Oberlin Herald – December 4, 2013
Submitted by Newz Group Clipping Service – December 19, 2013
A man who reportedly lost a leg in an oilfield accident near Herndon had to be flown out of the Decatur County Hospital by helicopter Monday. There was no immediate word on where he was taken for surgery to reattach the leg.
A Decatur County ambulance was called at 12:03 p.m. to meet a vehicle on U.S. 36 coming from the county line. The dispatcher said a blue Dodge pickup would be coming from the Herndon area.
The ambulance crew met the pickup just a few miles west of town at 12:09 p.m. and made the transfer. The truck, which had Red Willow County, Nebraska, tags, followed the ambulance to the hospital.
The Oberlin Fire Department was called around 12:30 p.m. to be on standby for an air ambulance flight. At first the dispatcher said the flight would be at the hospital, then the hospital reported it would come to the airport. Eventually, firefighters learned it would, in fact, be a helicopter landing at the hospital parking lot.
The helicopter arrived from Nebraska about 1:03 p.m., just an hour after the first call, and the man was flown out just after that.
Fire Chief Bill Cathcart said a second fire truck had to be sent to the hospital after the first one lost some hose near The Gateway. A fire rig has to be on standby whenever an air ambulance lands at either the airport or the hospital, he said.
The Rawlins County Sheriff’s Department reported it did not have much information on the accident because there was no vehicle involved and no illegal activity reported, but sheriff’s officers believed it had happened in that county.
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