“Unit 8-1 to central we’ve been involved in a Signal 350 (MVA) with injuries. Need help.” These were the first coherent words I spoke into the police radio. Moments earlier I had been thrown  from the back of our ambulance into the front when we were struck head-on by an out-of-control car.  I landed across the front passenger seat with my head where legs would normally be. As I write about the events of December 16, 1988,  that beautiful, cold, Friday morning seems remote yet still emotional and raw.  The story now comes out of me in rote fashion. I was a volunteer EMT, riding in the patient compartment as we took a 76 year old woman to the hospital after a motor vehicle crash. She was boarded and collared and I was…