Harley Phipps survives shocking crash due to live-saving efforts of a Tasmanian hospital trauma team
Hundreds of trauma injuries have been treated at a new centre at the Royal Hobart Hospital. Some injuries they heal might come as a ‘surprise’.
Tasmania
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Harley Phipps owes his life to a hospital trauma team who treated his horrific injuries after a 160km/h racetrack crash.
One of the team, clinical nurse consultant Chelsey Vladic, held her finger in his chest until he got to the operating theatre.
Mr Phipps, 19, of Glenorchy remembers nothing about the accident on June 3 last year when he was in a sidecar race at Baskerville and hit the tyre wall.
“I was told that it was a mechanical failure in possibly the suspension or the geometry of the sidecar,” he said.
His recovery has been nothing short of amazing. He has returned to work at Reece Plumbing and this week he finished his rehabilitation at the Royal Hobart Hospital.
He was initially treated by the RHH’s trauma team and also spent a month at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
His injuries were extensive but Mr Phipps can name all of them from broken ribs, punctured lungs and a “subdural haemotoma on my front lobe”.
“This is what happens when you spend lots of time reading the discharge papers. I also had a grade three diffuse axonal injury which as far as I’m aware is when you impact your head,” he smiles.
“I don’t really remember a whole lot from hospital but from the mental aspect the racing clubs have been very supportive because they started a Facebook page for me and my dad and step-mum would provide updates online.
“When I might have had some really bad days where nurses and doctors were being pessimistic it would leave me really bummed out but then I’d know I had all that support.”
Ms Vladic was working as the trauma case manager on the Saturday of the accident and the trauma team, including several specialists, flew into action.
They received regular updates from the ambulance paramedics who initially treated Mr Phipps at the scene.
“We knew he had significant chest injuries,” she said.
“When you (Harley) were in the CAT scanner one of the emergency doctors had to do another cut in your chest.
“We knew your lung was pretty damaged and we needed to release that pressure because it was putting pressure on your heart at that stage.
“So the doctor did the cut but then we needed someone with a finger small enough to kind of keep it from bleeding but also to let some air out.
“So I kept my finger in there from the CT scanner all the way up until we got into the operating theatre.”
There were concerns about his brain injury but Ms Vladic said when Mr Phipps returned from Melbourne he had cleared all his post traumatic amnesia testing.
“It was just incredible to see him up and talking,” she said.
“It was touch and go there for a while but it was a really great team with so many people involved to get Harley to where he is now.”
Mr Phipps says his memory is a bit worse than before the accident and he sets reminders for himself but is back riding motorcycles but not in a sidecar.
He’s grateful to the trauma team, his employer and race team Motorcycle City in Launceston.
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