Overtime today.....! News Flash....JB worked overtime. Overtime is a phenomenon that happens once every few years for me. The stars and planets must have aligned and all was good with the force as I worked overtime last night. It was fun to get out and work on the first part of the weeks shift. I must admit it was nice seeing lots of faces I have not seen in some time. My partner last evening worked overtime twice with me last week so the night had a regular sort of feel to it.I will say, this unit I worked last night is much slower than the unit I am assigned to, the night and the units case number would bear that out.
The night started out uneventful till our first run of the night. This first run was in a sweltering senior housing unit. The heat is turned on with no controls for the tenet. The apt. had to be over 100 degrees. In a bed room we found our 80 y/o male with altered loc. A quick check of this moist diaphoretic chap revealed a low blood sugar.His wife reports he did not eat. The I.V. is established with this combative patient and D50 is administered. The patients LOC improves to CAOx3. The patient refuses transport and eats the meal his wife has prepared for him. This will prove to be our only real rescue run for the night.
From our area we are sent a significant distance to a Coney Island that has been robbed at gun point and three women are allegedly injured. It takes us a few minutes to get there as we must travel some 7 miles. Upon our arrival at the coney, there is no police. I tell my partner to chill I will go in as things look quiet. The female employee behind the bullet resistant glass reports the ladies have left. I ask if the coney was robbed? she reports no, that the prostitutes that work outside were robbed at gun point and one was bleeding. A male patron tells me, "The robber was a black male wearing all black". I look at the patron and said, well, you covered half of the neighbor hood. He looked at me, started laughing and said, I guess you are right. None of the parties could be found so we cancelled the police.
The next patient came from shelter row as I like to call it. Our 70 y/o caller reported chest pain. The pain revealed to be a chest wall pain to the anterior / midaxillary region of the left chest. pain with cough , resp, palp, and movement. All v.s. looked good. A 12 lead ekg looked splendid. A saline lock and transport to the hospital with nasal O2. Once at the hospital the staff is angry. The patient was at the hospital twice yesterday for the same thing and 5x in 5 days for the same thing. I don't care as I am at work for 12 hrs. I knew this was nothing having done this job long enough to know the real thing. Why all the work for nothing? Because my agency really does not have a quality assurance program, so some fool who has not been a regular with patient care will look at a code f for chest pain and like a check list will see if certain diagnostics were performed. Instead of dealing with that madness, I just make sure all the check boxes are checked and move on.While everyone berates this man I just move on. He thanks me for my kindness as he reports EMS and hospital staff has treated him poorly. I smile and move on, I don't care, I just do my job in this ridiculous region.
Back to shelter row, This time for a 22 y/o female O.B. patient who has had a cold and fever for a few days. It is after midnight now and I listen to her tale of madness. I think to my self, just 22 y/o, multiple kids and homeless. I say to my self, I sure hope I do a better job at preparing my kids for life than this young ladies parents did. she is delivered to the hospital where I find one one of my EMS coworkers moonlighting. It is good to see him and exchange stories.
It is 0300 hrs, I am sound asleep in the front of our rig parked on the street. I did not go into the station. My partner is beating on the locked door. I awaken like a maniac screaming and beating on things, it takes a few minutes for me to get it together. My partner is stunned,he said"that was crazy, I did not know you would wake like that". there is a certain uneasiness going to the run , I catch him glancing over at me. He tells me he will call to let me know there is a run.I smile and nod my head yes.Still half a sleep we get to our run, I am trying to pull it together. I see a mountain of a man at the door in bib overalls. His big man boobs hanging out the sides. As I get to the porch there is an incredible stink wafting thru the air. This is the unmistakable stench of poverty and misery. Upon entry to this filthy liar I find a elderly female who promptly coughs in my face. I ask her to cover her mouth, then she asks her son for the mask she is suppose to wear over her face. I immediately grab the wheel chair to get her out as the stink is starting to foul up the thinking centers of my brain. The lady and her son go thru this theatrical production to get out of her chair. We get out to the unit and put her on our litter. It is apparent this lady will do nothing for her self and is very theatrical. Her v.s. are good. She reports she has been sick for 2 weeks with a cold. Her son comes to the back of our unit and starts coughing without covering his mouth. I look for a tractor in the yard or banjo but do not find one. In my mind I hear the deliverance banjo playing over and over.I transport this patient to the hospital and wave good bye. It is back to quarters for some rest as the EMS gods have blessed us with no more runs for the night.See ya.....jb

Welcome back to my world friends. I must say, the last evening at my job was one of the most tiring I have had. I was left worn and weary at the end of my shift that saw nearly a quarter of the fleet shuttered for the night. I was fortunate to have the same good partner I had the previous night.As usual as soon as I got to work there was a run waiting for me. Where should I start? off to a 50 y/o with sob....well, the patient really just needed her Advair filled and wanted a breathing treatment but was too lazy to take care of it herself. My compassionate partner put together her updraft which would not work due to the nebulizer being green with fungus and moss from one year of use with out cleaning.With provisions made for her rx. of Advair to be filled in the a.m., we left the patient with a new nebulizer as she felt fine and did not want to go to the hospital.

