February 2, 2001
MGH clinicians are trained to save lives every day, but one MGHer's skills were put to the test when she helped save a crash victim's life after leaving work Dec. 22.
Jessica
Jaecklein (left), a clinical assistant for MGH Vincent Obstetrics
and Gynecology at Mass General West in Waltham, was driving on
Route 128 South on her way to the airport to pick up some visiting family
members.
As she was driving in rush hour traffic, she saw a car cut off a home fuel delivery truck in front of her near the Randolph exit. The truck flipped over twice and landed on its roof. Jaecklein and several other drivers pulled over immediately to help. Jaecklein grabbed a first aid kit she had in her trunk and rushed to help the truck driver, who was thrown to the passenger's side of the vehicle after his seat belt broke. According to Jaecklein, the driver's side of the truck was completely crushed. "It was a good thing that his seat belt snapped," says Jaecklein. "Otherwise he would have been killed on the driver's side."
Jaecklein and another good samaritan, Michael Downing, quickly pulled the driver out of the truck. "He had a four inch gash on his skull that was bleeding, and he was pretty beat up," says Jaecklein.
Jaecklein and Downing attended to the driver until the police and an ambulance arrived. The driver, Paul White, was taken to a local hospital and treated for a broken clavicle, dislocated shoulder and a severe concussion. The gash on his skull required stitches.
As Jaecklein recounts the story, she remembers how she felt after the incident was over. "It was very emotional," she says. "You don't think about what is happening until it is all over. At the time, the adrenaline kicked in, and I wasn't myself. And as a health care worker, you question afterwards whether you did the right thing. We must have done something right, though, since Paul is still alive. It was very scary."
Fortunately, Jaecklein had undergone emergency medicine training when she worked at Harvard Vanguard for two years. She has been with the MGH for seven months and at Mass General West for two months.
About a week after the accident, White sent Jaecklein a thank you card with his phone number, asking her to call him. Since then, the two, along with Downing, have become friends. "We went out to dinner recently, and we are having dinner again soon so that we can meet Paul's family," says Jaecklein. "Paul is a great guy, and I'm just so glad that he is fine. And fortunately, I have made a friend out of all of this."