Close call serves as a reminder to slow down
Sirrina Martinez
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com
On Feb. 29 of this year, rural Pipestone County resident Bill VanHoecke experienced first-hand the importance of farm safety, when he suffered and survived through an accident on his farm seven miles north of Pipestone.
While working in a grain silo with his father, VanHoecke was preparing to open up one of the silos on his property to feed cattle.
“We run a 160 head of cattle and when we wean the calves, they all come here and get fed out from these silos,” VanHoecke said. “The south one was empty and we were trying to get the north one open so we could feed for the next day.”
VanHoecke climbed up the silo. He had been up to the top a couple of days prior and had removed the silo cap so that the silage could air out and dry up a bit. He took along with him the electrical cord needed to run the silo unloader, and when he went to hook the cord on a higher door on the silo, the latch on the door near his feet gave way and the silo door kicked-in on him. He was able to hold on for a second, VanHoecke said, before his hand that he was holding onto the silo with slipped out of his glove. Within a split second, he said, he fell 50-feet down the chute, landing in a feed wagon with the slide-chute landing on top of him.
Fortunately, VanHoecke said, his father was present when the accident occurred, and saw him fall into the feed wagon. After the accident, his father told him that he wasn’t sure what he was going to find when he looked into the feed wagon. Thankfully, although in extreme pain, his father found his him alive and conscious.
“He jumped in the feed wagon right away and he pulled the slide chute off,” he said. “We knew right away that my leg was broken because the ankle was basically looking me in the face. Dad actually got into the tractor and pulled the feed wagon and tractor out because the EMTs were going to need to be able to get in there. We didn’t know anything about the knee until the EMTs got here.”
His father had called his mother, who in turn called 911, VanHoecke said. While his address is served by the Holland Fire Department, his mother called from his parents’ farm, which prompted the Lake Benton Fire Department to respond. In the end, Holland, Lake Benton and Pipestone emergency responders arrived to help get VanHoecke out of the feed wagon and into the ambulance. While preparing to move him to the ambulance, EMTs gave him a dose of Fentynal for the pain, and began cutting away at his clothing to assess the full extent of his injuries. A helicopter from North Memorial was in the area, preparing to return to the Twin Cities, when they were asked to reroute and pick VanHoecke up on the gravel road that went by his farm.
VanHoecke ended up breaking both bones in his lower right leg and his right ankle, and he ended up blowing out his knee from the sheer force and pressure from the sudden impact. The pain, he said, was excruciating.
“I had never felt pain like that,” he said.”
Despite the tremendous pain and being conscious for the entire experience, VanHoecke said the first thing he felt when he landed in the feed wagon was relief that he was alive, because he knew he was going to be okay.
“It was just a broken leg,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. So much worse. I had my little blue tooth headset on, it stayed on my head the whole time. My glasses never came off. My hood was up the whole time. The only thing that was missing was my glove which was up on the silo. My left boot, when I hit the chute and flipped over, the boot slipped off and flung off my foot and hit the wall. I actually called my wife laying in the bottom of the feed wagon.”
His wife, Emily, who works as a kindergarten teacher in Pipestone, was in her classroom when the accident occurred, VanHoecke said. They had just spoken on the phone 15 minutes prior, so when he initially called she thought she could call back. VanHoecke called the office at her school and was patched through to her classroom. As she picked up the phone, VanHoecke’s nephew walked into her classroom to tell her what had happened. It was then, he said, that she knew something was wrong. Emily was able to get to the farm to be with him before he was air lifted to Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls.
After the accident, VanHoecke underwent surgery the following morning that left him with two screws in the left side of his leg, a plate and seven screws on the right, and a string in his ankle that acts as a ligament. For his knee, doctors cleaned everything out and found that there were severed nerves and a quad muscle. Everything was sewed and stapled back together, and then the incision was stapled together. He was not allowed to put any weight on his leg for two months after the accident, and the remaining recovery time was spent attending physical therapy two to three times a week in Pipestone. In terms of long-term issues after his accident, VanHoecke may expect to lose the inside quad muscle in his right leg that was severed to deterioration.
Looking back, the one thing he would have done differently was listen to his father, VanHoecke said.
“Maybe listen to dad’s words once in awhile,” he chuckled. “That’s the cardinal rule with silos. You never stand on the door that doesn’t have silage on the other side.”
Now, climbing the silo after the accident gives him a strange feeling that serves as a reminder to slow down when working around the farm.
“I just climbed the silo this afternoon,” he said.
“That was the first time I’ve climbed a silo since the accident. That was strange. I used to scoot right up, no big deal. I think I took each door one rung at a time and every time something jiggled I froze and caught myself, but I got up there.”
His perspective has shifted since the accident, VanHoecke said. From that perspective, his advice to others would be to slow down and take your time when working, regardless of how familiar you are with the task.
“I used to be 100 miles an hour,” he said. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. I joke with dad now all the time that him and I walk and work at the same speed now. Slow down, take your time, be cautious. All the things people preach all the time and every farmer goes ‘Yeah, that’s for the other guy.’ One day it might be you, like it was me.”
VanHoecke said he’s thankful for all the people who helped him during and after the accident, including his parents, the first responders, the physical therapy staff at PCMC and the doctors who cared for him. He is especially grateful to his wife, Emily, who was by his side during his recovery, while continuing to care for their two sons, Carson, 14, and Trevin, 11.
“I couldn’t have done it without her,” he said.
