After the training, Becky (fellow assistant) and my boss, Curt, decided to go to one of the local restaurants for some lunch. We ordered and were sitting there discussing some ways to improve our department when my phone rang. I grabbed it and noticed that it was Jeremy. I ignored him since I figured he was just calling to see how my day was and because I didn't want to take a personal call in front of my boss, even if it was during my lunch break. A second later, my phone rang again. This time I answered it only to hear Jeremy breathing hard. He told me that he was in an accident at work. My heart dropped. I said to Curt that he needed to take me back to the office because Jeremy was in an accident, but Curt said that he wanted to wait until our food came out and we would get it to go. I didn't know what to say so I just walked out of the restaurant and talked to Jeremy on the phone until the ambulance arrived and he had to get off.
Apparently, Jeremy was changing the attachment on a machine like this.
His right leg was kicking out the pin that held the attachment on and his left leg was still inside where the seat is. His left leg accidentally kicked a lever that caused the boom arms to come down on top of his right ankle. He was positive that his ankle was crushed. Somehow, he was able to get the arm off of his leg and sit in the sit while screaming for help.
The paramedics weren't sure which hospital they were going to take him to so his boss said that he would call me when they told him. Curt and Becky finally came out of the restaurant and we left. When we got back to work I jumped in my car, programmed UPMC McKeesport into the GPS, and was on my way. I was 5 minutes away from the hospital when Tobin called to say that they still weren't sure which hospital they were taking him to. I went to McKeesport anyway, because I had a feeling, and got him pre-registered and waited for the ambulance to come. Thankfully, they didn't take him to Presby like they thought!
I was allowed to go straight back to the exam room with him. They got him switched over to the other bed and then I was able to get a look at his ankle. The nurses came, the doctor came, the x-ray techs came, and then the doctor came back to give us the news that his ankle was broken in 2 places. Technically, he has a fracture in both his tibia and fibula, not his "ankle" (pretty much where the arrows are pointing in this picture)
Thanks to the fact that this is a workman's compensation case, they were not able to give Jeremy ANY pain meds because he still had to take a drug test. A drug test which, by the way, was not able to be administered at the hospital due to the fact that Valley Crest's insurance wanted it sent to a specific lab. The wonderful nurses applied a temporary cast and sent us on our way.
We went and got the drug test done, dropped off his prescription at the store, got home and put him in bed, threw dinner in the oven, went back to the store for his pain meds, and finally got home around 6:30.
The day's events were sort of ironic. I trained people how to be me at work and 2 hours later, our lives turn upside down a bit. Great timing!
