It"s the stuff press releases are made of, but the story is great to boot. Paxton Galvanek never had medical training, but he"d gone through medic certification in the America"s Army video game. Then one November night as he drove down the highway with his family, he watched as an SUV flipped multiple times in the opposite lane.
As his wife called 911, Galvanek pulled two injured passengers from the truck, assessed their wounds, and properly prioritized/administered treatment (direct pressure and elevation) to one of the accident"s more brutal injuries, a mutilated hand. In short, he did things just as he should have in a circumstance that could have ended even worse. And yes, Galvanek thanks his training in a video game for his performance under pressure:
"I have received no prior medical training and can honestly say that because of the training and presentations within America"s Army, I was able to help and possibly save the injured men. As I look back on the events of that day, the training that I received in the America"s Army video game keeps coming to mind."
I remember vividly in section four of the game"s medic training, during the field medic scenarios, I had to evaluate the situation and place priority on the more critically wounded. In the case of this accident, I evaluated the situation and placed priority on the driver of the car who had missing fingers. I then recalled that in section two of the medic training, I learned about controlled bleeding. I noticed that the wounded man had severe bleeding that he could not control. I used a towel as a dressing and asked the man to hold the towel on his wound and to raise his hand above his head to lessen the blood flow which allowed me to evaluate his other injuries which included a cut on his head. Also of note, Galvanek is additionally proficient in the art of scrubbing toilets with toothbrushes. What a game!