. I put a (cervical collar) on the girl and started an assessment, a quick set of vitals. From then, until someone called 911 and (Emergency Medical Services) showed up, spoke with her, and tried to keep her conscious. She did lose consciousness a couple times, so it was a lot of rubbing her hand and talking to her.”
According to Dick, one of the primary concerns with motor vehicle accidents is spinal injury.
“(Cervical spine) is a big thing, especially for motor vehicle accidents because if it‟s bad enough you could have paralysis,” said Dick. “Most people, their first instinct is to get out of the vehicle. In the case of the young lady, there was so much damage (to the car), that it literally pushed the front end so far that there was two or three inches from the steering wheel to the seat because of the impact. So you can‟t let them move and luckily enough, I had c-collars that the military had provided for training, so I went ahead and used those,” he said.
Though expecting to save lives is part of the duties of a combat medic, Dick said he figured it would be in other circumstances.
“I always thought it would be in uniform on a deployment with the classic shouts for "Doc!‟ or "Medic!‟ I never imagined riding down a country road or the expressway, especially to see the accidents happen.”
Despite these selfless acts Dick doesn‟t consider himself a hero.
“A lot of people just drove by, in both cases, and just watched and stared,” he said. “I was in the right place at the right time. I just did what a soldier should do: I stopped and helped.”
With the deployments and wars of the last 10 years, it is sometimes easy to forget that the simplest way to serve the people of this country is to stop and render aid to those that need it.
| Date Taken: | 12.14.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 12.15.2011 15:07 |
| Story ID: | 81449 |
| Location: | EDINBURGH, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 45 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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