Trip Report: September 22 to October 19, 2003
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
Fall Colors Coast to Coast - by Land and Sea
HELP! IN HELPER
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Sated with steak and chocolate cake, I prepared to retire early. If this train makes up any time, we will be getting up at 530am Sunday as we approach Winnemucca. We are almost home free. We are out West again, The temperature is down to 68 F. in our cabin, the humidity, 22%. What could go wrong?
I blew my nose and blood spurted heavily from my left nostril. I asked Sylvia to grab the First Aid Kit and get some gauze and anti-histamine spray. This has happened before, and it should be under control in two minutes. Except this time it isn't. Sylvia gets me some ice, then calls for Reginald, who calls the conductor, who calls for any doctor or nurse who might be on board. Even with a volunteer nurse assisting, it just isn't stopping. Medically speaking, she said, it must be an arterial "spurter". Swell, here we are in the middle of the Great American Desert, between Grand Junction and Provo, and I am spurting blood.
Since this appears to be the middle of nowhere, Sylvia reminds me that we have purchased TravelGuard Insurance for the trip, and it covers emergency medical transportation. "Perhaps they can get you to a hospital by helicopter," she suggests (trying to be comforting), but this does nothing to ease the anxiety of your bleeding correspondent, who, just at lunch today, added "clear air pockets" to his very lengthy list of reasons not to fly!
The conductor calls 911 and arranges for an ambulance to meet the Zephyr at a crossing near the tiny town of Wellington, Utah. As we come to a halt, it has been nearly an hour since this thing started, and I am holding the blood in by squeezing pressure points on my nose. Fortunately, we are mostly packed up and ready to disembark. Sylvia hastily jams our remaining items into our luggage.
The paramedics load me into their ambulance as the Zephyr rolls off into the darkness. They take my blood pressure, and start an IV as they receive telephone instructions from the physician at the ER in Price, Utah, some five miles away, while reassuring me that I haven't lost enough blood to be concerned about. Thank you, but I thought, it's my blood that's being lost. Another vehicle has been dispatched to handle our luggage, which is a Godsend. Amtrak's policy against checking luggage containing computers would have disqualified two of our pieces.
I am quickly admitted to the ER at Castleview Hospital, in Price, and transferred to an anteroom that is equipped with all the gear necessary to fix bloody noses. I am told that this is a frequent occurrence hereabouts due to the altitude and extremely low humidity. Dr. Middeleton quickly assesses the situation, cleans me up, cauterizes the spurting artery, and packs my nostril. He has not been the least bit nervous, but then, it is not his blood. The ER personnel are extremely helpful as we are wondering what to do and where to go. They book a room at a nearby Holiday Inn, who sends a van over to pick us up as we are being discharged. This whole procedure, from the meet at the crossing, to checking in at the Holiday Inn, took just a little over an hour.
The conductor gave Sylvia a voucher to get us on board the next train out of Helper, Utah, the nearest station, and back to Winnemucca. From our hotel room, I call Amtrak and find a Handicapped Room available tomorrow night. Just what I need. Then a shower and collapse into our King size bed.
America is an amazing and wonderful country. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the desert, cell phone communications make it possible for Amtrak's on board crew to arrange for an ambulance pickup at a remote railroad crossing, to take a needy passenger to a modern hospital which has all of the expertise, supplies, and equipment, to care for what could be a serious medical problem. A clean, up to date, Holiday Inn, with a restaurant, no less, is nearby to put us up for the night. Reservations are made through a toll free number for the next train out of town.
Amtrak and the Price, Utah, emergency medical establishment get very high marks for the way this was handled, and I am thankful that this is all possible. We hope a medical emergency never happens to our readers, while riding on Amtrak or anywhere else. But if it should, you now have a first-hand report on what you can expect.
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