Rural newspaper details ambulance crew's long journey to rescue one man

Harold Schaetzle

In Maine, which has the highest percent of rural population in the country, 96 percent of traffic fatalities in 2010 occurred on rural roads. With so many people living in rural areas, and so much area to cover, it's not uncommon for emergency personnel to travel some distance to the scene of an accident. But we were alerted to a story by Kaitlin Schroeder for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville that details how one rural ambulance crew went above and beyond the call of duty to rescue an injured man.

Jeremy O'Neil

"Rangeley NorthStar is responsible for 1,100 square miles of Maine's rural northwest, stretching west to the New Hampshire border and north to the Canadian border," reports Schroeder. After receiving a call about a spinal injury, three members of the Northstar crew -- Steve Grant, Harold Schaetzle and Jeremy O'Neil -- traveled 30 miles from their base to rescue the man, and another 64 miles to transport him to a hospital in Berlin, N.H.

Steve Grant

While that might not sound overly amazing, this is: The accident happened on an island, and the responders had to travel by boat to reach the injured man, secure him, travel back by boat to land, then drive the rest of the way to the nearest hospital. The main reason for the long distance is that the area doesn't have a high enough population of year-round residents to support more medical services, but is a popular spot for tourists, and most calls involve visitors injured during outdoor activities, reports Schroeder. (Read more) Here's a Google map of the likely route they took from Caribou Island in Parmacheenee Lake: