My ride alongs
Well to say how i felt, theres no words to describe. It made me feel like being in the movie waking the dead to an extent. On my first call for my ride-along I had to go to Gulf view mall because of 2 teenagers ODing. When we got to the scene there was a spectacle surrounding the 2 patients. We brought them to the ambulance and i ventilated the patient while the paramedic intubated the patient to clear the airway. All i gotta say was for a first call, it was fuckin nuts. The guy ended up still being in a coma when my shift came to an end. The next call we got was a car wreck on 19 and mainstreet. this wasnt so bad, the patient was just complaining of leg pains and we took her in.
The third call was the mother of all calls. The call was a man fell down at Kanes furniture. We were the 1st rescue unit on the scene, i come running and see a ladder, it was about 12 feet up. I assumed the fall wasnt that bad, but then i looked by the ladder and there was no body near it, i go in for closer inspection and gasped as to what i saw. This gentleman fell 35 feet headfirst to the floor, fracturing his skull and hand. His bone to his thumb was protruding through the skin, he was just screaming in pain, but couldnt talk, blood was everywhere, we put a long spineboard onto him and positioned him so that we wouldnt move him too much, when we log-rolled him there was blood all over the floor, someone stated there was brain matter, but it was only blood clots, but as soon as i heard that my thoughts were "HOLY FUCK THIS GUY IS GONNA DIE" At that point i made sure to just let instinct take over and do whatever the fuck my guys wanted me to do. I actually kept my cool very well, i didnt do too much on this call, all i could really do was restrain the guy cuz he was trying to fight us and get up. I probably sweat off 40 lbs from that call, but my Paramedic said i did excellent and that i didnt freak out. Frankly I was very fuckin freaked out, not by the blood or any of that, truthfully that shit didnt bother me, it was the fact that i felt like for a situation like this no matter how much you read, it feels you dont know jack shit on what to do in a situation like that when you face it. It made me appreciate people in this type of profession tenfold. That night i came home wondering if this may in fact be not the job for me, but i realize its gonna take alot to become a true professional at this job, and in the end everyone who has this type of job loves it. I just need to learn the ropes and realize i put too much pressure on myself on my first day expecting that i should excel, hell maybe by the third ride-along ill actually be able to get a blood pressure in the truck =).
All in all This is truly an underappreciated job, and the people you will meet in this profession are some of the coolest cats in the world.
K ill update next week after my other 3 clinicals are over.
The third call was the mother of all calls. The call was a man fell down at Kanes furniture. We were the 1st rescue unit on the scene, i come running and see a ladder, it was about 12 feet up. I assumed the fall wasnt that bad, but then i looked by the ladder and there was no body near it, i go in for closer inspection and gasped as to what i saw. This gentleman fell 35 feet headfirst to the floor, fracturing his skull and hand. His bone to his thumb was protruding through the skin, he was just screaming in pain, but couldnt talk, blood was everywhere, we put a long spineboard onto him and positioned him so that we wouldnt move him too much, when we log-rolled him there was blood all over the floor, someone stated there was brain matter, but it was only blood clots, but as soon as i heard that my thoughts were "HOLY FUCK THIS GUY IS GONNA DIE" At that point i made sure to just let instinct take over and do whatever the fuck my guys wanted me to do. I actually kept my cool very well, i didnt do too much on this call, all i could really do was restrain the guy cuz he was trying to fight us and get up. I probably sweat off 40 lbs from that call, but my Paramedic said i did excellent and that i didnt freak out. Frankly I was very fuckin freaked out, not by the blood or any of that, truthfully that shit didnt bother me, it was the fact that i felt like for a situation like this no matter how much you read, it feels you dont know jack shit on what to do in a situation like that when you face it. It made me appreciate people in this type of profession tenfold. That night i came home wondering if this may in fact be not the job for me, but i realize its gonna take alot to become a true professional at this job, and in the end everyone who has this type of job loves it. I just need to learn the ropes and realize i put too much pressure on myself on my first day expecting that i should excel, hell maybe by the third ride-along ill actually be able to get a blood pressure in the truck =).
All in all This is truly an underappreciated job, and the people you will meet in this profession are some of the coolest cats in the world.
K ill update next week after my other 3 clinicals are over.