Response to Friday’s tragic bus crash on Interstate-90 required a massive collaborative rescue effort from volunteer fire departments, law enforcement, the Thruway Authority and other agencies, but a University at Buffalo physician says one group affords Western New York access to a unique medical resource at emergency scenes.
UB’s squad of EMS physicians might not often end up in the public eye, but the group played an integral role following Friday’s crash, said Dr. Jennifer Pugh, ECMC's chief of emergency medicine.
“We're fortunate to have an EMS division, and that group works directly with our EMS staff, and they actually deployed themselves right onto the scene," she said. "So, I believe we had six physicians from our group there helping with the triage of patients.”
Emergency physicians prepare for devastating events like Friday, but the emotions still feel raw in the moment, said Dr. Jo Innes, EMS fellowship program director at Jacobs School of Medicine.
Despite the tragedy, Innes has never seen so many agencies working together at one scene and is encouraged by the teamwork.
“It was a horrible situation, it was heartbreaking," she said. "But it was, I don't know if reassuring is the right word, but it felt good to see how well we can all work together and how widespread our influence is in a situation like this.”
It can be difficult not to hyper-focus on one patient at a traumatic scene as a physician, which highlights the importance of also having experience as paramedics where they have to quickly move between patients,
Innes said.
