I missed many holidays because I was working. Sometimes I really envy the people that have 9 to 5 jobs...they get up at 7 AM, get ready, drive to work while drinking a cup of coffee at a nice slow and even pace, and arrive at work. They can chat with the office crowd. I cannot say that I haven't ever had that type of work....I have had "normal" jobs in my younger day.
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?
Usually I am asleep.... AND THEN, the tones go off ! It blasts me out of bed, literally!!! I jump out of bed immediately, heart pounding, and not just because of getting a call. It is because I am literally so startled by the very loud sound it makes, even though I have heard it so very many times before. I begin to recover and I take a deep breath and jump into any needed clothing, gear, and footwear. I start thinking and analyzing what I hear from Dispatch. I grab my reflective coat, my keys and drive to the station as rapidly as I see fit by the information I already know.
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.
Things do not always go as planned, personally or otherwise. For example, I have been caught in the shower too many times over the years when
the tones go off. It is always at the worst point of the shower that this has happened. It is usually when your hair is full of shampoo. That means you are at the point of no return and you have to do a crappy job of rinsing. It also means that you can skip the towel....there is just no time... and force your clothes on a wet body. Putting on a sports bra on a wet body is one of the most difficult jobs I have ever encountered...as I grit my teeth and jump around, and starting to sweat. Block that picture from your mind, although very true to the situation.
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!
The movies and TV shows depict it as being such a glamorous job.
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.
Our patients that we encounter have endless amounts of ailments. I never thought there could be so many problems with people. We never know what will happen until we see for ourselves. I have so many pictures in my head that haunt me until this very day. Sometimes I replay these scenes in my head for years.
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!
I have come across hangings, rollover accidents involving children,
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.
On the flip side, a call may come over the air for a woman bleeding.
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!
Back to my warm bed and praying for the Pager God to let us all rest for a few more hours.
From RacineUncovered:
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