FORT PIERCE — A trauma surgeon and nurse on their way to work at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute on Saturday became first responders at an accident scene.

Dr. Alex Funicello, who was returning from a Hutchinson Island condo to finish rounds at Lawnwood, found the base of South Bridge blocked with police cars and accident tape.

Raymond Chew, 47, lay in the intersection of Seaway and Indian River drives, his motorcycle nearby and his helmet loose but still on. No emergency medical crews had arrived when Funicello arrived.

So, the trauma surgeon went to work, assessing the patient.

“Because I do it so often, every day, it’s just routine,” Funicello said. “I’m used to it in the hospital, just not in the middle of the road.”

Chew had a broken femur and an open fracture between his knee and ankle, Funicello said. The crash had scraped off skin and tissue from his foot, exposing the bone at his heel.

Chew, who was recovering Monday in the trauma neurosurgical intensive care unit, told hospital officials he didn’t remember being helped in the road because he was in so much pain.

While Funicello was working, around 6:20 p.m., another member of Lawnwood’s trauma crew traveled over the bridge. Registered nurse Joyce Messner was coming in for her 12-hour shift at the provisional trauma center.

Messner stopped to help Chew, but, after seeing Funicello had matters in hand, called Lawnwood to alert the trauma crew to an incoming patient. Emergency medical crews arrived shortly after Messner as Funicello finished the assessment.

Messner left the trauma surgeon and paramedics to immobilize Chew and get him into an ambulance.

“I said, ‘All right, I’m heading to the hospital,’ ” Messner said. “ ‘We’ll be ready for you.’ ”

Chew arrived just a minutes after she started her shift.

Hillary Copsey

Tags: accident, bridge, car, condo, crash, driving, emergency, foot, hand, helmet, hospital, Hospitals, medical, motorcycle, motorcyclist, nurse, nursing, paramedic, police, roads, travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 10:41 am and is filed under Fort Pierce, Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.