Holding C-spine to prevent further injury

Danielle Harris was driving to get dinner with her mom in Woodland Park when traffic stalled. As she sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic, she noticed a serious accident up ahead.

As she inched slowly forward, Harris saw a banged up car that had jumped the curb and was on the sidewalk. She saw a bicycle in the middle of the road and a single, child-sized shoe. Taking note that first responders had not arrived at the scene, Harris pulled over.

“When you happen to be somewhere before any first responders are there, I’m not a person that would just drive by,” said Harris, nurse practitioner at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central.

Fifty feet away from the bike, she spotted a child laying on the street next to the curb, flailing around and screaming in pain.

Though Harris did not witness the accident, there were clear signs the child had just been hit by the car. The child appeared badly injured and had not been wearing a helmet. Harris ran to the child to help.

“He was just moving so much, I wanted to make sure he didn’t become paralyzed,” Harris said. “So I was holding his neck — just tried to calm him and hold his neck still.”

Harris was unsure if the child had an unstable injury of the cervical (C) spine. Further movement of the cervical spine could cause additional damage to the spinal cord, over and above that already caused by the initial trauma itself.

Harris held C-spine, manual stabilization of the head and cervical spine. She placed both hands on either side of the child’s head to steady it. She cradled her fingers together to give the child a little cushion between the pavement and his head.

While holding his neck steady, Harris tried to distract the child from his pain, explaining why she was holding his neck. She kept him engaged, asking him questions like his name, age and grade in school.

She held the child’s C-spine for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived and took over.

This accident hit home for Harris. She has a son the same age who rides a bike on that same sidewalk.

“My kid rides [bikes] through that town all the time. It could have been any of me and my friend’s kids,” said Harris.

Through the grapevine of the close-knit community, Harris learned that the child was going to be OK. She is humble about her actions that evening.

“I really didn’t do anything other than talk to him and hold his neck still,” Harris said. “It’s really nothing. It’s just trying to be a fellow mom there comforting him.”