IRideASnowboard154
03-24-2006, 08:50 PM
Mohawk ski lift operator a hero
Friday, March 24, 2006
BY BRIGITTE RUTHMAN
Copyright © 2006 Republican-American
TORRINGTON -- Ski lift operator Kevin VanBlarcom acted instinctively when young Trent Hyland missed the seat and dangled at his mother's side as he lifted off from chairlift No. 4 at Mohawk Ski Area Feb. 20.
In two steps, VanBlarcom had the back of the lift in his left hand and the boy's gray coat in his right.
With five years of previous experience as a lift operator in New York state, VanBlarcom was adept at adjusting children who didn't make it squarely into the chair.
But with most of the young boy's weight outside of the lift, the 26-year-old VanBlarcom wrestled to pull him up with one hand as the lift carried him, the boy and the boy's mother up the mountain.
"I thought I had time," he said.
He believed a co-worker would see what had happened and push the red stop button near the operator's station.
But no one was there.
No one else standing in line knew what to do as the ground dropped farther below VanBlarcom.
He was able to lift the boy into his mother's arms, but couldn't pull himself up. The boy's mother, Linda Hyland, wasn't strong enough.
She kept repeating "don't fall, please don't fall," he recalled.
As tower No. 8 and a craggy patch of trees and rocks loomed ahead near the halfway point, VanBlarcom's fingers slipped from the cold metal and he fell 30 feet to the packed powder beneath him. He landed on his feet and fell forward on his left arm.
The bones in his left wrist were broken in so many places, "they looked like spaghetti," he said.
Even as he twisted and cried out in pain, he knew he was lucky enough not to have been paralyzed because his legs moved.
A paramedic who happened to be skiing that day stopped to help, and 45 minutes later VanBlarcom was on his way to Sharon Hospital.
"I closed my eyes and said 'Please God, help me,'" he said, his face pinched by remembered fear as he recalled the event from his bed where pillows prop both legs.
VanBlarcom underwent three rounds of surgery at Hartford Hospital before being moved back to Torrington March 8.
He has lived here with roommates when he went to work in December at Mohawk a couple of days a week to supplement his job as a social services aid at the city's FISH shelter. He was sold on the perk of skiing for free.
Doctors who replaced his shattered heel and wrist bones with metal plates, springs, rods and screws say he won't be able to walk without crutches for another year. It's a long time not to be able to play his favorite game of golf.
VanBlarcom, a shy 26-year-old, blithely waved his hand at the metal stabilizing rods and six screws that hold bones in his left foot in place to mend.
"My prayers were answered," he said. "It could have been a lot worse. That boy wasn't hurt."
He hasn't seen the boy or his mother since that day. A thank you card written with a small boy's uneven hand sits beside a bag of Snickers and a can of Diet Pepsi on his bedside table.
"I'm sorry that you got hurt," the note, signed Trent said. "Thank you for helping me."
There was no return address or phone number, though it's not clear why. VanBlarcom would like to meet the boy he rescued.
"But it's OK if I don't. I'm comfortable knowing he wasn't hurt," he said.
VanBlarcom's Torrington attorney, Jeffrey Nicholas, is working to make sure his client receives the workers' compensation money he is owed.
Mohawk Mountain President Carol Lugar said he will receive all of what he has claimed in medical expenses.
The ski area complied with laws, which require only one operator per lift. Under state statute, skiers who use the lifts assume the associated risks and are required to learn how to load properly or ask for assistance. No other operators had been assigned to the lift that day, she said.
"Lift operators are trained not to touch customers because that contact increases the possibility of the employee being put into harm's away and unable to do his job properly," she said. "The customer is more likely to not complete the lift-loading process."
Yet with 100,000 skiers using the slopes every year, Lugar said, "accidents happen."
"It was a bad accident," Lugar said.
Instead of trips to Myrtle Beach with best friend Pat McCarthy, VanBlarcom looks forward these days to periodic smoking breaks that offer relief from the monotony of life in a long-term care facility and a big screen television that is almost always on.
Simple things, like using the bathroom, require a "break dance" maneuver, he laughed.
