It’s Denny (B&B), another partner of mine on the hospital crew. I thought to myself, why do EMS personnel have nicknames that mainly have to do with alcohol?

Denny yelled, " Hey, we have a call. We going to a mower accident out on S.R. #33."

Now you have to understand that most mower accidents resulted in the amputation of fingers or toes where someone had made the mistake of clearing the bound up grass from the exit shoot while running. They usually brought themselves to the hospital. Right off the bat this doesn’t seem to be right.

Denny is a 55y/o Hispanic male with multiple health problems. One is he has frequent minor chest pains and shortness of breath. He’s a chain smoker that fills the ambulance with smoke when he burns one.

Nice guy though, knows everyone in the county. He’s the fire chief for a little volunteer fire dept, city commissioner for another city, and has 10 grandchildren. Has great common horse sense and is easy to work with. He’s one of the "Good Old Boys" who had been working on a rescue since 1970.

Since there was no volunteer or paid fire department services in this part of the county, the sheriff office responds as first aid responders and physical help.

"Trauma 28, Update on your victim. He is a 67 y/o male pinned on the back of a bush hog. Sheriff office is on the scene and request you step it up. Patient will be located in a large open field; you’ll be unable to reach the patient in your ambulance. S.O. advises they’ve commandeered a tractor and a flatbed trailer. They will meet you at the entrance of the property.

"Trauma 28, advise sheriff office thank-you for the transpo, we have a 7 – 10 minute E.T.A. We’ll put the sails up for maximum speed, just hang in there."

B&B looked over at me " Warp speed Capt., run her till she buckles?"

Now I know how the stockcar racers get their adrenaline junkie rush, need for speed. Trauma 28 was a customized extended rear end ford van with mag wheels and a 460 Hp, gas guzzling 4 barrel, rocket ship. The best thing about this unit was the Kenwood cassette stereo with 200w speakers. Just think, cruising at 100 mph, down a straight road with Boston’s first album cranking. Wow what a rush.

"Trauma 28 on the scene" 6 minutes and she didn’t buckle. As we pull up to a gated dirt road, S.O. was waving. What a sight, here was this tractor/trailer combo that reminded me of the show "Green Acres". An Iron Horse steam looking engine with matching steel wheel trailer. It would work for the terrain we were about to go on.

"Gentlemen, E-tickets please, watch your step, this is the only mode of transportation available. My name is Corporal Hanson and I’ll be your guide for this tour. The wife is with the patient right now and I have another S.O. unit enroute. The guy looks all right and bad at the same time, hard to describe. Not much pain though."

We loaded all the equipment onto the flatbed trailer as the deputy explained what happened. We board the trailer and away we went. This was a 100-acre woodland adventure; of course he was in the back 40.

As we approach the incident, it appeared that an elderly gentleman had fallen through the deck of a bush hog somehow. The operation of the cutting blades seems to have stopped and the engine was turned off.

Walking up to the hog the deputy introduced us to Jimmy. He was the owner of the property and had been working in this field for the last few hours, cutting grass.

He was attempting to obtain a tool box off the back of the bush hog. He had just completed mowing the field and was about to head to the barn. The tractor was running in neutral. He did not pay attention to the drive shaft of the mower, which was still spinning in slow rotations. Imagine the blade being engaged at full torque spinning and upon shutdown continues to rotate, due to its weight, slowing with each revolution. Taking a long few moments to stop.

He stepped off onto the deck plate of the mower, not noticing that the deck plate had rusted to a point it couldn’t support any weight. As he placed most of his weight on his right foot, climbing onto the deck plate, he fell through. The rotating blade caught his leg in the rotation, pulling him down to the deck and pinning him up to his groin. The blade had stopped when his leg was caught. He was unable to move.

His wife just happened to stop by to see what he wanted for dinner. She found him in this predicament and immediately called the ambulance.

The wife said, "He’s been out here for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Has no pain or numbness in his right leg.

Jimmy said, "It hurts to move my foot."

He appears to be rather pale and moist, seeming alert and oriented. B&B began by applying oxygen via a mask. The Patient’s B/P was low but manageable for the time being.