KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nearly every emergency provider in Anderson County, Kansas, helped save the life of a man whose leg was caught in an auger in a grain cart Tuesday morning.
The Anderson County Communications Center got a call at 11:35 a.m. that a person was trapped in a grain cart west of Garnett, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.
“This incident highlights the importance of rapid and accurate information flow,” Chelsey D’Albini, Anderson County Communications Center director, said in a Facebook post. “Our dispatchers coordinated multiple agencies, requested the air ambulance, and ensured resources were mobilized quickly. That early coordination was a critical link in the chain of survival.”
The sheriff’s department, Anderson County EMS and Garnett Rescue were sent to the scene. Anderson County EMS also asked that a helicopter ambulance be put on standby.
In less than 10 minutes, Anderson County Sheriff Wesley McClain, his undersheriff and the county fire coordinator arrived at the accident scene.
McClain said he and his undersheriff got into the grain cart and worked to free the victim from the auger. They also placed a tourniquet on one leg to stop the bleeding.
More emergency crews, including the Anderson County Emergency Medical Services director, were at the accident site by 11:48 a.m., according to the Facebook post.
They quickly put together a plan to safely rescue the man from the auger.
“The Sheriff’s Office deputies made a lifesaving decision by applying a tourniquet in those first critical minutes,” Anderson County EMD Director Troy Armstrong said in the Facebook post. “That intervention, combined with rapid extrication by rescue and advanced care by EMS, ensured this patient had the best possible chance of survival. I couldn’t be prouder of the collaboration that occurred today.”
The victim was out of the auger by 11:56 a.m. and was taken by ambulance to the Anderson County Hospital’s helipad, per the Facebook post.
A medical helicopter flew the man to a Level 1 trauma center in Kansas City.
He suffered the loss of part of one leg.
“This was true teamwork,” McClain stated in the Facebook post. "From deputies jumping in to provide immediate aid, to EMS and rescue personnel coordinating the extrication and transport, everyone had one mission—save a life. Today’s response proves the strength of our emergency system in Anderson County.”
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