Winter weather is here (or rapidly approaching).

[paramedicmike]

Make sure before you cut those winter coats off that your patient is not wearing a down coat. Flying feathers in the back of your ambulance don't make for a good time.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Come on, all the hero's out there who want to whip out there super shears will be disappointed to realize this.

[island emt]

been there done that Mike.

Call was for a woman that had fallen on driveway outside her home. First in crew was concerned as she had been unconscious , so they collared & boarded her . When I arrived on scene they were loading into ambulance.

The Pt was a large lady and had on a full length LL Bean down coat.

Topical exam showed me that besides head injury from smacking back of skull on pavement she had angular rotation of one leg with severe pain to hip/femur and was having difficulty breathing. Pulse was irregular and rapid.

WELL HELL !!!

They had done a very good job of packaging her and didn't remove the coat as they were outside in minus 10 f temps

Don't have much choice here as I need to get cardiac monitor on and IV started:::: SOOOOO out came the shears and it was like a chicken farm in the back of the truck.

Got everything accomplished during the 1 1/2 hr ride to the trauma center, But when we pulled up in the ambulance bay and opened the doors the flood of goose down went flying every where.

They sure do pack a lot of feathers in those coats, it was like a snow storm in the trauma bay. :-}

Told the staff that sometimes ya just gotta do whats necessary to get to the PT. They all had a good laugh, except the housekeeping crew who were chasing down for days.