I watched a man die last night...
So, I went an ambulance ride-along which took us from the lower upper east side into Spanish Harlem. There were a number of interesting events.
1st: Man suffering from heat exhaustion, was vomiting and passed out after just having stepped off the subway (it was ridiculously hot/humid in the subway system yesterday, and today is promising to be another scorcher). He hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours, so I think that may have had something to do with it.
2nd: An elderly man's niece called to have an ambulance go to her Uncle. The catch is, she lives in Florida...c'est bizarre, non? We ended up entering his apartment because he refused to go to the hospital with the EMTs and that was real awkward. However, the EMTs were very nonchalant about it.
3rd: Cardiac arrest in a nursing home. We arrived about 10 mins after the FDNY were there. Paramedics with the EMTs tried to revive the man for a while. They took him to the hospital to work on him for a few minutes more and then pronounced him dead. It was really wierd because his roommate at the nursing home was awake the whole time. I asked him if he was ok because he kept looking over and looked very uncomfortable, but he just said that he was praying for him...so...
4th: Probably the most annoying call at least from what I garnered from the situation. A guy was ran over by a taxi? However, he was able to walk from the place he got ran over to the building where we found him, and he was able to walk to the ambulance. He looked rather unkempt, but from the back he looked a little like Jim Morrison (the hair I think it was). Anyway, he didn't go with us to the hospital and ended leaving to watch a movie....WTF?
5th: Probably the funniest event of the evening...So a guy was walking and he fell on the sidewalk. A hole tripped him up...lol...he was a little inebriated, which probably explains alot. A random guy, I couldn't tell if he was homeless or not was a little too eager to help him. Maybe they were drinking buddies, anyway, he ended up going to the hospital, but I think all he needed to was to sober up.
6th and final: The most horrific of them all...4 car accident...92nd and 2nd. 3 cars were stopped at a red light. A taxi apparently came over the hill and rear-ended them at full speed. Now what full speed means, I'm not sure, however everyone was sent to a hospital. Alot of neck stabilization. Everyone I saw was conscious, but others were moving alot less then some. The cars looked pretty smashed...
So the EMTs I was riding with were very nice guys. One kinda fit the mold of what I picture to be a homegrown New Yorker, which was pretty cool. Something that I found particularly interesting, from observing them and other EMTs and paramedics, they joke alot about people they're treating. I know it's not maliciously, but it's interesting seeing the different ways people cope with their job: either humor, internalization, detachment....very intriguing. Also, not a lot of females. Not sure why that is: no interst? not cut out for it? Who knows...One thing's for sure, in my time going through there I saw 2 females and at least 12-15 males in that short window of time. The people at the accident: all males. Hmmm. However, when encountering the drunk man who was tripped up by the ground, the police officer who came to attend the call was a female and a sergeant or luitenant or something in a position of power, which is pretty cool.
I have to say that my experiences in the Emergency room and with the EMTs have been by far the coolest experiences I have had to date. Dave brubeck was cool, piazza was cool, but I feel like these things will stick with me.
1st: Man suffering from heat exhaustion, was vomiting and passed out after just having stepped off the subway (it was ridiculously hot/humid in the subway system yesterday, and today is promising to be another scorcher). He hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours, so I think that may have had something to do with it.
2nd: An elderly man's niece called to have an ambulance go to her Uncle. The catch is, she lives in Florida...c'est bizarre, non? We ended up entering his apartment because he refused to go to the hospital with the EMTs and that was real awkward. However, the EMTs were very nonchalant about it.
3rd: Cardiac arrest in a nursing home. We arrived about 10 mins after the FDNY were there. Paramedics with the EMTs tried to revive the man for a while. They took him to the hospital to work on him for a few minutes more and then pronounced him dead. It was really wierd because his roommate at the nursing home was awake the whole time. I asked him if he was ok because he kept looking over and looked very uncomfortable, but he just said that he was praying for him...so...
4th: Probably the most annoying call at least from what I garnered from the situation. A guy was ran over by a taxi? However, he was able to walk from the place he got ran over to the building where we found him, and he was able to walk to the ambulance. He looked rather unkempt, but from the back he looked a little like Jim Morrison (the hair I think it was). Anyway, he didn't go with us to the hospital and ended leaving to watch a movie....WTF?
5th: Probably the funniest event of the evening...So a guy was walking and he fell on the sidewalk. A hole tripped him up...lol...he was a little inebriated, which probably explains alot. A random guy, I couldn't tell if he was homeless or not was a little too eager to help him. Maybe they were drinking buddies, anyway, he ended up going to the hospital, but I think all he needed to was to sober up.
6th and final: The most horrific of them all...4 car accident...92nd and 2nd. 3 cars were stopped at a red light. A taxi apparently came over the hill and rear-ended them at full speed. Now what full speed means, I'm not sure, however everyone was sent to a hospital. Alot of neck stabilization. Everyone I saw was conscious, but others were moving alot less then some. The cars looked pretty smashed...
So the EMTs I was riding with were very nice guys. One kinda fit the mold of what I picture to be a homegrown New Yorker, which was pretty cool. Something that I found particularly interesting, from observing them and other EMTs and paramedics, they joke alot about people they're treating. I know it's not maliciously, but it's interesting seeing the different ways people cope with their job: either humor, internalization, detachment....very intriguing. Also, not a lot of females. Not sure why that is: no interst? not cut out for it? Who knows...One thing's for sure, in my time going through there I saw 2 females and at least 12-15 males in that short window of time. The people at the accident: all males. Hmmm. However, when encountering the drunk man who was tripped up by the ground, the police officer who came to attend the call was a female and a sergeant or luitenant or something in a position of power, which is pretty cool.
I have to say that my experiences in the Emergency room and with the EMTs have been by far the coolest experiences I have had to date. Dave brubeck was cool, piazza was cool, but I feel like these things will stick with me.