???At roughly 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 12, Jeff Myers' pager went off. Ten minutes later he showed up at the crash site of Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, N.Y., and immediately went to work.
???Myers is an associate EMS system medical director of the volunteer group called Specialized Medical Assistance Response Team (S.M.A.R.T.). On the night that Flight 3407 went down, S.M.A.R.T. had four doctors on site and one volunteer.
???Myers was there until 5 a.m., when he handed over his duties to another doctor before heading home to get a couple hours of sleep in preparation for the start of his regular work day.
???"As far as sleeping after, I was pretty exhausted after being up for about 24 hours, so it actually wasn't hard for me to fall asleep," Myers said.
???Myers was not the only member who had to be at another job after his or her assistance was complete at the crash site.
???"All of the physician time is donated. We are a volunteer organization who is called out approximately 150 times a year to back up local EMS when multiple patients are involved in a situation," Myers said.
???S.M.A.R.T. was there to keep everyone working at the site safe as well as helping out the other emergency response teams.
???"Thankfully, there were only a few minor injuries to members of the other response teams. After a certain point, our focus was on helping clear the crash site and keeping everyone safe," Myers said.
???If an aircraft is ever in distress in the Western New York area, S.M.A.R.T. is notified along with other emergency services. Most alerts turn out to be only problems with landing gear or a warning light in the cockpit.
???"It's good, though, because we get a chance to have a drill type event, so in the case of a serious emergency, like Flight 3407, we were ready," Myers said.
???There are only a few members that actually receive pay for their services on the team, but with the help of volunteers, they maintain it as a well-oiled, potentially life-saving machine.
???S.M.A.R.T. is a very unique asset to the Western New York area, founded in 1997 to give medical residents a chance to gain field experience in pre-hospital emergencies. ???Since then it has become a true asset for the eight counties that it serves, with most calls coming from densely populated areas, such as Erie and Niagara counties.
???"To clarify S.M.A.R.T. funding, the only thing that Erie County pays for is the upkeep on our response vehicles as well as the small administrative staff who help coordinate the larger team," Myers said. "All of our equipment, including the actual vehicles, was purchased under various grant programs."
???Normally, S.M.A.R.T. lends their services to multi-party accidents such as car, bus and any other type of multi-person accident, according to Myers.
???"We also actively support local law enforcement SWAT teams during high risk raids, and one of our residents was actually on scene during [a recent] raid and cared for the FBI agent who was shot," Myers said.
???The incident on Feb. 12 required much more assistance from the group, but could have taken a path that would have done much more damage, according to Myers.
???"I was just very thankful that there were not more injured or killed on the ground, as several minutes later, the flight path would have taken the aircraft over the densely populated stores and apartment complexes on Transit Road, with a higher loss of life," Myers said.
???S.M.A.R.T. members who helped out with the Flight 3407 crash are Brian Clemency, Kevin McGee, Jordan Kross, Mike Mann, Keith Cartmill, Veronica Bonales, Naveen Seth, Josh Lynch, Steve Vets, Stephanie Wodowski, Anthony Billittier and Craig Cooley.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
