Natasha Richardson 911 Call from Skiing Accident

Natasha Richardson, 45, signed up for a lesson at Mont Tremblant on a day that promised a skier's paradise. She struck her head in a fall around noon. The radio exchanges... More »

Natasha Richardson, 45, signed up for a lesson at Mont Tremblant on a day that promised a skier's paradise. She struck her head in a fall around noon. The radio exchanges show that by sunset the damage to her brain was probably irreversible.
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12:43 p.m.: On the hill
"Priority 3, Tremblant resort … (inaudible) … female, 42 years old, 17 Bravo 1 … 12:43, assigned 12:44."
Code 17 means a fall. Bravo 1, or... More »

12:43 p.m.: On the hill
"Priority 3, Tremblant resort … (inaudible) … female, 42 years old, 17 Bravo 1 … 12:43, assigned 12:44."
Code 17 means a fall. Bravo 1, or B-1, means possibly dangerous. Priority 3 is the second most urgent emergency call from the public. It requires medics to get to the scene immediately and place their sirens on if they're held up at an intersection.

1 p.m.
"10-17. Uhh, we're still waiting for the patient."
10-17 is code for arrival at the site.

1:11 p.m.
"There's a (ski) patroller who just went by, who tells me it's a 10-3. Did you get a call about that?"
10-3 means cancelled job.

2:59 p.m.: At the hotel
"Priority 1, Mont Tremblant. We're talking about the side, facing the south side of The Shack. It will be at the Hotel Quintessence, Suite No. 11. For a female, 41 years old. 17 Delta 1."
17-Delta-1, or 17-D-1, refers to a fall, now upgraded to "dangerous."

3:55 p.m.: In the ambulance
"This is vehicle 112 do you hear me well?"
"I hear you 5 out of 5."
"I'm arriving with a female in her 40s, presently at verbal (responds to verbal stimulus but otherwise fades out), disoriented 0 out of 4. It's following a story, a ski fall that happened at noon. Soon afterward she presents signs of confusion, a concussion. Glasgow at 12 … vital signs: 124 on 86, breathing 100 per cent with O2, cardiac sequence at 70. We'll be there in about eight minutes."
The Glasgow coma scale measures degrees of consciousness after a traumatic brain injury. A rating of 12 is consistent with a moderate brain injury. Vital signs of 124 over 86 refers to her blood pressure. The cardiac sequence is her pulse. She is being given oxygen so her oxygen level is 100 per cent.

5:55 p.m.: On the way to Montreal
"Priority 2, Sainte Agathe … Crash room 2, destination Sacré Coeur. With oxygen, 10-48 and monitor."
A priority 2 call is the most urgent call from a hospital (as opposed to from the general public, which is Priority 1). 10-48 means an escort. The monitor refers to a heart monitor.
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