Milltown man LifeFlighted after being partially ejected from car
![IMG_5865[1]](https://duboiscountyfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/IMG_58651.jpg)
A single-vehicle crash near Schnellville required a Milltown man to be Lifeflighted to a Louisville hospital after he was partially ejected from the vehicle this morning.
According to authorities, 23-year-old Jared W. Purcell, of Liberty View Road, told police he fell asleep while operating a 1993 Chevrolet Cavalier on Schnellville Road at about 6 a.m.
The car went off the roadway into ditch and hit a utility pole. Purcell went through the windshield of the car and was trapped requiring Schnellville volunteer firefighters to extricate him from the car.
A Memorial Hospital ambulance transported Purcell to the Schnellville Community Club to be picked up by a St. Mary’s LifeFlight helicopter. He was the flown to the University of Louisville Hospital for treatment.
Police considered the Cavalier a total loss.
Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services, Schnellville Volunteer Fire Department, Dubois REC utility workers and a wrecker from Berg’s assisted the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department at the scene.
I’m praying, too – that someone with some sense (and cents) can explain why we continue to use million-dollar helicopters at $20,000 a pop (flight) to/from ST Mary’s when the ground ambulance could have gone to MHHCC, which touts itself and their emergency services and physicians as some of the best, in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost for a non-critical, non-life-threatening situation? And if it WAS critical and life-threatening, all the more to have transported to MHHCC by ground ambulance in a fraction of life-saving time it takes to get a copter in the air and here from Evansville and then back. What’s going on? I’m beginning to seriously think there’s a tie-in to insurance money – the more flights the more they collect big, etc. I’ve opined on this before but either no one in the know reads this publication and cares enough to address it, or they’re unable and/or afraid to. Wonder why that is?
Just in the 24 hours since I posted the above – and BTW it’s with all respect and well-wishes for the injured man and his family – another deadly medical helicopter crash has been reported – this one in Alabama – killing everyone aboard. Aside from the financial, logistical, common-sense medical and safety issues involved, the incidence of medical helicopter crashes is far greater than those of other helicopter crashes in terms of flight-hours, numbers of flights, etc. This has been addressed over the last few years by a number of media reports and investigative stories trying to learn why. While I cannot recall all the details, some of the reasons for the much higher crash numbers were reported primarily as pilot training and inexperience followed by aircraft maintenance and the sheer number of flights, plus that these copters are landing and taking off in hazardous locations of various terrain and other obstacles in all hours of day and night (obviously more flights, flight-hours, et al, results in the odds of more accidents, but that’s true of all flights, not just medical helicopter flights – it’s the extremely higher proportional number of medical flight accidents compared to non-medical flights compared to the same flight hours, take-offs and landings, etc).
Bottom line question remains: Why are we in Dubois Co. using high-end, high-risk helicopter$ for non-critical transportation – and in some cases for critical transportation – when it’s clear in many if not most cases that ground transportation is (would be) close, faster, safer, and far less-expensive to the nearest accredited emergency services hospital??? I would hope that someone ‘in the know’ – in an official capacity – might be alerted to this concern (by many) and reply with some answers, explanations, etc.