Crew slides into ditch responding to call, rescued by tow truck

By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

An emergency medical response took a muddy turn Tuesday afternoon when a Hillsboro ambulance slid off the roadway and into a ditch near Jade and 130th Rds.

Because of sloppy road conditions, assistance was sent from Marion County Sheriff’s Office to pick up the stranded ambulance crew.

Ambulances were responding to a call at noon that a four-year-old near Jade and 80th Rds. had swallowed pills, thrown up and was feeling drowsy.

While it was in Peabody’s territory, EMS director Travis Parmley said an advanced life support ambulance was needed as a precaution, which was why Hillsboro responded.

“There was certainly a risk to the patient, and we wanted advanced life support capabilities with a paramedic on scene,” he said.

Peabody ambulance was first on scene, and met up with Marion’s ALS ambulance on Indigo Rd. on the way to poison control at Hillsboro Hospital.

“That was the silver lining to the whole thing, was that there was no delay of care and no detriment to the patient,” Parmley said.

Hillsboro ambulance went down a wrong road during the call, which was what led to it getting stuck, Parmley said.

A tow truck from Auto House Towing and Recovery in Galva pulled the stranded ambulance out of the ditch and brought it back to Hillsboro.

There was no damage to the ambulance and it was drivable after the mud was washed off, Parmley said.