First and foremost tonight I have good news to report.The children that were injured in the house fire I blogged about yesterday are all doing well. All will make a full recovery including the little guy that was lifeless. He was removed off of life support during the night and is fully conscious and doing well. His siblings are all mending from their wounds. I feel tremendous pride in their status and health.Some days I am down about my job and those who I service. I am appalled with the apathy of an entire City. Tonight I feel pride in my service to the citizens. I feel pride in my agency, EMS for being there on the front line. I feel pride in my Fire division that will from time to time treat me as an adversary. At this moment, this one moment, I feel all the abuse I endure from the citizens and my Fire Department is worth it. My unit, my partner, we made a difference last night. We have a beautiful little boy to show for the effort and labor last night. All the fighting, the union and city,does not matter tonight. Fighting with firemen in the fire house,does not matter tonight....A beautiful, innocent little boy will see tomorrow and hopefully grow old and prosper. Thank you god for being there for this little man. Thank you god for allowing me to have a calm mind and a steady hand to perform when needed most.
Well, the feel good story only lasts so long. We are off to pick up a diabetic male in crisis. After climbing to the 3rd floor we find a male , drunk in his apartment. The apartment is disheveled and filthy. Roaches visibly scrambling across the floor and walls. We immediately start the EMS shuffle to keep the roaches off us. We ask the male to come out to the hall, there is too much garbage for an assessment. The male comes to the door, lights a cigarette and lies down on the floor striking a pose like he is on a beach in Malibu. He is rude and abusive. I begin an assessment and find his sugar is within the normal limits. We attempt to get him up, but he will not cooperate. He is yelling that we are going to get "sued" by his lawyer. I can tell by his palatial estate I need to heed his warning. His girl friend comes up, ETOH , yelling that we are from the state. She starts yelling at us about how we work for the state and we were sent out to harass them. Our male takes a swipe at my partner with his hand. I am nice, I attempt to ask him to "please come to the hospital as we cannot leave you in the hallway". he refuses to budge from the hall. He is obviously a PSYCH patient. Sure enough he reports noncompliance with his PSY. meds. We call fro a scout car.The police arrive and he refuses to cooperate. The police and EMS work together moving this uncooperative patient down to our litter . The patient tells me I am a racist who hates black people. I pay him no attention. My partner is irritated with the actions of my patient, he tells him to be quiet. He is secured to our litter and transported to the hospital for an evaluation, noting his pressure was down a bit.
On the way to pick up the uncooperative patient, our rig was making allot of noise. Our truck rides like it needs new shocks. The truck feels like riding on the back of a stake truck. The vehicle is a year old with 80,000 miles.We run our fleet hard as we don't have enough units. A unit lasts approximately 2 years and must be replaced due to excessive mileage and being worn out. At the shop, sure enough the tension er pulley is loose making lots of noise. The vehicle is slow to charge when running as well. The shop does not have the parts, nor a backup rig Citywide, so we are told to drive the truck until it breaks. Our stretcher is damaged with the wheels having interference and friction slowing it down. My partner and I get a new litter and it is off to work. We spend the rest of the night responding to routine assaults and "one down" everywhere. our night will stay busy as I just sit in the truck. I hear AK47 rounds being fired a few blocks over, we are dispatched there for a shooting. No one shot, good for him, good for us.
We are on a run when we hear a call for a woman being dragged in the street by a man and a woman . The info is being updated to a body dragged and dumped in the field. We head to the location, the fog is so thick it is hard to see. We cannot find anyone in the alley or on the street. We get an update to head down another street, It is very dark and foggy out, with garbage and rubble everywhere . The street dead ends ... we see nothing, however I can hear yelling off in the distance. We follow the faint calling of a female till we find a toothless woman in the street. She is crying there is a body in the Field. The field is over grown, with garbage everywhere from illegal dumping. .. We find a pale female in bra, and panties, with her pants around her ankles. She is very cold, her jaw is rigored.......perhaps dead. As I look on I see the patient take a breath, the one and only she will take. We begin to aggressively care for the female. Getting the litter thru the field to the patient and back to the truck is major work. we offer ventilatory support along with I.M.Narcan,as getting a I.V. will be difficult . The patient goes from a coma (GCS-3) to increased resps and a slight moan. The heart rate is up and the remainder of the vitals are depressed. The tempatic is at 72.3 degrees so the patient is extremely hypothermic. The patient is covered and warmed with assists with ventilations,the jaw is stiff. A small group has gathered. The lady that allegedly found the body is crying, "Who would do such a thing"? Who would do such a thing? The answer is simple, the dope man....... the dope man does not want any one dying at the dope spot. The police, the loss of business, humans are discarded in this matter daily where I serve. We transport the lady to the hospital where she is listed as critical condition. She will be placed on life support and receive warm fluids as he body core temp is mid eighties. She should be dead, all odds were against her being alive. A drug O.D..... dragged in the street, dragged into a field and left for dead.....Lucky...lucky....lucky. My partners belief is the lady that pointed out the body actually dragged her to the field as it appeared they get high together and she was way too emotional. I agree, but do not really care.I performed my job and she will live, good. It is interesting, I play a key role in the survival of 2 lives, but feel only good about one. Perhaps it is because one has a whole life in front of him while the other wastes her. I perform with the same zeal with each run, but my mind really only cares about the little man.