Avel eCare Telemedicine Saves Man Gored By Bison

In December 2022, a bison bull unexpectedly attacked 67-year-old Jim Lutter and severely injured him. Named Bill, the three-year-old, 1600-pound bison had been raised as a family pet by Lutter and his wife Cindy at their hunting lodge/ranch in Gann Valley, South Dakota: population 12. Out of nowhere, the normally docile Bill hooked his horns into Lutter and threw him into the air breaking his neck and multiple ribs – and collapsing a lung that started filling with blood --- before goring the rancher in the groin.

Jim Lutter managed to escape Bill’s pen, but the damage was done. As he later told CBS News

“The red snow was just growing.”

A Hard Journey to Help

Although severely wounded, Jim Lutter dragged himself into his front-end loader and drove a few miles to his brother Lloyd’s house. Lloyd Lutter then called the volunteer Kimball, SD Fire and Ambulance base 18 miles away for help. Volunteer EMT Ed Konechne, who manages Brooks’ Hardware & Auto in Kimball, jumped in his ambulance and met Lloyd’s van carrying Jim halfway. Konechne could tell how seriously Jim Lutter was injured as soon as the EMT opened the van door. “Jim's always been one of those super happy, cheery ‘messing with you’ guys,” he said. “But when I saw Jim in the van, the look on his face was one of pure dread.”

Fortunately, Ed Konechne’s ambulance was equipped with an Avel eCare telemedicine system. It allowed the volunteer EMT to receive expert medical support remotely from emergency physician Dr. Katie DeJong. She was based at Avel eCare’s telehealth center in Sioux Falls 140 miles away, where she guided Konechne in the ambulance’s medical bay using an in-vehicle videoconferencing system. This support helped Konechne stabilize Jim Lutter and keep him alive, while a volunteer firefighter drove the ambulance to Sioux Falls. As they sped along, Dr. DeJong and registered nurse Casie Hunter arranged for a helicopter to meet Konechne’s ambulance at Avera Weskota Memorial Hospital in Wessington Springs, SD, for patient transport to Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center in Sioux Falls for advanced treatment. All this teamwork saved Jim Lutter’s life and made his full recovery possible.

Serving Remote Areas

Based in Sioux Falls, Avel eCare is a major telemedicine provider, with more than 800 healthcare systems, hospitals, outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities, schools, and law enforcement agencies using its services across America. Yet its availability in Ed Konechne’s ambulance was a relatively new addition. The South Dakota Department of Health had only partnered with Avel eCare to launch Telemedicine in Motion across the state in October 2022.

Funded by $2.7 million in state general funds and federal pandemic relief money, the Telemedicine in Motion program is equipping South Dakotan ambulances with a telemedicine videoconferencing platform. It gives EMTs and paramedics on-demand access to Avel eCare’s experienced emergency physicians, paramedics, and nurses 24 hours a day. Given how sparsely populated South Dakota is — about 900,000 people spread across 77,116 square miles — Telemedicine in Motion is a much-needed complement to the state’s medical support system. So far, 92 of South Dakota’s 122 ambulance services have installed this technology in their vehicles, and more plan to follow suit. As of January 16, 2024, Avel eCare’s telemedicine team has been involved in more than 950 medical cases to date.

Timing is Everything

Had Bill gored Jim Lutter 10 days earlier, his prognosis would have been poor indeed. The reason: “Kimball Ambulance had just gone live approximately a week before, so this was one of the first calls that they had with us,” said John Gruber, Avel eCare’s EMS Operations Manager.

Fortunately, because Konechne’s ambulance had Telemedicine in Motion installed, “we were actually on camera in the ambulance before the patient was even brought in,” Gruber said. “As soon as Ed brought the patient into the ambulance and did his initial trauma assessment, we were right there with him, seeing what was going on with the patient: The life threats, the distracting injuries, and any other pertinent information as we worked together to get that patient stabilized and start trauma care.”

Ironically, Ed Konechne hadn’t been too thrilled about Telemedicine in Motion being installed in his ambulance the week before. “I wasn't the most cooperative; maybe it's just the stubbornness in me,” he admitted. “But after Telemedicine in Motion helped me save Jim Lutter, I made 15 to 20 phone calls immediately --- telling everybody that I know across the state that they need to have this!”

Some months later, Konechne, Dr. DeJong, and Hunter were among those honored during South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s State of the State address on January 9, 2024. They received the Governor’s Award for Heroism in recognition of their life-saving efforts --- a success made possible by Avel eCare, with no thanks whatsoever to Bill the Bison Bull.