Cell phones aid in rescue of CHS senior

Cody High School Equus

Cell phones are part of our daily lives. Though sometimes taken for granted, they can be essential in an emergency. Sophomore Meagan Koster recently experienced why.

It was the last run of the day during a Dec. 30 ski practice at Red Lodge Ski Resort. The ski team was done with training and had time to free ski.

“There was a big group in front and Meagan was in the back,” said junior Madison Koster, Meagan’s sister. “Tess [Stonehouse] and I stayed behind to strap our boots.”

Meagan, meanwhile, said she had stopped down the run a little ways.

“I started going again and caught my edge in some powder and couldn’t get off of it,” she said. “There was a big wood snow fence and I went right into it.”

Madison Koster and Stonehouse had reached the bottom of the mountain and Madison began looking for her sister.

“I asked people where she was and they said she must’ve gone before them,” Madison said. “So I asked if she was there when they took their break and they said no.”

Meagan had pulled herself up and turned around so she could hold on to the fence.

“At that point I couldn’t move my leg,” Meagan said. “A guy Mr. [Rick] Stonehouse knew came over and stood with me.”

Madison, having still not found her sister, decided to call her.

“I asked where she was and she said she had wrecked, so I asked if she was OK and she said she thought she broke her leg,” Madison said.

Meagan’s dad, who also was skiing there that day, called her and said he was on his way up. Madison said she asked a passing snowboarder to find ski patrol.

“I guess the snowboarder gave them bad directions, because they came down the whole run without finding her,” Madison said. “I gave them better directions and they left.”

Madison said ski patrol found Meagan about 10-15 minutes after the first call between the sisters. Stonehouse said the rescue was faster than if there had been no cell phones.

“If we hadn’t of had them, we wouldn’t have been able to contact her,” Stonehouse said. “Now we’re all required to ski with cell phones.”

Meagan agreed the rescue was much faster.

“I think that cell phones definitely got me help faster because everyone knew what happened right away,” she said.

The ordeal was not even close to being done, however.

“They [ski patrol] had to put some straps around my leg and put me on a backboard,” Meagan said. “Finally they got me out of the fence and onto the sled and down to the lodge.”

Meagan said she then had to go into a room so the emergency workers could take off her coats and hook her her up to an IV.

“They had to cut off my new Under Armour shirt then they put a neck brace on and strapped me back to the plastic board,” Meagan said.

Meagan then took an ambulance to the Red Lodge ER, where her parents and grandparents were waiting. There, she was given a full body X-Ray.

“It showed she had a broken femur and she needed surgery,” Madison said.

First, the bone needed to be lined up.

“That’s when they gave me my first dose of pain medication because they said it would hurt really bad,” Meagan said.

The next question was whether to have the surgery in Cody or Billings. Meagan’s parents decided to have the surgery in Billings, so Meagan was once again loaded onto an ambulance and taken on the hour and a half drive. At the Billings hospital, she was put into a bed, given shots and had blood drawn.

“I had to get a CT scan to make sure I didn’t have any internal damage from the fence,” Meagan said.

The night was going to be a long one for Meagan; however, as the surgery wasn’t to be performed until the next day around noon.

“After a long night of no sleep and a numb foot, the doctor came in and talked to us,” Meagan said.

The doctor said there were two people in surgery in front of Meagan and at about 2 p.m., Meagan began to get prepped for surgery.

“The anesthesia person told me the surgery should only take an hour and a half,” Meagan said. “Next thing I know, I wake up around 6 p.m.”

The surgery took four incisions and a steel rod from Meagan’s hip to her knee, with two screws at both ends. The accident occurred on Friday and on Sunday, Meagan got to stand up for the first time and go home.