SHIFT 32...Rick's ReFlections of his 32 years career
in the Fire Service...
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| A young Rick, and the old EMT 2 patch |
So it was a couple years after my PAF&R beginnings that
I really gave thought to maybe one day becoming a Paramedic. Our department at
that time had six firefighter/paramedics on duty, but six soon became four with
a long term injury and another who was pregnant. Byron was an EMT/II at the
time, so they decided to move him over to the Rescue. I decided to give it a go
and return to school myself, obtain my ‘II’ as well and join him. Oregon back
in those days had a system of EMT I, II, III and IV. The EMT IV was the
Paramedic and the EMT II was an IV tech. Along with performing IV’s you also
had some additional medications that you could administer. Over the next couple
of years with a couple more injuries and another pregnancy I found myself on
the Rescue quite often. It was a role that I really enjoyed, and found that
when I wasn’t on the Rescue, I was on the Rescue Boat and vice a versa. Soon
they even paid us an added differential for this. Cha-ching!
One of the calls that I remember best during those days was
responding to a ‘man down’ in the front of the terminal. Over the years the
term “man down” can mean anything from a cardiac arrest, to a drunk, to “oh I’m
sorry, you’re just sleeping”, or a number of other possibilities. This time it
was a significant call on a diabetic with a blood sugar around 20, with 80 to
100 being normal. The beauty about diabetics in this range…a little bit of D50
(thick sugar), can bring a patient around in a pretty rapid fashion…and you,
ah, you look like such a hero. Of which of course…we are:) With things being normal,
diabetics can be quite abnormal in many different ways. Some we find to be
fairly aggressive and many are quite docile. Especially that low, they are
often unconscious. Our patient was very docile, perhaps maybe because …well, he
was unconscious. So we loaded him onto the gurney and placed him into the Rescue.
While I was in the process of acquiring a ‘beautifully placed’ IV, Jerry (my
very thick southern drawl partner) grabs the D50 preparing to administer it into
the line. It was at this time that one of the Police officers knocks onto the
back of the Rescue. I stepped out for a second to answer the officer’s
question. No sooner did I stepped out and partially closed the door to maintain
the heat on this chilly winter night that I hear a holler come from inside the
Rescue. I immediately opened the door and hear Jerry is crying out, “Riiiccckk,
I…neeeed heellppp!” I see Jerry is on top of our now struggling patient in an
attempt to maintain my ‘beautifully placed’ IV. He was not successful. Oh no…we’ve
got blood on the walls, the floors, the gurney and for sure on Jerry, all from
our patient flailing his arms and legs in attempt to find any position but
horizontal. It looked like a scene from UFC. Bloodborne Pathogens were just
beginning to become the focus. A little blood, ah, we weren’t worried! All this
time Jerry is doing quite well at keeping the patient horizontal. Not so good
at maintaining…did I happen to say my ‘beautifully placed IV’? Other than his
cry for help Jerry repeatedly attempts to calm the patient with a ‘Miiissterr,
yaaa neeeeddd too callmmm dooowwnn nowwllll.” The police officer jumps into the
back of the Rescue to assist Jerry and I grabbed some tape and a 4 x 4 to stop
the bleeding. What a great scene! |
| Tashkent Uzbekistan Ambulance |
Now tell me, how do even forget a moment like that? You
don’t! And I haven’t. Oh, the rest of the story you say? Jerry, my calm, quiet,
very southern drawl partner was able to persevere over the patient, I was able
to obtain another IV and administer the D50. The patient quickly awoke from his
slumbered state and asked, “ah, it didn’t happen again”… and then he says, “who
in the world is bleeding all over this ambulance?” Oh yeah, this is going to be
fun:)
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