AIRMAN HELPS SIX HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INJURED IN CAR CRASH

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Alessandra N. Hurley
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. (ACCNS) --  Senior Airman Zachary Yoakam came across a car accident and helped save the lives of six teenagers Dec. 6 while on temporary duty to Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

Yoakam, a 28th Operations Support Squadron survival, evasion, resistance and escape instructor at Ellsworth, was attending SERE upgrade medical training at Fairchild when he saw the crash scene. The victims, ranging in age from 15 to 18, were on their way back home from a movie when they slid on some black ice and then smashed into a telephone pole.

"The accident happened the first night I got into town," Yoakam said. "I was driving back to billeting at about 10 p.m., after a good friend and I had dinner. I saw a car by the side of the road. The (telephone) pole was hanging by its wires."

The Airman said when he passed by the accident, he thought, at the very least, he could offer the people he saw standing outside a warm place in his car while they waited for the authorities.

But as he arrived on scene, he realized he would need to do more than provide a cozy shelter. Six teenagers were injured, and three were still trapped inside the wrecked vehicle.

"I immediately sized it up and set up a triage," Yoakam said. "I directed a middle-aged woman who had also stopped to help to call 911 and asked her if she had any blankets in her car. When she told me she did, I took the blankets and used them to help treat the injured passengers for shock."

Yoakam described the weather that Friday night as being cold and windy with freezing rain and temperatures in the 20s. As he wrapped the victims in the blankets, he checked them over for signs of further injuries.

Once he had the three teens outside the vehicle sheltered and stabilized, he tended to those still trapped in the wreckage.

The car's frame was bent and half-buried in snow, he said. One of the passengers inside had a large cut on her face and was at risk for serious back injury, he added.

"I instructed the driver and two passengers inside the car to stay put, and told one of them to help keep the girl's head still by placing his hands on either side of her face to provide stability for her back," Yoakam said.

"I'm proud of Airman Yoakam," said 28th Operations Group first sergeant Master Sgt. Marty Joyce, who saw Yoakam receive an Air Force Achievement Medal Feb. 15 for his heroic actions at the mishap scene. "If he hadn't acted upon the life-saving strategies he learned from his training, the injured teens could have been a lot worse off."