In Emergency Medical Services, for a semi-rural department, things can get very hectic, scary and hairy, especially in the middle of the night.....well, also in the daytime hours. The EMT s and Paramedics are allowed to respond from their homes at night, provided they can get to the scene or to the station to pick up the required apparatus within an allotted time frame. This is usually an ambulance and a fire engine. There is also someone that may act as a first responder that goes directly to the scene....someone that has some gear in their possession. They carry oxygen, a med bag with basic items, such as bandaging materials and splints, and maybe a blood sugar machine. This person could be of higher training or of lesser training who can manage the ABC's. That means airway, breathing and circulation, the very first steps of managing a patient. The first responder must also know CPR. This person is also important because they radio transmit basic needed information regarding this patient or of the scene. The crews like to know if the scene is secured and is safe to enter.
Soooooo..... When I am on night duty, I am obligated to respond to any and all calls during that particular night. I carry a pager that alerts me by making a very loud beeping sound. The dispatcher sets off those loud beeps so the crews are alerted to a call. The tones go off! That is the terminology for it when the beeper opens up and beeps by radio transmission. Certain set tones are set for individual departments and these other tones preempt the beeping tones. The pertinent voice information follows from the dispatcher as to the nature of the call and the address of the scene, and any other important information we may need. Again, is the scene safe? Are the Deputies en route?
I usually call on a portable radio that I am enroute to the station or scene, especially if there is any variation of what I was originally supposed to do. For example, I may go to the scene instead of picking up the ambulance. This is usually for the reason that I could actually be passing the scene of an accident while going to get the ambulance. In most cases, stopping would be the right thing to do. In cases where I have absolutely no equipment or radio that may be the absolute wrong thing as that could confuse the flow of the ways things are supposed to go.
DAMMIT BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP S#@T F$#K
And my hair! I have to rip a brush through it. If it is cold enough, I have had my hair freeze solid when wet. Plus not a bit of makeup, and a general unkempt look,no time for that... maybe even bad breath from sleeping.... that is usually the time when you are the star and expected to take total care of the patient. Those times make it so very hard to be on your "A game". We try to carry mints, but we forget to refill them every now and then. Hope they are unconscious or they soon will be. Hah!
All the men and women never have anything visually out of place, not even one hair. They always have crisp uniforms and look fresh. That is not at all how it is in real life. Sometimes we are stuck on a call for several hours, such as a standby for a structure fire. The ambulance crew may be out in the rig for several hours. We possibly can catch a nap in our bunker gear and hope the chief has called for port-o-potties when we are there for so many hours. If not, we are SOL. If we are really lucky, a truck arrives with coffee and Gatorade and awesome little pound cakes and other great snacks. We love that truck ! And we love the people who come out to set all that up for us.
WE never know what is to be encountered. All that is known is what the dispatcher tells. All the dispatcher knows is what they have been told by someone else on a phone. Things can get misconstrued, or the patients can mislead. I am not saying that is the norm.
CALL 911!!!!!
WE have to be very vigilant as some stupid move or mistake on someone's part could fade all our lives as emergency personnel. Many of us have sustained injuries ourselves through falls, slipping on ice, pulling muscles, getting hit by vehicles, getting hit by people, getting burns, inhaling bad fumes, stuck with needles, and many more maladies that are encountered. I have personally been stuck with a few needles, fallen backward off the back of an ambulance and injured my tailbone. There are so many things that have happened. They are always unpredictable things.
One day I made a mistake and said that I thought I had mostly seen "everything". WRONG. The very next call after I said this, a poor woman was sunbathing in the park and sleeping all nice and comfy. THEN, a BIG radio controlled helicopter stalled in air and fell right out of the sky. There was a remote control helicopter meet going on at that same park. It silently fell out of the air on her and sliced her diagonally from right shoulder to left hip with a big gaping blade laceration. WHAT THE HELL! She was transported and had to have multiple sutures. I will never ever say again that I have seen it all!
teenagers ejected from vehicles and found to be dead, overdoses,
gunshots to the head and other body parts from suicide, pedestrians hit with brain matter on the road, motorcycle accidents that have hit head on with automobiles, and school bus accidents with children injured. I have seen limbs severed and found them in unusual spots away from the bodies. I have seen a child scalped from a motor vehicle crash. I have seen a woman so strung out that she perceived herself to be having orgasms all the way to the hospital. (I want some of that which she took!) I have seen a child on the back of a motorcycle fly backwards over an estimated 150 feet and land with a severely broken pelvis so his legs appeared to be spread and twisted over his head from thigh with both feet over head. So many more tales to tell. I haven't even touched on some of the more gruesome ones.
Well... that could mean a number of things, but that is all the dispatcher had for us. The people hung up the phone! So off we go
having not a clue if she is about to deliver a baby, or has misused a chainsaw, or has a knife impaled in he chest. We arrive on scene
and find her sitting in a chair. She stated she scratched a mole and it would not stop bleeding. I smiled and took care of her with a little pressure and a band-aid, but deep down I am thinking to my self...."wth... it is 3 AM and I am out of my warm bed on this cold night for your stupid bleeding mole. I have to type in a seven page report besides!!! This sucks!!! " But I politely take care of her, swearing under my breath, have her sign a release, and clear the scene....along with the engine, the chief in his car, and the paramedic response vehicle, and the ambulance that I responded in. She won't get a bill for this, because there was no transport. BUT the taxpayers will be paying that bill!
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9 comments:
Bets are on of who rolled the ambulance
it's a really rough profession, one that not many have the stamina to handle, you're pretty awesome, BLB! Thanks for all you do!
BLB, it sounds like maximum stress all of the time. During your training, did they ever talk about managing stress? You have to have some sort of pressure relief valve.
What you do is amazing and heroic. For all of the bad times, there must have been satisfaction in saving some lives.
When scenes of accidents from long ago play repeatedly in your head, that's a good indication of post traumatic stress disorder.
I hope that writing about your profession helps release some of the stress.
Thank you for what you do.
BLB- Awesome post and thank you for all you hard work out there. I really don't think I could do what you are doing out there and we appreciate what you do.
I have gotten phone calls in the middle of the night and on the other end of the phone was the fire department calling from my Grandma's phone saying they are taking her to the hospital. Scared me so bad and I was half awake saying what is going on. My Grandma had leukemia and she would get real weak from losing blood.
A couple of weeks ago Drew and I were coming home form Richard Bong Recreational Area and I heard and ambulance coming down Hwy 20 and it passed us, then I said hello BLB as it went passed. Drew looked at me like I was crazy.
BLB - you are awesome.
Thank you very much for even commenting ! I wrote this in recognition of EMS WEEK! This is celebrated by emergency medical services yearly!
We have has stress management , ORBS. After really bad incidents we have debriefings called Critical Incident Stress Debriefings I have suffered burnout more than a few times in my careers
In still look at Tender Heart like she is crazy. Then again, when I look at myself in the mirror, I don't look any better....
Anyways, thank you for your insight in your profession BLB. I know TV shows like Chicago Fire make it look easy. I never dreamed it would THAT hard.
I couldn't do it.
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