She helped with triage, prioritizing the injured according to their severities.
"Most of what I saw was neck and back injuries, lots of lacerations and fractured bones," said Evans, who applied neck braces, bandaged lacerations, applied ice to fractures and in general comforted those in pain and shock.
So many injured were crying out, "Where's my brother?" or "Where's my son?" Emergency workers transported the injured to three different hospitals.
Although she's been through many disaster drills in her nursing career, this was Evans' first actual disaster. "But the training just kicked in," explained this nurse, who works with Smart Start children.
While she worked with the injured, her husband provided emotional help to those at the scene of what she called "organized confusion."
"We were on the scene about an hour and a half," she estimated. With all the traffic jam, it was 3 a.m. before the couple were able to pull out of the speedway parking lot.
Saturday was her first trip to Concord and her first night race. "I'm sorry anybody got hurt; I'm just glad I could help," said this Dale Jarrett fan.
News reports have credited the immediate attention given the injured by medical personnel at the scene, such as Evans, with saving lives. Although more than 100 people were hurt, there have been no fatalities.
Sandy Griffin, a Herald employee who was at the race and witnessed the aftermath of the accident, agreed. She said law enforcement officers and other emergency personnel helped keep people calm as well as providing medical care.
"The best thing was they already had shut the highway down," Griffin said of U.S. 29, which runs beneath the pedestrian bridge.
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