Helicopter of Claiborn Pkwy

Any one know what was going on last night over Claiborn Pkwy, maybe by the elem. school. I first saw a fire truck then about 10 min. later I saw a helicopter circleling with its search light on. Then more firetrucks and ambulances.

 

I saw it too. Sounded like the helicopter was going to land on my roof! At first I thought it was a medivac helicopter looking for a place to land but it kept circling with a spotlight. Missing child maybe?? I heard the firetrucks/ambulance leave Hillside (with lights/sirens) and go further down Claiborne towards Waxpool. Anyone got any info?

 

An infant from a home on Ellzey was med-evaced from Hillside Elementary.

 

First, I truly hope the child is okay. BUT, I have to get this in... why medivac when there is a hospital only "5 minutes away"?

 

Possibly the injury or problem with the child required more specialized care than Loudoun can give. Fairfax or Children's Hospital would be my guess.

 

The helicopter was a INOVA medivac. I saw land and take off on a parking lot next to Eagle Ridge Middle School. It took off and headed towards either Reston or INOVA Fairfax. Both have heliports. Fairfax would be my guess since they have a great kids ICU. I hope the kid is OK. Interesting that it landed on a parking lot instead of the field. The pilot took great care to land and take off amongst the light poles.

 

I'm glad he was able to land and take off again safely. He went around Hillside several times looking at the field and parking lot. Glad that Eagle Ridge was an option.

Hoping the little one is ok.

 

Isn't HCA proposing a pediatric specialized ward for the BMRC? (not sure on this)

 

Hca will have a ped unit but my understanding is not for emergency life saving, mainly for stitches, etc. Lets not turn yet another thread into an HCA debate. I truly hope that child is ok regardless of where they are getting treatment.

 

"Just for stiches"??? And you don't want to turn this into an HCA debate. Come on!

 

Best wishes to the little tyke!

 

The helicopter was for my 2 year old daughter. Thank God, she is OK now. I came in the door from work and before I even had my coat off, she toppled over backwards like a tree being felled. When we picked her up, her eyes rolled back into her head and she started convulsing. We didn't know what was wrong but it was scary as h*** and we didn't hestitate to call 911. Thought it was a head injury and so did the parametics, so they brought in the copter from Inova Fairfax. They told us that Loudoun couldn't handle pediatric emergencies like this.

Well, it turned out to not be from the fall, but from a fever. She had what is called a febrile seizure. Fingers twitching, eyes fixed and dialated, tongue wagging. But not life threatening once she was stablized and the fever reduced. We had never heard of this happening. To combat the fever we gave Tylenol then Motrin every three hours for 36 hours after we brought her home. There is a chance she could have another till she's about 7 but at least we're ready for it this time.

The copter circled looking for a safe landing zone. The reason they veered off from Hillside was that there were no lights on because of the holidays and they wanted to play it very safe.

I want to thank everyone for all the well-wishes for our daughter. We've been here about a year now and after the concern showed by our neighbors we really feel welcome and secure here.[^]

Lastly, I've made it a point not to get embroiled in the HCA debate but an experience like this changes a man. I'm still not pro-HCA in our backyard, but I DO see a clear need for some advanced care in our county. Fairfax is a great hospital, but can you imagine if one of the numerous auto accidents or whatever in a county of over a million people kept that chopper from coming out here when needed? One of my neighbors told me Loundoun almost lost one of his children because of pneumonia. I don't want to say anymore because I'm too ignorant of the details of this issue and I've never even been to Loudoun, but I predict another major hospital center will be built somewhere in eastern Loudoun county within the next decade. Why not somewhere down the road a few more miles on the Greenway? Or over in the section off the Greenway where I heard they're planning to build a mega mall in a few years?


MTK

 

I am very glad to hear your daughter is doing fine. There is NOTHING scarier then having a sick child and having to go to the hospital. Hopefully that is the first and last of those seizures.

 

We, too, are glad your daughter is ok. I can remember some 2 year old issues that scared the pants off us, also. You just don't realize how important it is to have high level emergency care until it happens to you. I agree with you on a location for a new hospital - it does seem there's alot of open space along the Greenway. And better yet - that would provide them space for future expansion. cj

 

MTK - so glad to hear your daughter is OK!

 

I think most of the anit-hospital folks are not against a new hospital just one right here. There's plenty of space near AOL. But with the shenanigans of the new BOS we'll be needing that hospital more to the west and south with all of the new development.