By Juliet Altenburg, governor of District 7390 (Pennsylvania, USA), a member of the Rotary Club of Mechanicsburg-North, and executive director of the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation

A 10-year-old boy was riding his bicycle down a hill with his friends in 2021 – something he had done many times before – when his fun morning turned tragic. As he entered an intersection, he collided with a car he didn’t see coming. In an instant, he broke both of his arms and had uncontrolled bleeding that could have killed him within four minutes. 

Fortunately, the accident happened near a police station where officers quickly called 911. As a team of emergency medical responders headed to the scene, the officers applied tourniquets to each of the boy’s extremities. The EMS team examined the boy and transported him to a local pediatric trauma center, which quickly diagnosed his injuries and surgically corrected them. Weeks later, he was discharged to his family and assigned a team of rehabilitation specialists.