Va. Chief Hit by Power Line Released From Hospital
Source The Roanoke Times (Virginia)
After more than two days without sleep and other lingering symptoms, the chief of the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department in Botetourt County wondered Tuesday whether he should have checked himself out of the hospital Saturday.
On Jan. 3, while fighting a fire that ultimately destroyed a mobile home on Albemarle Street in Buchanan, Chief Billy Joe Carter, 33, was injured when a power line broke loose and interacted with water before arcing over to his left calf.
Carter continued to fight the fire, operating on adrenaline, he said Tuesday. But he began to exhibit signs of lethargy and experience some paralysis of his right side and was hospitalized from Jan. 3 until he checked himself out of the rehabilitation center of Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
He said he still feels effects of the accident and estimates he is at about 70 percent to 75percent of full capacity. "They wanted me to stay, but I just couldn't do it," Carter said. "I missed my kids. I was worried about the guys [members of the Buchanan VFD]. I felt helpless being in there."
Carter praised the nursing staff and physicians at Carilion. But he said an encounter Saturday with one doctor he described as rude was the culminating event that led him to decide to check out. "Now, I'm almost embarrassed to go back to the hospital," he said. "I guess pride, too, is keeping me from doing it."
Carter said he owns the Hilltop Market in Botetourt County and other properties and that health insurance has covered his treatment to date.
He said last week that windy, cold conditions and the proximity of power lines and other mobile homes made fighting the Jan. 3 fire at the small mobile home park in Buchanan one of the most challenging scenes he's encountered. Carter said he's not entirely clear about how and to what extent his recovery will proceed.
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