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fwd: A Very Bad Day (warning - h*lmets)
Marian wrote:
My response to the OP on the teflchinalife mailing list on yahoogroups. I haven't gotten a response to this yet but it's not a very high traffic list so I'm not at all surprised. A Very Bad Day. The boy organised a Ute / utility truck to take our bikes & us back up the mountain to search for her bike which was still in the storm drain with her helmet (we were all wearing helmets), lots of blood. In the bottom of the drain I discovered a 6 cm diameter piece of her skull! Also inside her helmet was a further piece of skull, yet the helmet was not damaged. cut and paste The bone was screwed back onto her skull & her leg straightened (I still have not found out if it's broken or twisted). Her nose was completely smashed. It sounds like she may have landed on her face in which case there is nothing short of a BMX or downhill full face helmet that would have helped and even then it may have only mitigated the damage. Do you know anything about how she went out of control? For example, did she have sufficient experience in braking on mountains to know about easing off on the front brake so as to avoid going over the handlebars? If not, why not? You say that no one was riding with her on the descent. Why not? Did you feel that she was already an advanced enough cyclist that she could be trusted to correctly gauge the proper downhill speed for the conditions? As an experienced racer, I go down hills at least 10-15kph faster when I'm in the company of my coach than I do on my own because I have a skilled person with me who is already familiar with the route and I can take my braking cues from him. Arriving at the hospital, she was lying on a bed, a pool of blood on the floor, her brain visible, her head shaved. But many people around her with their normal street clothes on, not a sterile condition. Unfortunately normal for China. When I collapsed at Qinghai Lake my leader decided I should wait 4 hours for the race ambulance because of the condition of the local hospital. After the second time I collapsed I ended up at the hospital and even as an outpatient in the specially appointed room for race related incidents it was a scary scary place. Lots of phone calls, but no action. Then I figured out, the hospital was waiting for 3000 RMB to be paid before further treatment. Again, normal. And don't get me started on what happens if a patient runs out of money mid-treatment. My offer of assistance was rejected. Your offer of what kind of assistance and to whom? This was on Thurs. Today she is awake, eating & recovering. Amazingly she seems to have her normal brain faculties, no memory loss. I was kept out of what was happening, in fact I felt a hindrance being there. Since you don't speak Chinese, ask yourself whether or not there was anything you could have done by being there. Perhaps you didn't merely "feel like a hindrance" but actually were a hindrance. At last year's Shimano Road Race Challenge I was weak and dizzy at the finish line. Assuming I didn't speak Chinese no one made any real attempt to speak to me but cries went out "find a translator! find a translator!" which led to my leader from the Tour of Hainan coming over, pushing his way through the crowd of people who weren't doing anything useful, announcing "Oh, her -- she is a translator" and leaving. He was the person who got the ambulance crew. The reason for the anecdote above is because the best course of action is often to find someone more able to deal with it than you yourself are. Recognize your own limitations. Hovering around the emergency room trying to help out when you can't speak Chinese makes you only a little bit better than the people in street clothes who had nothing to do with the situation but who were gawking. Why the long story? It brought home to me:- 1) Never cycle with students. As a teacher, you are held responsible for any mishap. 2) I'm often in remote parts of China on my bike. If I had an accident & was unconscious, if money can not be produced, you can die. Well ... no, you are a foreigner and you look like a foreigner. The bigger problem you are going to have is that a small hospital may refuse treatment to you because they do not feel that their skill is up to snuff and they are afraid of messing up. Transit time to a larger hospital which will take you might mean the difference between life and death but, as a foreigner, not having the cash on hand is not something you need to worry about as much. I will ALWAYS carry a copy of my evacuation insurance with a note in Chinese of people to contact in an emergency - my university, plus a copy of my passport & Z visa. Consider carrying your passport. I also question my Chinese made helmet. I assume by "Chinese made helmet" you mean your "Chinese brand helmet" since most helmets, including brands like Giro and Bell, are made in China (or at least Taiwan). With the realization that cyclists suffer sufficiently few head injuries so as to make it impossible to have any real data, there is some indication that if your helmet is securely strapped in place (most people's aren't!) your cheaper helmet may in fact provide more protection than an expensive one because of the thicker styrofoam and fewer air vents ... unless of course we are talking about rotational neck injuries in which case there is some indication that any helmet at all will cause more damage than not wearing a helmet in the first place. More data on helmet wearing can be found at http://www.cycle-helmets.com/ I can't be bothered to currently look up the data on helmet wearing and head injuries in the pro peloton but there is a proven correlation between the International Cycling Union's adoption of mandatory helmet rules with faster speeds, and tighter packed riding. Risk compensation (why air bags and seat belts don't prevent serious accidents) is a very real phenomenon. I asked why the motorcyclist did not stop when he passed the girl & was told if you get involved you take on the responsibility & could be left with the hospital bill. I do not know if this is true, I hope not. I'm very concerned about this young girl & hope she is able to have nose reconstruction, but we should all take steps to have an emergency procedure to follow. Has anybody ever phoned the emergency 110, do they speak English? In theory I am a translator for the Haikou 110 call center and, in the event that they have someone who does not speak Chinese, I am supposed to have the call patched through to my mobile. In reality the only calls I have ever gotten from 110 have been invitations to do something including going out to sing karaoke with a bunch of PSB officers. -M Short response! Take this as a warning to *never* go to Communist China for any reason whatsoever. Life is cheap to worthless to them and they don't deserve any tourist trade. I'm leaving this whole post alone in the hopes it will become infamous and people will realize China is *not* your friend. Bill Baka I hope she survives the ordeal without permanent damage. |
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fwd: A Very Bad Day (warning - h*lmets)
On Jun 1, 8:04*pm, Bill Baka wrote:
Short response! Take this as a warning to *never* go to Communist China for any reason whatsoever. Life is cheap to worthless to them and they don't deserve any tourist trade. I'm leaving this whole post alone in the hopes it will become infamous and people will realize China is *not* your friend. Bill, I hope people aren't as quick to judge OUR nation, and ITS 300,000,000 people by YOUR actions as YOU are to judge the BILLION person nation of CHINA by the actions of a FEW OF their citizens. |
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