Personal Narrative: my First Day at my New Job

It was January 18, 2017, a crisp clear morning, the sunlight was just cresting the peak of the mountain and the wind was beginning to pick up. I threw on my ski patrol jacket, grabbed a two-way radio, and hopped on my snowboard. It was my first day at my new job as a ski patrol officer at my local ski hill. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach as I thought back to my training, I hoped I could remember everything I was taught to do if something were to go wrong.

As I got on the ski lift, I could feel the wind blowing snow across my face, the tiny bits of ice hitting my cheeks felt like pins and needles on my skin. Despite my nerves and the cold, I was still excited to get out on the slopes, snowboarding has always been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I was ecstatic that I was able to get a job doing something I love. Two other ski patrol officers and I did a sweep of the hill so we could give the lift operators the go ahead to open, as we checked the hill, all seemed good and the snow conditions were perfect, the gates then opened. The hill was quickly covered in skiers and snowboarder of all ages and skill levels. Things ran smoothly through the morning until just before lunch, on my last run down the hill before I was going to eat, I heard someone call out for help. I stopped immediately and looked around, to my left I heard the call for help again, I quickly unstrapped my board and ran over to see what was going on. As I crested the hill overlooking the terrain park, I saw a man about six feet tall and 300 plus pounds laying on the ground beneath one of the jumps, I rushed over to him to see what he needed.

Once I got close enough, I could clearly see that his leg was bent at a very unnatural angle just above his ankle. My heart began beating rapidly as I pushed away the feeling of panic that was beginning to set in, I knew that there was no way I could get this guy to ski hut on my own. I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down, I knew I needed to be calm and collected or I was going to stress the injured man out even more then he already was. I then got on my radio and called it in to the other Ski-patrol Officers. The others got there as soon as they could and brought the stretcher sled with them. The head Ski Patrol officer then asked the man a few questions and checked to see if he had a concussion or any other injuries. After he passed the concussion protocol we began working as a team to lift him onto the stretcher. We then placed him on the sled and pulled him back to the ski hut, this was extremely difficult, and I was exhausted by the time we arrived. Once we were in the hut, we were able tell that his leg was for sure broken and needed a splint, I have never done a splint before, so I watched carefully as my boss put one on him. I could tell the man was in a lot of pain, so I talked to him to try and take his mind off the situation. Once the splint was on, he seemed to feel a little better but still couldn’t move on his own, this made thing difficult because we needed to get him into the transport van to bring him to the hospital.

The other officers and I had to support this man and practically carry him to the van, he was exhausted and still in immense pain which made moving him even more difficult. After everything was done and he was taken to the hospital, the one main thing I took from this experience is that remaining calm and collected is one of the most important things when it comes to helping others in an emergency situation. I also learned that communication and working as a team is extremely important too, with everything that happened that day if I hadn’t had a team to help every step of the way then things would not have gone as smoothly as they did. 

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