It seems the rest of our night would be busy and with every run there would be a angry young male who lacked the mastery of the Queens English and seemed to be angry.A young lady of 18 happened to poison herself several hours earlier. She drove to another location where she vomited. The possibility of bleach mixed with ammonia. Heart rate over 150 , decreased pulsox and elevated resps this young lady would be a code 1 with oxygen and an i.v. Her young brother met me in the yard angry in my face over the EMS response . The young man said glad no one is shot up in here. A brief exchange and care progressed. Mind you there was a driveway full of cars and their loved one could have been to the hospitals hours ago. Of course he wanted to know why our monitor did not work ....... mind you it was working fine... SINUS TACH. This guy kept telling me how to do my job.... His GED was suspect and watching E.R. reruns do not make you a medical professional. With the exception of one elderly man rolling out of bed striking his eye, the remainder of my shift would filled with patients of a median age of 20 , alcohol and weed.
The pole is down and the crowd is walking across the downed PLD powerline. There are damaged cars and a ETOH male who fled scared the crowd was going to beat him down. We could not get a scout for sometime. The crowd did not beat this man down, but there were a few close moments. Lots of yelling and tempers....I did not have popcorn, but I did munch on potato chips.The grease has not dried from my fingers and we pull up to a young lady having an asthma attack. I am met with an angry young man as soon as I exit my truck, bitching about EMS response, angry. The house is full of drunks from teens to 50 y/o occupants. The unclothed Blubbering gut shaking while lying flat , exposed. An anxiety attack due to a confrontation. Tensions are still high in the residence. With all Vitals monitored and good, the young lady was calmed, we departed flagging the address due to hostilites. At approx. 0400hrs. we are called to another loud residence full of drunks and twenty year olds acting loud and wild. This young lady , 18 smoked too much weed and there was a fight at the party and now she is emotional causing all the young men to get angry. I did not see a Golden Globe in her future, but perhaps a bit part in the highschool theatrical production. Our closer for the night was another 20 y/o female who awoke at 0430 hrs. with non traumatic back pain.This lady cried the whole time i cared for her and really wore me out. Her man packed her a sandwich and said see ya...lol.... I put Sinatra to the test yesterday trying to maintain my sanity. After midnight the only run that actually merited a Medic unit was the elderly male who fell out of bed. The rest of the night and resources were wasted on twenty year old drunks, that were high , and theatrical. Tomorrows leaders..... Whew..... we are in trouble. Peace and love JB

Welcome back my friends ! This flu bug has been kicking my butt. I was really tired and sore with body aches after my shift. I slept till it is time to go back to work.Hmmmm, I can tell you last night was a very busy night as the weather was mild. There were allot of stabbings and shootings, however i was fortunate to have missed all that action. I will admit I did have fun watching one crew cleaning all of the blood out of their truck and they had a blood clot on the floor that was in the perfect shape of .......beans and franks, very cool.
We started our day with an mva in southwest, minor -moderate damage, no seat belt , hit head on windshield. The patient declined transportation against medical advisement as there was no desire to wear a c/collar with a long spine board. Note, I would see this patient later in a local E.R. sitting in a bed with a C/collar. Our next call was for a 25 y/o female with non traumatic back pain. At our arrival we found the patient in a doggie style position complaining of pain. EMS did not even get the opportunity to assess the patient as she demanded we transport her standing up.She was advised that we have equipment to carry her out of the residence and she could not be transported standing due to liability. A tirade of verbal swear words proceeded to come out of her mouth... We were told to get the f#*k out of my house. We complied, her man had a poor frustrated look with his lady. I knew that poor mans feelings as I was married once..........poor bastard.From there it was off to another guy walking like Frankenstein shaking jumping around, looking around paranoid that someone was going to kill him. This chap would not follow directions very well, mental illness and drug abuse is just NOT a got thing. After depositing him at the E.R. it was off to central district to pick up a regular with side to side gait waving and laughing. He says "I am too drunk, take me to the hospital" . He had only 5 or 6 beers tonight with a chuckle.....Not too bad u say, a 6 pack. WRONG , his 6 beers are not double deuces, they are 40 ouncers. We deposit him next to Frankenstein and they make an interesting duo at the triage area. From there we pick up a 16 y/o who called for chest pain with no parent at the house. She is fine, but we trans as there is no parent home.
Our next run was cool and highly anticipated. We were dispatched to a residence for a fight where an ear was bit..My partner and I in unison said tysoned.... We both busted out. I asked if he wanted to to wait scout..He said hell yeah, they are biting off ears.We both busted out laughing and he picked up some fries at the coney waiting for scout. At the scene , sure enough, this drunk animated fellow was missing a good chunk of his right ear. Gone, just gone...Tysoned, self portrait forever changed like Van Gogh. His profile picture will always now be to the right. This guy just would not be quiet. He kept saying he won the fight, but how? he is missing a ear....And what about the guy who bit it off.......primitive... I needed a nap. After that we had a 22 y/o regular who refuses to use a family doctor, he just calls when his asthma acts up and goes to the hospital to get rx. for albuterol. tonight he takes the treatment and refuses to go to the hospital. Oh well, EMS there for HIS convience.
Finally our last call is for a unresponsive 80 y/o . We find a elderly female frantically waving for ems.... Her car is up against the house. Herr husband slumped in the passenger seat, hand on the steering wheel, his last action in life,Vital signs absent. I jumped in the driver seat and drove the car to our ambulance where we pulled out or cot and removed him from the vehicle ...Time saved for 2 men and a truck. From there we begin running a asystole protocol. Tube and I.v. immediately with cpr. Code 1 to the hospital with aggressive care for the patient. Upon arrival to the hospital there is a spontaneous return of pulse. Mission accomplished for 2 Men And A Truck, the patient is alive validating our efforts. Who knows his fate, only god can determine that. I am glad his wife will get to touch his warm hand and have a different final moment of her and her life mate. Good day Jb

