Injury on Lafayette 10/13

[torn&frayed]

There was an injured hiker on Lafayette Saturday night. It took quite an effort by many people to get her down to the hut. Does anyone know how things turned out for her on Sunday morning?
Thanks,
Jim

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

After a rough night, she was litter-carried to the trailhead on Sunday morning by F&G, PVSART, and AMC, as a helicopter could not land at the hut.

 

[peakbagger-paul]

What happened to her? Did she fall?

 

[torn&frayed]

Ya.
She had a fall somewhere between Lafayette and Lincoln. When my brother came upon her, she was south of Lafayette. That was sometime around 2pm. He carried her toward the hut until he could get someone to volunteer to run down for a stretcher. While they waited for the stretcher many others stayed to try to keep her warm. He didn't get down to the parking lot until just before midnight.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Ya.
She had a fall somewhere between Lafayette and Lincoln. When my brother came upon her, she was north of Lafayette. That was sometime around 2pm. He carried her toward the hut until he could get someone to volunteer to run down for a stretcher. While they waited for the stretcher many others stayed to try to keep her warm. He didn't get down to the parking lot until just before midnight.

Sounds like your brother was a key guy in this rescue; please express our thanks to him. All I know is that the woman was in severe pain at the hut through the night, so was litter-carried to the base on Sunday morning through early afternoon. Now for some irony; while the woman was being bundled up for the ambulance in the parking lot at 2 pm, there were several kids preparing to hike the Franconia ridge loop in cotton clothing without much gear as F&G tried their best to talk them into hiking something less risky, like the Basin Cascade. See related thread about how dificult it is some times to give advice to the unprepared.

 

[torn&frayed]

I'm having a hard time starting this post.
I don't want to get flamed.
I don't want to read about how the woman was "unprepared".
I don't want any negative posts aimed at my little brother.

OK?

My only concern when I started this thread was that she made it down to Lafayette Place the next day. She did.

Now, I would like to help my brother retrieve the gear that he lent to her while he got her to safety. He left his address with someone at Greenleaf Hut. That person promised to ship his stuff (Goretex jacket, pants, fleece, gloves, etc.) It doesn't look like it's going to happen.

So, any ideas about who we could contact at AMC?

(Dave, if people start accusing me of being greedy, or whatever, I'll just delete this thread. Or maybe you could do it for me?)

Thank You
Jim

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Check with F&G and AMC and PVSART. Hopefully they can give you some information to help get in contact with this women. Unfortunately, HIPPA will not allow the medical first responders or any medical people who were involved to speak to you about the event. That includes the hospital personnel. At least they can't talk to you legally.

Good luck,
Keith

 

[sjhbos]

It sounds like your brother was a great help to this injured hiker, the hiking community owe him a big thank you.

If the gear was in the possession of one of the AMC hut people it may have ended up at the AMC lost and found room/storage area at Pinkham Notch. If you give them a call tomorrow (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm) and describe the gear that was lent to the injured party I am sure they can tell you if they have it; maybe the guy that took your brothers address lost that paper and now they do not know who to get the gear back to. This is probably a good place to start anyway.

 

[Maddy]

Having worked as a nurse in a trauma center until very recently, I have some ideas for you.
If you cannot track the clothes down using the resources that Keith recommended, I would start by calling the hospital that the patient was transported to. When the operator answers, ask her to connect you to the emergency room. If they will not do this, ask them to please page the nurse manager or supervisor of the ER. She (or he) is the person that you want to speak to. Do not do this on a Sat/ Sunday.
It is very possible that all the clothes was bagged and labeled with the woman's name and hopefully was transported with her to the unit where she was moved once stabilized. The nurse manager in the ER should be able to assign a staff member to track that clothes down providing the patient is still in the hospital. Obviously they cannot go to the room and start shuffling through the bags but they can get permission from the patient or family to look through the clothes and she could identify them as her own or yours.
If the patient has been transferred out to rehab or discharged home, the manager should be able to take your number, contact the patient, and ask her or a family member to please call you.
Be persistent if you do not hear back from them. Do not be afraid to call back again.
Depending on the extent of the trauma, there is always the possibility that they had to cut some of the clothes off. We wont think about that right now.
This is where I would start.
If you run into problems and you want to PM me please feel free.
Lost and misplaced patient belongings were an ongoing problem where I worked so I got very good at tracking things down.
Good luck.

 

[chinooktrail]

Jim,

PLEASE say a big thank you to your little brother for his selfless help in this situation.

Sometimes the kindness of strangers is all we have.

I like the idea of Maddy's advice, I am sure the woman herself would also like to have your little brother's address, and probably her family as well.

I know if it were me in this situation, I would.

He sounds like a knight in shining, um, GoreTex...

 

[grog]

Jim, great job your brother did!!! Hope he gets all his stuff back. I lent my stuff a few times on rescues on Monadnock and the good rangers there always make sure I get it back the next time they see me, if I didn't get it at the end of the rescue.

Good luck to your brother again, seems like his big brother taught him well.

grog

 

[sjhbos]

My only concern when I started this thread was that she made it down to Lafayette Place the next day. She did. Now, I would like to help my brother retrieve the gear that he lent to her while he got her to safety. He left his address with someone at Greenleaf Hut. That person promised to ship his stuff (Goretex jacket, pants, fleece, gloves, etc.) It doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Just curious if your brother had a chance to follow up on some of the suggestions that people (me and others) made on his missing gear. Was he able to get the stuff back?

 

[torn&frayed]

Thanks for asking. And thank you all for the great replies. According to the guy in charge at the hut, the young lady still had my brother's clothing on all the way to the emergency room. That probably means that the stuff was cut off. No confirmation of that yet. He didn't know which hospital.
We were given her name and address. He's going to try to get in touch with her. I also hope he gets a positive progress report on her recovery. She was in a lot of pain, so her health is really all that matters here.
Stay tuned.
Jim

 

[Zimmer]

I would guess it would be Littleton Regional Hospital.