ARRMC employees help crash victims at food truck

ARRMC employees Kaylee Gray and Hali Logan were having lunch outside at ARRMC on Tuesday when they heard a crash across the street and saw a crowd gathering. They raced over to help.

An elderly driver, who police say was in the Starbucks drive-thru, mistook the gas pedal for the brake, causing him to smash into a van then jump the curb. He crashed into the picnic area at the Peruvian Point food truck, injuring three adults and one child.

Gray and Logan immediately tended to the victims on the ground, as did other medical staff taking their lunch break in the vicinity.

“We helped out however we could until everyone was stable,” said Gray, a licensed practical nurse at the hospital’s Advanced Wound Center.  She held pressure on a wounded child while Logan supported a woman’s neck to protect her from potential spinal injuries. Logan, a CNA and wound tech, worked in the ICU before joining the wound center.

“This was a freak accident, and this does happen occasionally,” Medford Police Lt. Mike Budreau told KTVL. “We see this where elderly drivers get the gas and the brake mixed up, it’s very unfortunate when it happens. We are very fortunate that this wasn’t more serious.”