Multimedia reporter
smartinez@pipestonestar.com
On Feb. 29 of this year, rural Pipestone County resident Bill VanHoecke experienced first-hand the importance of farm safety, when he suffered and survived through an accident on his farm seven miles north of Pipestone.
While working in a grain silo with his father, VanHoecke was preparing to open up one of the silos on his property to feed cattle.
“We run a 160 head of cattle and when we wean the calves, they all come here and get fed out from these silos,” VanHoecke said. “The south one was empty and we were trying to get the north one open so we could feed for the next day.”
VanHoecke climbed up the silo. He had been up to the top a couple of days prior and had removed the silo cap so that the silage could air out and dry up a bit. He took along with him the electrical cord needed to run the silo unloader, and when he went to hook the cord on a higher door on the silo, the latch on the door near his feet gave way and the silo door kicked-in on him. He was able to hold on for a second, VanHoecke said, before his hand that he was holding onto the silo with slipped out of his glove. Within a split second, he said, he fell 50-feet down the chute, landing in a feed wagon with the slide-chute landing on top of him.
Fortunately, VanHoecke said, his father was present when the accident occurred, and saw him fall into the feed wagon. After the accident, his father told him that he wasn’t sure what he was going to find when he looked into the feed wagon. Thankfully, although in extreme pain, his father found his him alive and conscious.
“He jumped in the feed wagon right away and he pulled the slide chute off,” he said. “We knew right away that my leg was broken because the ankle was basically looking me in the face. Dad actually got into the tractor and pulled the feed wagon and tractor out because the EMTs were going to need to be able to get in there. We didn’t know anything about the knee until the EMTs got here.”
His father had called his mother, who in turn called 911, VanHoecke said. While his address is served by the Holland Fire Department, his mother called from his parents’ farm, which prompted the Lake Benton Fire Department to respond. In the end, Holland, Lake Benton and Pipestone emergency responders arrived to help get VanHoecke out of the feed wagon and into the ambulance. While preparing to move him to the ambulance, EMTs gave him a dose of Fentynal for the pain, and began cutting away at his clothing to assess the full extent of his injuries. A helicopter from North Memorial was in the area, preparing to return to the Twin Cities, when they were asked to reroute and pick VanHoecke up on the gravel road that went by his farm.
VanHoecke ended up breaking both bones in his lower right leg and his right ankle, and he ended up blowing out his knee from the sheer force and pressure from the sudden impact. The pain, he said, was excruciating.
“I had never felt pain like that,” he said.”
Despite the tremendous pain and being conscious for the entire experience, VanHoecke said the first thing he felt when he landed in the feed wagon was relief that he was alive, because he knew he was going to be okay.
“It was just a broken leg,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse. So much worse. I had my little blue tooth headset on, it stayed on my head the whole time. My glasses never came off. My hood was up the whole time. The only thing that was missing was my glove which was up on the silo. My left boot, when I hit the chute and flipped over, the boot slipped off and flung off my foot and hit the wall. I actually called my wife laying in the bottom of the feed wagon.”
His wife, Emily, who works as a kindergarten teacher in Pipestone, was in her classroom when the accident occurred, VanHoecke said. They had just spoken on the phone 15 minutes prior, so when he initially called she thought she could call back. VanHoecke called the office at her school and was patched through to her classroom. As she picked up the phone, VanHoecke’s nephew walked into her classroom to tell her what had happened. It was then, he said, that she knew something was wrong. Emily was able to get to the farm to be with him before he was air lifted to Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls.
After the accident, VanHoecke underwent surgery the following morning that left him with two screws in the left side of his leg, a plate and seven screws on the right, and a string in his ankle that acts as a ligament. For his knee, doctors cleaned everything out and found that there were severed nerves and a quad muscle. Everything was sewed and stapled back together, and then the incision was stapled together. He was not allowed to put any weight on his leg for two months after the accident, and the remaining recovery time was spent attending physical therapy two to three times a week in Pipestone. In terms of long-term issues after his accident, VanHoecke may expect to lose the inside quad muscle in his right leg that was severed to deterioration.
Looking back, the one thing he would have done differently was listen to his father, VanHoecke said.
“Maybe listen to dad’s words once in awhile,” he chuckled. “That’s the cardinal rule with silos. You never stand on the door that doesn’t have silage on the other side.”
Now, climbing the silo after the accident gives him a strange feeling that serves as a reminder to slow down when working around the farm.
“I just climbed the silo this afternoon,” he said.
“That was the first time I’ve climbed a silo since the accident. That was strange. I used to scoot right up, no big deal. I think I took each door one rung at a time and every time something jiggled I froze and caught myself, but I got up there.”
His perspective has shifted since the accident, VanHoecke said. From that perspective, his advice to others would be to slow down and take your time when working, regardless of how familiar you are with the task.
“I used to be 100 miles an hour,” he said. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go. I joke with dad now all the time that him and I walk and work at the same speed now. Slow down, take your time, be cautious. All the things people preach all the time and every farmer goes ‘Yeah, that’s for the other guy.’ One day it might be you, like it was me.”
VanHoecke said he’s thankful for all the people who helped him during and after the accident, including his parents, the first responders, the physical therapy staff at PCMC and the doctors who cared for him. He is especially grateful to his wife, Emily, who was by his side during his recovery, while continuing to care for their two sons, Carson, 14, and Trevin, 11.
“I couldn’t have done it without her,” he said.
