This morning I finished my first “official” 24-hour shift. That is, a shift where I’m assigned as a permanent crewmember on a truck. As you can see by the previous posts, my assignment is in a pretty busy district, and Fire, as the first responders, have a really good working relationship with us. Rather than just relegating us to serving as “taxis with lights”, we actually assess then treat, not just transport, a lot of patients. We also work pretty well with the county medics. They seem to enjoy teaching how to help them do what they do, and as they realize that most of the crewmembers at OAC aspire to become a medic or firefighter, they know we’re willing to jump right in and help.
I’ve mentioned before how different working on an ambulance here in the PNW is, compared to where I’m from back on the East Coast. At home, Fire only rolled if it was an MVA or CPR calls. Otherwise, it was just an ambulance, with maybe a medic on a fly car if you needed help. Here, Fire runs the show. Not a big deal, just different.
The rundown of calls on the last shift was a little wacky. My new partner Claire and I were getting to know each other, and it was her first 24 hour shift, ever. Oh yeah, she had never driven the rig on a red response.
First call. Red Response to a house in BFE. Claire did a great job, didn’t drive the truck like she stole it and was very cognizant of the other drivers. I was impressed. I navigated while she piloted the truck up the winding roads. It turned out to be a 48 year old guy with a suspected kidney stone, who was SCREAMING and crying like a baby. Poor bastard. I sympathized, as I too have suffered the hell of a kidney stone and wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I told him my kidney stone story and how the doc in the ER wanted to do a CAT scan and how I howled “Noooo!” He explained it was noninvasive and wouldn’t hurt a bit. My reply, “No Doc, you don’t understand, I’m allergic to cats”. I actually got him to laugh. That was good.
Next call, low blood sugar. Fire was making the guy a peanut butter sandwich when we got there and he refused transport. We hung out for a few and chatted … then back in service.
Syncope in an assisted living apartment building. Fire on scene with the PT. We spent 20 minutes trying to talk the woman into going. Refused. Back in service.
Two separate calls, both canceled while we were en route.
The code I mentioned in the previous post was next. Obviously, the medics took him. Back in service.
We headed for Starbucks and as I was ordering, another call for a head lac after a fall. This one was not canceled, and we did transport. Blood everywhere. Those head lacs bleed like crazy.
We deconned, and back to Starbucks. We grabbed food for dinner and ate at quarters. It was quiet for a bit. I managed to catch a few Zzzzz thanks to the little fan I bought for my bedroom. It drowned out the noise of the street and the breeze was nice.
An hour later, out to a possible CVA. 99 year old with decreased LOC. This woman was living with her 92 year old husband, and was unable to care for herself or him. Conditions in the house were beyond appalling. Documented and talked to ER staff to get Elder Protective Services involved.
Discharge from the ER came up on the MDT as we were clearing, but cancelled as the PT went by POV. Thank you! Back to quarters.
Out to the assault at the bus station. A 17 year old kid was jumped. He was kicked and punched and roughed up pretty good. No bleeding trauma, but he was C/O pain to his left rib cage. I didn’t feel any deformity or flail sections on palp. He was tachy at 160 and while looking at him, it was obvious that things were just not right. We assumed a head injury due to his LOC. So, we boarded him and got a medic en route. The medics grabbed him, put him in the truck and moments later, out came the sux for RSI. The medics, same guys from the code earlier, invited us into the truck to bag and help as we could. When I ran into the medics at the ER earlier, I had mentioned that I was accepted to medic school this fall. The senior medic had originally attended the program I was accepted to, so we talked for a while and when he saw me on scene, he grabbed me and told me to stick close, watch what he was doing and ask any questions I might have. Pretty cool experience. After we finished, we cleared. Back to quarters.
Up around 2330 for an intoxicated male/SOB. He was faking the SOB…and was quite an SOB, attempting to spit a huge loogie on the Fire LT. Off to the ER we went.
After dropping off the intox and getting signatures, we did a discharge from the ER that was a quick shot to a Group Family Home in the next town.
Back to quarters around 0100 and sleep ’til 0500. We drew the short straw for a dialysis transport at 0530. We did that run and grabbed coffee. As we were heading back to quarters we got one last fire call, another possible CVA. 87 y/o male who fell out of his chair in the living room and had (his wife said) a slightly decreased LOC. No other s/s, the stroke scale was negative, BGL was fine. He was oriented in all spheres when I examined him. It seems like he just FDGB and had a big lump on his head. To the ER we went, ice pack in place.
We headed back to HQ, cleaned up, restocked and punched out 30 minutes late.
Not a bad shift. When it’s busy, it goes by fast. I’m back on the truck at 0800 Tuesday morning.
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