Robert Albitz, RRT, Alison Hitt, R.N., BSN, CCRN, Chris Chapin, EMT-P, Diane Oudes, RRT, and Jeff Faux, EMT-P

Helping save lives is nothing new for Alison Hitt, R.N., BSN, CCRN, and the pediatric transport crew of Chris Chapin, EMT-P, Jeff Faux, EMT-P, Robert Albitz, RRT, and Diane Oudes, RRT. The pediatric emergency transport team routinely brings sick and critically injured kids from regional hospitals to Memorial Children’s Hospital for specialized care. But the drive to an East Chicago hospital was anything but ordinary on a summer morning in 2012. As they headed west along the Indiana Toll Road in LaPorte County, traffic had stopped ahead of them. A road construction worker had been struck by a semi. With less than 50 yards separating their ambulance from the badly injured man, Alison wasted no time and ran to assess the man’s condition. Meanwhile, the rest of her crew grabbed medical equipment and raced forward, inserting into the man an IV to counter the blood loss and a breathing tube to provide much-needed oxygen.

Amid the traffic congestion around them, the five-person pediatric crew did everything they could to help the injured man. They monitored his vital signs and performed advanced lifesaving procedures, including resuscitation, for 15 minutes until an EMS crew from Porter Regional Hospital arrived. Memorial MedFlight then airlifted him to Memorial. This marked the first time Memorial’s pediatric transport staff was involved in an adult, emergency life-saving effort of this kind. “We had the right people in the right place at the right time to help this man,” says Alison. Brian Duncan, fire chief of Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department, agreed. “The ambulance crew from Memorial seemed to come out of nowhere at just the right time, and they did an outstanding job.”