After University of New Hampshire gymnast Jaime de Mello fell on her head while warming up for her vault routine at a gymnastics meet at Crisler Arena on Feb. 17, she lay motionless on the arena floor for more than 10 minutes. There was no ambulance on site. The crowd watched in shocked horror.
The lack of emergency medical personnel immediately on the scene has raised questions about the Athletic Department’s preparedness to deal with a serious injury.
New Hampshire athletic trainer Dan Sedory was on the scene administering first aid from the moment of the injury. Sedory declined to comment on the pace of the medical response.
Athletic department spokesman Bruce Madej said it took about 12 minutes before emergency medical personnel from Huron Valley Ambulance were treating the injured athlete. Once the ambulance arrived, it took another nine minutes for de Mello to be stabilized.
De Mello suffered a serious sprain to her neck. She will miss the remainder of the season, but is expected to fully recover.
Finally, after a 30-minute delay, the meet resumed and the Wolverines won handedly.
But the real question is not who won or who lost. It is why the ambulance took so long to arrive. And what can be done to improve response times?
Red Cross volunteers, trained to administer first aid, are present at every athletic event, Madej said. But for a serious injury like one that could be suffered at a gymnastics meet, it could still take time for the proper response.
Joyce Williams of Huron Valley Ambulance said ambulances on call at athletic events are contracted by the Athletic Department at a cost of $100 per hour. Under the contract, HVA provides one ambulance and two emergency personnel for the requested event.
The Athletic Department only contracts ambulances for football, hockey and men’s basketball games. For all other games, Huron Valley Ambulance uses Crisler Arena as a pullout station, Madej said.
As a pullout station, there is supposed to be an ambulance in the general area, either driving or parked, at all times. If the ambulance leaves for a call, another vehicle is supposed to rotate into the area. While an ambulance is expected to rotate into the spot at Crisler Arena quickly, there is no guaranteed time in which an ambulance must arrive.
The status at the time of the injury of the ambulance expected to be near Crisler is unclear, but the lengthy response time suggests that it had left on another call, officials said.
A University-sponsored ambulance service like the one used at Michigan State University might improve response times. Rick Atkinson, assistant athletic director for facilities and event management at MSU said ambulances are always close by in East Lansing.
“We have pretty good response times – less than five minutes,” Atkinson said. “It definitely helps that we have our own EMS services on campus.”
Such an endeavor would certainly be costly. The athletic department already spends more than $50,000 dollars in contracts for HVA ambulances at football, hockey and men’s basketball games.
In the case of larger sports, crowd size makes ambulances a necessity.
According to Madej, during the 2004-05 fiscal year, the athletic department spent $52,000 on HVA contracts for sporting events: $33,000 was for football, $14,000 for men’s basketball and $5,000 for ice hockey.