A mountain biker who suffered a bad accident at about 4 p.m. Friday evening, Jan. 17, while riding near Wilson Creek, was lucky to be accompanied by such resourceful friends, says Sue Duxbury, one of the managers at Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue (SAR).
Duxbury says one of the friends was able to provide the longitude and latitude of their location, something that doesn’t happen very often. The group also happened to be within cell service, again, a rare bonus when attempting to reach accident victims.
The SAR team was activated and was able to drive to about one kilometre from the scene, before having to hike in by foot. Duxbury explains they use a vacuum bag that is placed on a stretcher and once a victim is placed within the bag, they suck the air out of it to hold the person in place.
“And we took a pile of blankets and some heat vests, which we have. A heat vest is kind of like a glorified hand warmer that you actually put over your patient's head and it keeps them warm,” said Duxbury. “Then we walked up to the site, but we were losing the light when we got there at about five.”
She says by the time they arrived at the scene, the rider’s friends had built a fire and placed rocks in it to warm, which they then placed inside their gloves and put them around the man, who was lying on his right side in a semi-fetal position.
“So, he was very lucky that A, they had cell service and B, he had smart friends with him who could help him until we got there,” says Duxbury.
She adds, the woman riding behind the man had video that showed the rider going end-over-end and landing hard on a rock. Duxbury notes, despite the fact the man was wearing protective equipment, including back, chest, shin and face protectors, he was badly injured and in a lot of pain. Later at the hospital, it was determined the man had four broken ribs in his back and a punctured lung. As well, the man suffered from both pneumothorax (an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall) and hemothorax (a serious condition when blood gathers in the pleural space).
“He asked for painkillers, which, sadly, we didn't have for him, but we told him, the ambulance is a kilometre away and we're going to get you there as soon as we can and they’re going to fill you full of pain meds,” says Duxbury. “And he said, 'okay,' so we packaged him up, got the ambulance waiting for us at the end of the spur road and walked him out to field road. I believe we were down at the ambulance by 6:15 [p.m.] and then transferred him into the ambulance.”
That trip took a team effort, says Duxbury. She notes a dozen SAR members attended the scene and on the trip back, they were manoeuvring the stretcher, kicking rocks out of the way along the bumpy terrain and shining lights on the trail so they could see.
Duxbury says despite the resourcefulness of the man’s friends, if she could offer one piece of advice to them — and all mountain bikers — it’s to time their trips better.
“You probably don't want to be riding close to dusk.”
Duxbury added the SAR team, which is made up of all ages and genders, do important work.
"And, I’d like to thank the great employers who let us go when we have to,” she says.
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