One evening, Scott Whitehead decided to take his motorcycle over to a friend’s house, but Scott never made it. Instead, Scott was transported to Sunnybrook in an Ornge helicopter.
 

Scott Whitehead has spent a large part of his life working with his hands. This began at age 15 when he started construction, to now owning his inground pool company and working as a volunteer firefighter. After travelling all over Canada, Scott has settled in Ontario where he takes care of his seven-year-old daughter. One evening, Scott decided to take his motorcycle over to a friend’s house, but Scott never made it. Instead, Scott was transported to Sunnybrook in an Ornge helicopter.
 
It was the evening of May 5, 2022, and Scott was cruising on his motorcycle down the country roads. It was just past 8:00 p.m. and it had started to get dark. Scott was travelling along the highway he could see the headlights of a car in the oncoming lane. Scott slowed down, and continued driving straight through, believing the other vehicle had seen him. However, the other vehicle did not, and Scott crashed into the back panel.
 
“I got a gut feeling almost instantly that he wasn’t going to see me. He was stopped at the stop sign, and I was convinced he had seen me. Obviously wasn’t the case and ended up hitting him on the back left quarter panel of his car. It was so slow motion I remember so vividly,” said Scott.
 
After the crash, Scott was lying on the road, and his leg was badly injured. The other driver came out to see what happened. Scott yelled out to them to call 911 and to help him get off of the road so he would not be hit again. The driver called 911 but was relaying the wrong information to the operator. While trying to drag himself off the road, Scott began yelling out loud the correct location, hoping the operator heard him. Once Scott made it to the gravel shoulder, he finally looked at his leg.
 
“As soon as I hit him, I thought my leg turned to mush. At that point, I had looked at my leg, and it was just massacred. My foot was in the wrong direction, it looked like it was hanging off, knee was in the opposite direction from my foot. I was sitting straight up, and none of that stuff was lining up. And it was convulsing in places I knew it shouldn’t have been,” said Scott.
 
Once the lights of the arriving paramedics could be seen, the driver fled the scene, leaving Scott on the side of the road while trying to make himself a tourniquet. The paramedics then rushed Scott to Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay, where the attending physicians called for transport with Ornge, as Scott’s injuries were out of the scope for the hospital. An Ornge helicopter was planned to arrive and meet Scott at Lindsay Municipal Airport.
 
“I had sustained catastrophic injuries. A femur broken completely in two places and shattered and compounded by the knee, a fractured tibia and fibula, torn Achilles tendon, and severe trauma that nearly resulted in the loss of my foot, said Scott. “I just remember lying there with a million different thoughts in my head. I just really remember them telling me we were going to be alright, and we’re going to be at Sunnybrook in about 18 minutes. It was just general conversation that put me at ease.”
 
Once he arrived at Sunnybrook, the journey to save Scott’s leg began. He was met with a flurry of doctors and nurses and went into surgery the next morning. The surgical team was successful in repairing Scott’s leg. Scott then began his recovery as he wanted to make it back home in time for his daughter’s birthday.
 
“I remember being so scared, but at the same time knowing this surgery needs to happen. The next morning, they took me in, I went to surgery, came out, and I woke up in my room in recovery, and the surgeon was standing there and said, ‘Well Scott the surgery went really well.’ I remember being too scared to see if he still had two legs. Thankfully, I had two legs,” said Scott. “My parents were made aware of where I was. I instantly was like ‘when can I go home?’ It’s May 5^th, my daughter’s birthday is May 12^th and I’m not going to be in the hospital for her birthday.”
 
Scott was able to meet his discharge requirements, and his parents were able to pick him up from the hospital on May 10^th, making it home in time for his daughter’s birthday.
 
Today, Scott is still working on his mobility and continues to attend physiotherapy once a week. Scott passed his physical to return to the fire department as a volunteer and no longer rides motorcycles. Coming from a first responder background, Scott appreciates all the effort and skill of the Ornge pilots and paramedics.
 
“Just in general, thank you for getting me there quickly and making my first unfortunate helicopter ride easier and relaxed. Until you’re in that situation yourself, you can’t really understand how grateful it is to have those people,” said Scott. “Until you’re in that situation yourself you don’t really understand the value of those people. They’re amazing. The world is a better place with them. What they do is incredible, and they should be extremely proud of what they do. And don’t ever take that for granted that you’re just doing your job because those moments really impact somebody’s life.”
 
We acknowledge and thank the paramedics, pilots and Operations Control Centre staff for demonstrating their skill and knowledge in a safe, respectful, kind and compassionate manner. Your dedication to our values translated into Scott’s transport and led to the positive outcome in Scott’s life.
 
“Today, I have made an almost full recovery. On most days, you would not know I was ever in an accident,” said Scott. “Ornge in general, the whole crew right from dispatch out. It’s absolutely a team effort – every single person deserves praise and thank you and needs to know that what they do is awesome.”

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• Patients and Families