Chih Chuang, a fourth-year WSU medical student, recently received the Department of Emergency Medicine's Meritorious Action Award for working to save the life of a skier injured at Boyne Mountain. Chuang was snowboarding Dec. 26 at the northern Michigan resort when he came upon a child yelling for help. A 17-year-old boy had been impaled on a steel rod after losing control on a turn and colliding with a ski-lift pillar. Mr. Chuang offered the following account:

"My fears were quickly realized when I lifted up his bloodied shirt and saw a penetrating wound where he had been impaled in his left upper quadrant. I quickly interlocked my hands and put direct pressure on the wound after checking for a through-and-through wound in his back. I talked to [him] to make sure he was still alert and oriented to person, place and time. I also noticed a laceration on his forehead, which also concerned me. I asked him if he was hurt anywhere else and if he could still feel and move his extremities. I maintained pressure for what seemed like 10 minutes while talking to him. He started complaining of shortness of breath, and I started to become concerned about a possible tension pneumothorax, so I watched his chest expansion and trachea. After the ski patrol arrived, I identified myself and since I was already in position, I helped them stabilize him. I cut his clothes off and packed the wound and wrapped it, put on a C-collar, gave him oxygen and strapped him to a back board to transport him down the hill to an awaiting ambulance."

Later, it was determined that the boy had broken six ribs, ruptured his diaphragm and had to have a left lower lobectomy, losing 15 percent of his lung function. In addition, he bruised his spleen and broke his right wrist.

"Reflecting back, I was just at the right place at the right time and acted on my instincts. People have asked me if I was scared, and I wasn't; I just did what I was trained to do," Mr. Chuang said. "I do not feel that I am a hero despite the credit others have given me. I am confident that any of my classmates, given the same situation, would have performed the same things that I did."