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Accident
changes officer’s life |
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Hobart police
officer Kevin
Kaminski was responding
to a high priority call last
July, when in a single
moment his whole life
changed. Driving with
lights and siren, Kevin
was crossing the
intersection of County
Highways U and EE when his
squad car was hit in
the passenger side and flipped
over onto its roof. County
Rescue ground rescue units
and EAGLE III were dispatched to
the scene; Captain Larry Ullmer, flight
paramedic, was one of the first to
arrive. “We saw that the officer had tried
to self extricate, but
he was still partially entangled
in the vehicle,” says
Ullmer. “His gun belt
and equipment were
entangled. His tazer
had fired and the wires
were lodged in the
vehicle’s interior.”
Cutting the wires
and removing Kevin from
the vehicle made his
injuries evident– including head
trauma, lacerations and
a fractured rib and
pelvis. There was also
major trauma to his
left hand, which Kevin
says got stuck outside
of the squad during the
accident. Alert
throughout the ordeal, the officer
was assessed, immobilized on a
spine board and packaged for flight to
a trauma center. He was a little apprehensive
about flying due to a fear
of heights, but his worries were soon
calmed by the flight crew. “They knew
I was nervous about
flying and reassured me
it would be fine.”
And he wasn’t disappointed.
“I was amazed at how
smooth and quickly the
ride went.”
Just a few minutes after liftoff, EAGLE
III landed at Aurora Bay-Care. Says Ullmer: “It was a simple,
short flight, but in Kevin’s
situation, air
transport was the quickest and smoothest
choice. With his injuries, it would
have been painful to be transported by
ground ambulance.”
After being hospitalized for four days, Kevin was
discharged – but his
recovery was far from over. He needed
therapy to help his fractured pelvis
heal. Luckily his head injury was
only a laceration. It was his hand injury,
though, that was most severe. Surgeons
had to reattach a tendon; Kevin
needed several skin grafts, and he
required several months of occupational therapy.
And as time went on, it became clear that his career
as a police officer was
over. Kevin was medically retired due
to his pelvis and hand injuries. With
his early retirement, his life has
taken a new direction. A stay-at-home dad, Kevin is now also an
active community volunteer.
From the YMCA’s
bicycle rodeo to the Ryan Jerabek
run, Kevin helps out whenever and
wherever he can. “I really enjoy
what I am able to do. I get to work
with other volunteers … great people
… and make a difference for good
causes.”
Kevin and his wife Holly have four children:
Chloe, 4; Autumn, 3; Lily, 2;
and Quinn, two months. He realizes even
more now how important they
are to him. “During the accident, all
I could think about was my family,” he
recalls. “I learned what really matters
most – your family and the people
you love.” He
commends everyone who assisted
with his accident that day –
the County Rescue ground units, CRS-Hobart
First Responders, Brown County
Sheriff’s Department, Oneida Police
Department, Aurora Bay Care, and
EAGLE III. “I was glad that I was able
to get to a trauma center within a
few minutes by air. Otherwise it would
have been 20 minutes by ground,
and to shave off that much time
in a potentially life-threatening situation
was impressive.”
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