Shock settles on emergency response crews
Jack Taxis' phone rang early Thursday morning with news so horrific it left him numb.
The EMS coordinator at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora hoped the voice on the other end was joking about Wednesday night's fatal Air Angels helicopter crash.
But he knew in his heart that phone calls so early in the morning are never good.
"You don't want to believe it," Taxis said, his voice wavering, but not breaking.
"You start thinking, what crew was it?" Taxis said.
"When was the last time you worked with them?"
As it turns out, Taxis knew the pilot, Del Waugh, and the nurse, William Mann.
"They do this type of work, and you know the risks," he said. "But we take life for granted."
Wednesday night's crash has shaken local emergency room staffs and first responders who work closely with the air rescue teams, fighting together to save lives.
Some personally knew the three-man crew. For others, the tragedy just struck too close to home.
Judy Anderson, an emergency room charge nurse at Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, spoke with two of the crew members about 10 hours before the fatal crash.
She said the Air Angels team had transported a 5-day-old baby from Provena to another facility.
When Anderson learned of the crash Thursday morning before work, she broke into tears.
The ER staff at Delnor Hospital in Geneva was too distraught to discuss the accident, said Deborah Danner, a hospital spokesman.
"It's like losing a co-worker to them," she said.
For the 20-some Aurora firefighters who responded to the mangled crash and extinguished the flames, the early hours of Thursday were difficult, said Assistant Chief John Lehman.
Because of the accident's severity, he said there was an immediate debriefing for the first responders, enabling them to talk about what they saw, so "no one carries this baggage home with them."
There will be a more extensive debriefing on Saturday, when the firefighters come back on duty, Lehman said, to make sure everyone's doing OK.
He's keeping an eye on two young firefighters for whom Wednesday was their first night on duty with the department.
"The hardest part," Lehman said, "comes afterward, when you deal with those emotions and feelings that come from having just witnessed a very tragic and horrific scene that deals with multiple people.
"When that happens," he said, "that definitely does have an impact on our guys."
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF AIR ANGELS CRASH
Photos: Kirstin laid to rest
Photos: Workers fix radio tower
Photos: Copter crash probe begins
Photos: Family's mourning begins
Photos: The victims
Photos: Crash scene
Twitter: Latest developments
Map: Crash site
Tears, rain fall as tiny crash victim buried
Flight nurse a hero: 'Gave his life for little baby'
Hero's selfless final act offers some solace'
Monday stories
NTSB gets surveillance video Leland girl killed in crash laid to rest
Sunday stories
Close-knit town asks to mourn in private
Work finishes on damaged radio tower
Saturday stories
Tower work complete, residents may return
In wind, rain, workers chop up radio tower
Radio tower well-known to local pilots
Friday stories
Radio tower dismantled after helicopter crash
Family of tiniest victim mourns flight crew
Helicopter crash probe could take months
Residents evacuating apartments near tower
Witnesses describe the fiery crash
Air Angels: 'We look at what's best for the patient'
FAA under pressure to improve safety for EMS flights
Crash turns focus on air transport safety
Helicopter crew remembered as heroes
Shock settles on emergency response crews
Thursday stories
Aurora helicopter crash kills Air Angels crew, child
Friends speak of Air Angels crew's dedication
Witness: Debris rained down from the sky
NTSB investigating cause of crash
Police ask residents near crash to evacuate
Last Air Angels crash in Fox Valley 5 years ago
