The unexpected patient

Steve Ford was riding his motorcycle to his job at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital when a car started to make a left turn. He was on small country road, going about 55 mph, and he somehow crashed into the car.

“I flew 40 feet over it,” Steve said, “and landed in a ditch.”

The seriousness of his accident hit him when he heard that Sentara Nightingale Regional Air Ambulance was coming.

But then he felt reassured.

“When I knew that within 20 or 30 minutes I’d be at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, I knew I wasn’t going to die,” Steve added.

At the time of his accident, he worked as an X-ray technician and had seen many patients do well after being flown to the hospital; his experience was the same, thanks to the fast-thinking first responders, the Nightingale crew and the hospital providers.