He doesn't plan on skiing again.
http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=4596&p=0
Friday, March 24, 2006
BY BRIGITTE RUTHMAN
Copyright © 2006 Republican-American
TORRINGTON -- Ski lift operator Kevin VanBlarcom acted instinctively when young Trent Hyland missed the seat and dangled at his mother's side as he lifted off from chairlift No. 4 at Mohawk Ski Area Feb. 20.
In two steps, VanBlarcom had the back of the lift in his left hand and the boy's gray coat in his right.
With five years of previous experience as a lift operator in New York state, VanBlarcom was adept at adjusting children who didn't make it squarely into the chair.
But with most of the young boy's weight outside of the lift, the 26-year-old VanBlarcom wrestled to pull him up with one hand as the lift carried him, the boy and the boy's mother up the mountain.
"I thought I had time," he said.
He believed a co-worker would see what had happened and push the red stop button near the operator's station.
But no one was there.
No one else standing in line knew what to do as the ground dropped farther below VanBlarcom.
He was able to lift the boy into his mother's arms, but couldn't pull himself up. The boy's mother, Linda Hyland, wasn't strong enough.
She kept repeating "don't fall, please don't fall," he recalled.
As tower No. 8 and a craggy patch of trees and rocks loomed ahead near the halfway point, VanBlarcom's fingers slipped from the cold metal and he fell 30 feet to the packed powder beneath him. He landed on his feet and fell forward on his left arm.
The bones in his left wrist were broken in so many places, "they looked like spaghetti," he said.
Even as he twisted and cried out in pain, he knew he was lucky enough not to have been paralyzed because his legs moved.
A paramedic who happened to be skiing that day stopped to help, and 45 minutes later VanBlarcom was on his way to Sharon Hospital.
"I closed my eyes and said 'Please God, help me,'" he said, his face pinched by remembered fear as he recalled the event from his bed where pillows prop both legs.
VanBlarcom underwent three rounds of surgery at Hartford Hospital before being moved back to Torrington March 8.
He has lived here with roommates when he went to work in December at Mohawk a couple of days a week to supplement his job as a social services aid at the city's FISH shelter. He was sold on the perk of skiing for free.
Doctors who replaced his shattered heel and wrist bones with metal plates, springs, rods and screws say he won't be able to walk without crutches for another year. It's a long time not to be able to play his favorite game of golf.
VanBlarcom, a shy 26-year-old, blithely waved his hand at the metal stabilizing rods and six screws that hold bones in his left foot in place to mend.
"My prayers were answered," he said. "It could have been a lot worse. That boy wasn't hurt."
He hasn't seen the boy or his mother since that day. A thank you card written with a small boy's uneven hand sits beside a bag of Snickers and a can of Diet Pepsi on his bedside table.
"I'm sorry that you got hurt," the note, signed Trent said. "Thank you for helping me."
There was no return address or phone number, though it's not clear why. VanBlarcom would like to meet the boy he rescued.
"But it's OK if I don't. I'm comfortable knowing he wasn't hurt," he said.
VanBlarcom's Torrington attorney, Jeffrey Nicholas, is working to make sure his client receives the workers' compensation money he is owed.
Mohawk Mountain President Carol Lugar said he will receive all of what he has claimed in medical expenses.
The ski area complied with laws, which require only one operator per lift. Under state statute, skiers who use the lifts assume the associated risks and are required to learn how to load properly or ask for assistance. No other operators had been assigned to the lift that day, she said.
"Lift operators are trained not to touch customers because that contact increases the possibility of the employee being put into harm's away and unable to do his job properly," she said. "The customer is more likely to not complete the lift-loading process."
Yet with 100,000 skiers using the slopes every year, Lugar said, "accidents happen."
"It was a bad accident," Lugar said.
Instead of trips to Myrtle Beach with best friend Pat McCarthy, VanBlarcom looks forward these days to periodic smoking breaks that offer relief from the monotony of life in a long-term care facility and a big screen television that is almost always on.
Simple things, like using the bathroom, require a "break dance" maneuver, he laughed.
He doesn't plan on skiing again.
http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=4596&p=0