I am riding the range tonight with another regular partner who has chosen overtime at my unit as I do not have a partner.My partner is a nice guy , very quiet, unassuming, however he is a monster feared by all. I respect his demeanor and his brute force. I would fear this man in a fight as I think he would dispense of me quickly. Right out the box we respond to a sick lady at a affluent part of town. Her pulsox is good and she seems to be sick with cold symptoms. She is hyperventilating, Her vital signs are maintained and her blood sugar is elevated with keytones. Perhaps she is trying to blow off the keytones due to the acid base shift? We advise her to seek care, she does not like the closest facility. Her family places her in the family car to transport her to their desired facility. Paper work complete, we place ourselves in service for another run.
From there we are dispatched to a man attacked by 2 pit bulls. The patient is in the upper flat of the residence waving a flash light, We call him down.He has a bite to the midline thoracic spine region with broken skin. A bite to the right forearm with bruising and broken skin. A bite to his right leg with multiple punctures and major swelling, black and blue. I dress his wounds and advise him he will need medical care at a hospital. He declines transportation and will drive the family to his desired hospital. The police arrive on scene and know the dogs in question as they have been terrorizing and attacking residents for weeks in that area. They complain that there are only 2 dog catchers for a city of a million and they work 9-5. sad, my city of 27,ooo have that many....Hmmmmm?
We go down out of service as we have been without a functioning hear radio for weeks. This radio is required by the state and finally the city takes some accountability and does the right thing with a little prodding.
Radio repair is slow and the technicians move at a snails pace. We will be out of service for a few hours for something that could be repaired in 15 -20 minutes.Oh well, I enjoy the break. THE BREAK WILL COME A TO END RATHER QUICKLY! we arrive back at our quarters and we get a call for a house fire with people trapped. We beat the engine out of quarters, I am driving and we are making good time. We are on scene within minutes. We find a working house fire with smoke and flames showing. There is one engine on the scene, while another is catching the hydrant. We exit putting on our safety equipment, as I come around the back of the rig we are met by an exited crowd. In the arms of a young man is the lifeless, limp, flaccid body of a 3 y/o. There is also a teenage young man at the back of the rig covered in soot with multiple lacerations and lots of blood. In attempting to save his siblings he has cuts to the arms , chest , and head. He has soot to his face , chest and extremities.
The crowd is crying and upset as there is a little girl trapped somewhere in the house. I have another unit enroute and supervisors enroute. I advise dispatch there is another child in the house and we have 2 critical. I immediately begin ventilation with high flow oxygen and a bag valve mask. vitals obtained with a monitor. I place his brother on the bench with a high flow oxygen for smoke inhalation. At the 4 minute mark of being onscene we depart code 1 to Childrens Hospital. The incoming unit and supervisors are advised there is another child as they are just minutes out. It is now a race of time to get this child 12 miles to the hospital.we go code 1 to the hospital with a radio notification. The doctor online is long winded and hard to understand.He asks too many questions, I finally tell them we will be there in 12 minutes, be ready. My partner who rarely drives 10 miles over the speed limit is now doing warp speed. He was in agreement that we needed to go. I bag this child taking a split leg position with my knees on the floor using my legs to put pressure on the walls of the truck to support me on the curves. The curves are tough at the high rate of speed, however I focus at the task at hand, breathing for a child that has stopped on his own. Enroute his brother is tearing up thinking the worse. I try to calm him and reassure him he did a good job and was very brave.after about 8 minutes our patient is making good efforts to breath on his own.... his right hand starts to move. I tell his brother to watch his brothers hand. He stops crying and has a brief moment of relief, the tears slow down.... We are turning in to the E.R. and there is more movement by the little man. We transfer care over to the staff waiting in the E.R. The young man briefly opens his eyes as we transfer him. I feel relief and I feel good inside. Our patient is intubated and placed on a ventilator. My truck is bloody from his brother and I have equipment everywhere. I told my partner good job as I have never seen him drive like that. I ask him ," How fast were you going? 75, 80 mph" ? he laughs and says," if you can believe it, I had the truck up over 90". I laugh and slap him in the back, good team work and a supreme effort, a labor of love for the both of us as we are proud fathers. I witness the medics bring in the sister of the lads I transported. she was removed by the firemen as the medics arrived. She has burns, some smoke inhalation, but stable....good work guys. I feel a certain gratification knowing I played a part in this story. I will work hard the rest of the night as we are busy. I will not blog about the remainder of the night as my thoughts and a prayer are with this young man that I have developed a personal attachment to due to our time together. God bless you, love your children, they are something to be cherished.