Today Brad had his first experience with a major medical problem. About 11:30am a page came out for a gunshot wound to the head and, since the only other person in the district at this time was the Fire Chief, Brad responded to assist. When he arrived at the station, he and the Chief responded in the medic. In route they found that the gunshot was actually a suicide attempt. Normally in suicide situations the fire department stages some distance away, waiting for the police to show up and clear the scene before entering, but in this case the police were so far out that the Chief made the decision to go in. After entering the house and not finding a patient, they called dispatch and discovered that he was actually out in the back of the property.
After a little searching around they found the patient and his wife (who had called 911) out back. He had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and was not breathing. Brad worked on an airway and began bagging him while the Chief checked for a pulse. Though he couldn’t find a plus initially, eventually a very weak one was found. About 5 minutes later the Molalla ambulance arrived and transported the patient to a nearby landing zone where a Life Flight helicopter arrived to take him to the nearest trauma center. Unfortunately the damage was too severe and he died at the hospital.