Welcome back, I must say I have been under the weather. I worked the last 2 nights with a fever. At one point my fever was 103 degrees,I was fortunate to have good partners. I did not post Wednesday as I was just too sick after work..... So here it goes. Came into work and spilled my delicious Telway coffee...Can you believe it? devastated, that is the only words I can use to describe the lose of my beloved Telway. Well , I get into work and we are off and running with a run right out the boy for one down. MY partner a hulk of a man is cool as hell as usual. We trans to Detroit Receiving . Once clear we get called all the way to the far East side. En route we hear a medic unit calling for help as they are getting assaulted. We have turned too far east to be of help, my partner will not let us go as he wants to protect me from management. I am thankful to have this guy with me I think to my self. At our arrival on scene with no scout, this family erupts into battle. There is a theatrical young lady acting out unconsciousness adding to the fire. Her brother bleeding from the head is yelling and the whole house is crazy. My partner takes lead and i stay on the peripheral to take down anyone as they concentrate on him. At one point my partner has to get loud. The bleeding male picks up the weight in a threatening manner as if he is going to strike my partner. MY hulking partner gives him a menacing look and suggest "you really don't want to do that". the imbecile puts the weight down.Now more young me roll up in a van, the young lady is packaged in c/collar and a long spine board for removal from the residence.At this time it really gets loud and crazy as one of the young men brandish a hand gun, with the imbecile yelling "shoot me". We take the patient and leave the scene. Upon our arrival at Saint Johns hospital there are no beds and we end up waiting nearly an hour.Our stretcher bar had broke, when we transported I had to improvise securing the patient, so off to the shop.
Well, we are repaired again and off to Woodward and Palmer. Our regular wants to go to the hospital. No complaints of injury or illness, just wants a bed to sleep it off in as the pavement and curb are uncomfortable. Our patient has corn and stink all over him from eating out of the garbage can. Eating garbage, but enough money for 2 pints and a forty oz....priorities. Our next patient is a 52 y/o female sleeping on grand river, actually using the curb as a pillow in a fetal position. once awakened she is abusive and combative. She is a chronic COPD patient. Her pulsox is low so we give her a treatment, no i.v. as she is just too uncooperative. To calm the beast I put on some Frank Sinatra. Old blue eyes has also been a relaxing favorite of mine. To my surprise my patient knows the words and actually calms down enroute. Frank nearly works 100 % of the time.Summer wind proved to be her favorite. At the hospital she strips down, attacks security and throws all her belongs everywhere, they did not have Frank. We clear the hospital, I feel absolutely terrible. The gods have smiled upon me tonight knowing I am sick. I do not do another run as the cold rain seems to slow down EMS. Thanks for a good night dispatch and my great partner. Peace and love......JB

Well another week in the books. I was fortunate to have such a great partner to work with last night. Last night was the best night I have had on nights since my forced tenure there. I started the evening off at 1900 with a run as soon as I hit the door. A child , preteen who stepped on a board in the closet that had 4 nails protruding upward. (2) 4" nails and (2) 2 " nails. The nails had penetrated her tennis shoe and the board was stuck to her foot. My partner took command of the residence that was in complete turmoil. The leg and shoe was splinted together with the board for removal at the hospital. After vitals a saline lock was established with morphine for trans. The child reported pain relief with the opiate. I was very pleased and satisfied as things went as planned as written out of the text itself.
Our next run was for a house fire on the west side. The fire was still burning at our arrival and the firemen had the wheel chair bound patient on the porch. With good team effort by Fire and EMS the patient was moved to the Ambulance. The patient had sustained significant burns to the face and head. In addition there were burns to the forearms and hands. Burn sheets, vitals and oxygen with an I.V. en route to the burn center code one .
The remainder of the night was wrought with female psych patients who were non compliant with meds and very nasty to us. Again a good partner took care of that situation. My learned partner educated me on the star constellations on a remarkably cold clear night. Jb signing out for today , peace and love my friends. Stay safe in the D.

