Dr. Mark Robbins, a pulmonologist on a locum tenens assignment with Weatherby Healthcare in North Carolina, was out for a bike ride when he heard the sound of screeching tires and a loud crash.
“I had just finished a shift in the MICU at my assignment facility, and the evening was hot and clear,” recalls Dr. Robbins. “Ahead, I saw a small car in the middle of the road. The closer I got, I could see it was very damaged.”
When he got closer, he saw a white SUV on the lefthand side of the road.
“The passengers in the second vehicle appeared to be okay,” he says. “But smoke was coming from the small car, and a man outside of it was frantically trying to open the crushed passenger-side door. I thought, ‘This could be really bad.’”
Dr. Robbins was the first responder. But he had no equipment or support staff, and no bystanders had yet stopped to help.
“I rested my bike against the guardrail and ran over to the car,” he remembers. “The man was now in the backseat on the driver’s side, so I jumped into the driver’s seat and turned around. He was trying to get a screaming baby out of a car seat.”
After Dr. Robbins helped the young father free the baby from its seat, he asked if anyone else was inside the car.
“Yes,” said the man.
The airbags had deployed upon impact, hiding the other passenger. (The “smoke” Dr. Robbins saw was actually nontoxic cornstarch or talcum powder used by the manufacturer to lubricate the airbag fabric.)
When the physician climbed back into the car, he saw a woman in the back seat, trapped between the crushed door and the baby seat.
“I was in an accident; I don’t know where. And I’m pregnant,” she yelled into a cell phone.
Dr. Robbins unbuckled the woman’s seat belt and helped her husband get her out of the car.
“She was gasping, but upon examination, she was neuro intact, and had all extremities intact and no facial trauma,” he says. “She also had good pulse and good color.”
As Dr. Robbins knelt beside the woman, who was 24 weeks pregnant, he asked her if she had any medical conditions or if she had been taking any medicines. He also reassured her that both she and her baby were okay.
“I still had my bike helmet on—dork,” he says with a laugh. “At this point, there were no rescue vehicles. It was just me, the pregnant woman, her husband, and her baby.”
Soon afterward, however, three ambulances, two fire trucks, three police cars, and dozens of EMS practitioners joined the scene. Dr. Robbins had quickly gone from road bike cyclist to critical care physician with a traumatic pregnant patient without missing a beat.
“Thank goodness for car seats and seat belts,” he says. “I gave report to the paramedic and together, we put the patient on a stretcher.”
Once everyone had been attended to, Dr. Robbins got back on his bike, thanking the local EMS professionals as he headed out of the scene.
“Thank you, too, doc,” said an EMT. “And hey, nice bike!”
The story of Dr. Robbins’ compassion and dedication to helping people whenever they need it continues. Just a few days after the above incident, he found himself in a similar situation. And once again, he—along with a few fellow cycling physicians—jumped in to make a difference. Learn more by reading this story, which was covered by a local NBC affiliate.
