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My First Day

submitted by Jake M., East Coast

My first official shift in my new volunteer fire department was starting out a bit like the first day of school… figuring out the names and ranks of everyone there, and finding out the pecking order to go along with it… finding out who was the biggest jerk was one of the priorities… every firehouse has one – my last department had a couple… but there are usually more than enough of the good-guys to counter act the schmucks… That makes things tolerable… Well, my first shift here at the house, and we were expecting a pretty nasty snow storm… for this area anyway… I met my night crew – affectionately called “Frick and Frack”. The driver seemed to have the experience, but not the technical ability (meaning he was older), and the primary EMT seemed like he was REAL nervous… almost like a newbie…

Our first call came from one of the local medical centers around here, after hours, it goes from a “ Medical Center ” to an “Urgent Care Facility”….Anyway, a female patient who had been sick. The doc wanted her looked at due to an “irregular EKG”…. No problem – until she puked all over our gear… thank goodness she was on a clear liquid diet… So, after cleaning our gear – or getting new stuff, we load her up and go… at this point, I'm just an observer – since I'm the new guy, and they don't trust my abilities…. Okay…. Understandable I guess… I have no problem being a “gopher” for bit… now its known that we as EMS providers need to ask a lot of questions… however, my EMT was asking the same questions over and over and over… but would never write the answer down… I never once saw him take a set of vitals or listen for lung sounds… If he had the protocols in front of him, I'm sure he would've been going through them in front of the patient – good thing for him people don't get sick very often…. finally, about half-way to the ER, I grabbed a set of ears and took vitals…wrote everything down on my glove… later, at the ER, he wanted the information I got. I handed him the glove with only an impish smile on my face (officially, I was an "observer" and therefore not supposed to even TOUCH the patient). The roads were still clear at this point which was the ONLY saving grace… afterward, we hit a restaurant, grabbed some dinner for the department – spilling some all over the back of the rig… luckily we didn't get a call for some time after that… gave us time to decon the rig - no one wants to smell chinese food ALL night - especially if you're the one we transport...

Second call… difficulty breathing – delta response - our rig (BLS) and an ALS rig are both dispatched… it was snowing, maybe 4 to 5” of snow on the roads now… we're closer…. We jump in the rig, and haul….er… we leave the station….well, Mr. driver knows “about” where the street is, and apparently the EMT can't read a map to save our lives….. that, and the road signs were starting to get snow stuck on them…. We get lost in the snow, in an area these guys should know pretty well…. We get there with the ALS rig on our tail. We didn't even get out of the rig…. The patient was waiting for us in the snow, and the medics jumped out of the ALS rig and brought him straight into their bus. My EMT was pissed about getting lost – but pissed in a way where it seemed fake… I don't know how to explain it… he was cursing and slamming his stuff in the rig, but it all seemed like an act….. I don't think there is an EMT out there that hasn't gotten lost at LEAST once… generally its not a big problem… but when you have a map in front of you….

Third call – last call on my shift… mercifully… back pain – and there is about 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ROAD…. Apparently the plan in this area is to let all the snow fall and THEN push it out of the way… good thing emergencies only happen when the roads are dry…. Anyway, after learning from the last call we take off in the driving snow, towards the west… we drive and drive. For 20 minutes, we drive… and we get to the road… the problem is that no one looked at the actual address… we stopped and asked some people shoveling their drives where the address was…. They had never heard of it… we STOPPED… lights and sirens going…. STOPPED to ask directions… then we hailed a cop who could actually read a map. Big surprise!!! We'd driven 20 minutes in the snow in the WRONG FRIGGIN' DIRECTION!!!!!…. I tell you, this department just oozes trust and confidence… so we do a half drive, half slide 30 minutes in the OTHER direction (east)… to get to this back pain patient… we heard the call, and figured that someone was shoveling their drive and got an owie…. But there are also other reasons for back pain…. Maybe its referred pain, maybe something more ominous… so, we FINALLY get to this house… and we drag all our gear up the 2 fights of stairs… the driver, asks to use their bathroom…. A bit odd… but we had a patient to tend to…. An older female with left side non-radiating back pain – except when she tries to pee… hmmm… okay…I'm thinking “kidney stone”….er… I mean “signs and symptoms consistent with kidney stone”…. My EMT, on the other hand was thinking appendicitis or something… he was afraid to touch her… again, taking no vitals… the driver came out of the can and I sent him to the rig for the stair chair… but surprisingly, the patient was ambulatory – even if bent over… she could still walk down a flight or two… save my butt from carrying her through a foot of snow… we get her loaded and again, I wait until we get about half way to the ER before I take her vitals… I figure someone has to… and once again, I hand over my glove with a smile….

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