Back to work

Good morning and welcome back. It is now 0800hrs. and I have completed another shift. Last p.m. actually was a good night. While I did not get any sleep on the job the night proved to be pretty easy. Our 90 y/o proved to be small and light with a nice new wheel chair ramp. This little lady was very sweet and nice. Our others were small children who were easy to care for . We even had a 20 y/o who met us at the street upon arrival with his sore throat. Tonight my back was spared and everyone was pretty nice. My partner was a good guy who is coming down with a cold. I hope he feels better.There were many rollover accidents and much trauma to be had last night. I am just glad to have been fortunate to miss all that madness. I am going to chill for an hour then its off to my twins football game ---GO WARRIORS. be safe, take care and have a good day.... JB

Well, I had some difficulty getting on my Blog yesterday. After some technical assistance from Mr. Liagre I am back up and running. I had been off work for some 10 -12 days on vacation which was simply smashing. I watched my twins play some football and advance to 4-0. Feeling refreshed and energized I went back to work . Enroute to my station I was run off the road by some young guys driving erratic in Southwest. Then a stop at Telway for a cup of the most delicious coffee to be found anywhere. Upon my arrival to work I was met by my day crew that had received disciplinary action during the day and had to write additional letters. So sad.. my division is so out of control in management with disciplinary action that sometimes I feel like I work for the Cavalry instead of EMS, as all I ever hear from supervisors mouths is "charges". Oh well, moving on my night had started out with the most uneventful of runs..Everyone walking and waiting on the street, a medics delight in this urban center, easy runs physically and mentally.The night did not become difficult until a lady jumped in the back of the truck with abd. pain. She refused to remove her clothes for assessment, jumped on the stretcher demanding we take her to the hospital immediately of her choice while waving the all mighty medicaid card. The lady then called 911 to ask for another Ambulance as she did not like sitting for the 5 minutes gathering vitals and paperwork, we were her taxi at her beckoning call. This lady was rude and nasty during our whole time together but I was fine as I was glad that she was miserable and I was not. The night stayed simple until a heavy weight with a low blood sugar needed attention. 3 privates were called in addition to EMS. 4 units on one scene for a diabetic and her drunken companion. Of course EMS corrected the medical emergency and all was well. EXCEPT for the cockroach that appeared on my clipboard at the top ..with a ill look about him. It was a scene out of Joe's Apartment. I beat the clipboard on the end of the hospital bed and the roach did a beautiful flip with a spiral hitting the landing for a perfect 10. Everyone just looked at each other and my roach took his respective spot back in the bed. All is well. SO now I am tired, still not used to nights, no rest as our run volume at my unit stayed steady all night. At 4:30 a man called with no complaints, he reported that he wanted to go to the hospital for a medical exam. He reported he did the same thing 3 weeks ago and nothing was found and he wants to go back. Still no complaints of injury or illness.I am totally sickened by this madness but like a true professional give him an assessment and transport at a complete waste of time and cost to the taxpayers. My mind seems less tolerant at 4 in the morning than during the day. I must remember to not use rational when working in MY city especially at night or one would lose their mind. I went home and finally slept after a shift for the first time...Nights just got a little easier.Peace and love. JB

The genesis

With thanks to Mr. Liagre for the technical assistance necessary to enable a whole new era of J. Barney madness. I stepped into the computer age this last April , I was armed with my home computer circa. 1993. Well, that did not work and when I pulled out a floppy disc my friends laughed. Hmmmmm. So off to bestbuy for a new lap top. Next thing you know I am on facebook talking to people and friends I have not heard from in 20 yrs. My union asked me to step forward and produce a paper for our members. Hmmmmm. well I started off building unity and restoring honor to our ranks. Then one day my partner is under siege by mangers and I am awakened from my slumber while on vacation. Like a Phoenix rising from the ash I get to work trying to protect my partner. Unfortunately my wit and wisdom turned to cynicism and well, I climbed into the sewer with the rats. My wonderful employer who provides a check and madness and misery to all decided to silence the press. SO, now I am working the night shift on one of the busiest units in the whole UNITED STATES in one of the best cities in AMERICA if you follow this last weeks Time Magazine. I will blog about my life adventures which really can be interesting.See you soon with more tales of.....................