FIRST AID. It was a real race against time – and against death, too – that unfolded on Thursday afternoon in the Hérault, where a motorcyclist, who was seriously injured on the RD 613, between Montagnac and the Hérault bridge on the road to Pézenas, following a collision with a car, undoubtedly had his life saved thanks to the professionalism of a firefighter from SDIS 34, and an operator on duty at the call centre of the departmental fire and rescue operations centre (Codis 34) in Vailhauquès.
When a witness rang 18 to report, using their mobile phone, that a motorcyclist was very seriously injured, unconscious and losing a great deal of blood due to a severed femoral artery at the thigh, the operator did indeed immediately alert the emergency services – namely the nearest fire stations – to dispatch an ambulance and a doctor, but, realising that the motorcyclist was at risk of bleeding to death due to this terrible wound, she guided the witness live over the phone, explaining the first-aid procedures to be carried out.
Applying a tourniquet
Showing exemplary composure, the Codis 34 operator instructed the motorist on how to apply a tourniquet to the victim in an emergency: what to use, how to apply it and exactly where to place it to stop the severe bleeding. The witness then carefully followed the steps given by the firefighter on the other end of the line.
When the fire brigade and a doctor arrived, a tourniquet had already been applied to the motorcyclist’s injured leg, which saved his life. The injured man was treated by Dragon 34, the Hérault Civil Protection helicopter, and admitted to the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Unit (DAR) at Montpellier University Hospital.
The motorcyclist, who was very seriously injured in that leg, may well have had his life saved thanks to this chain of assistance that was spontaneously organised.