Chief1C

I had those for about two weeks, ten years ago come November. Sitting in a meeting after a long, bad call. I got dizzy, came on suddenly, said I was going to puke, did so, and I don't know what happened after that. Took me to the ER, ALS, had a bitch of a time keeping me still to do stuff. No lights, no sounds, holy f**king hell batman. I would have smashed a cell phone. I had a towel wrapped around my head in the ER, two cold packs in it, blocking the light. No benadryl here, they started small with Morphine. Guess how people discover they're allergic to Morphine? When it's a really shitty time to find out you're allergic to Morphine. Haven't had one since. They did a spinal tap to see if I had meningitis, and shortly afterward, it went away.. and I slept for about fifteen hours. No idea what caused it, maybe stress? Dunno

The part about the steady burning red light is true, has been since the 60's. That was about the only accurate to real life part of the ambulance Mother drove in Mother, Jugs & Speed. Courtesy lights. I have one, LED, it has 82 flash patterns. I have it set to flash on.. and flash off.. slowly. I only use it if I'm parked on the road, that way I don't get struck. I neither want to die, nor become a finger puppet for a trauma team.

Had a patient once who didn't get a lot of sleep. (the patient) was die hard about staying awake to get more accomplished, then began to develop dizziness and migraine like headaches and laid down for a nap. (the patient) then proceeded to answer (the patients) cell phone, work calling to ask where (the patient) was. (the patient) was standing along the road, and kept going into phases where (the patient) would be somewhere else, without realizing (the patient) was walking. OR DRIVING. Absence seizures, apparently, along with whatever the hell (the patient) took to stay awake. (the patient) was some sort of civil engineer - I wish I knew what they were building, so I could avoid it. Drove about 150 miles east, and I have no idea what happened to the car. The state police found (the patient) sitting along the road, in a ditch, unresponsive. (sleeping). It was freezing outside, luckily whoever (the patient) called, turned it into a 911 center, who in turn triangulated his location by calling the cell phone. (the patient) stated that (the patient) went to bed, and the next thing (the patient) knew, (the patient) was in the ditch. (the patient) said (the patient) remembered being unaware of where (the patient) was, but thought (the patient) was dreaming.

So... Go on medical disability. What about the child. If money is more important, may I suggest Condoms?

There's always throwing a blanket over it and taking it to a closet. If it's life and death, and I guess it depends on who your supply guy is, there is always CO2. I wouldn't condone, suggest or attempt anything that would cause any animal, except maybe a venomous reptile, harm or death. I'm the supply guy, I include a third fire extinguisher, b/c sometimes it's better to be properly equipped AND avoid making a mess. Anyhoo.. I'm also a platinum sponsor of the O2 Fur Life Program, which provides funding to place small animal oxygen and resuscitation masks in the hands of "first responders". What's best for the human, may not be for the animal, but every attempt should be made to get it out of the picture w/o doing it harm. You'll piss it off throwing a blanket over it, but likely won't hurt it. Large wool blankets are best, handle the animal from the back side, avoid the head, or bunch the blanket up around it's head. If it's clear the animal caused harm, is going to harm you, and may be dangerous... Do what you need to do. Just remember, it's probably the owner's fault. Bad dogs aren't born, they're made.

Animal control? WTF is that? ha ha. Stick a leather glove in it's mouth so it has something to chew on, and wrap wide gauze around its head. This won't prevent it from breathing, and likely it can remove it alone once calmed down. Then spray air from a cylinder in its face, and back it into a room with a door.

Wouldn't it just be best, for the sake of the unborn child, to go on maternity leave...if it's going to be a risky pregnancy?

I doubt an OBGYN could provide an answer to a question about emergency care in an MVA. Not that one couldn't, just I severely, highly, doubt it. Being a rural provider in a location that A LOT of people from all over the east vacation at. A resort area of sorts, resort as in the 19th century definition. Just a place rich people go to relax, anyhoo, we have a lot of doctors that end up offering their expertise. I use expertise very lightly. Had a Johns Hopkins Trauma Surgeon on a trail rescue in an area state park. Ended up telling her that if she wanted to treat the patient, she'd either have to hike out and do it when we removed the patient; or find her own rescue team. Just can't slow down and be picky when you have a two hour walk under normal circumstances. We have ER docs, perhaps one of them can chime in?

Well, I just put all of our shit back on a new unit.. We have three KED's, varied colors, and one KODE 1; and the instructions say you can use them on pregnant women. I suppose you could pick and choose how to strap them to the device, as the case may apply.

I guess if you ate it, that would be considered a free meal.

I would never confront someone and either request or demand a freebie or discount, just because of my uniform. In fact, I think the only discount I ever used with a 10% off for fire/ems personnel at a sporting goods store that sells rope and rappelling equipment... and I was buying spools of 1" tubular webbing, for the fire dept., so I didn't really benefit from it - personally. The only thing I deserve, is what I earn. I don't feel anyone owes me for anything. That's just how I am.

Just one pair of gloves. Pink ones. I steal handfuls of pink gloves from a local ER.

We'd have to drive like 120MPH to get to a trauma center in under a half hour.

Ruptured L3.

I don't get a goddamn thing. Even in the hospital cafeteria... All EMS gets free drinks... But I always end up paying for mine, the dirty rotten bastards.

I used to buy pallet lots of rejected bags from Iron Duck. I mean, honestly, the waste they create.. They reject bags for legitimate reasons, but there is literally nothing wrong with them, that any normal person would notice. They call it a blemish, if a star of life is sewn on in the wrong place. That's the difference between a bag costing $360, or $5. So, I'd turn around and sell them on eBay, tell what the blemish was, and get around 110% more for it than I paid. So I install this auto correct application on my new notebook. Holy hell, it has to go.

City to the south probably has three calls an hour, our entire county is lucky to see one call a day... Sometimes one call a week. I just did a rural health survey from a state university, they were trying to determine funding shortfalls in rural EMS, and the most frequently run call types. Our top three call types, on two services, three ambulances, running a combined 983 calls were: #1 Fall Victim in Private Residence; #2 Diabetic Emergency; #3 Chest Pains. The top call factor for the fire service was Motor Vehicle Accidents (105). To understand why the number is so high, you'd have to understand local industry booms. Today's industrial boom, is almost equal to what it would have been during the lumber, mining and tanning boom of the 1870's. To give an idea of how broad and extensive the survey of rural health and health services was, it took me fifteen hours to fill it out. *Spelling. Damn auto correct.

Cross word puzzle books. We have them for the ride back, and seabands. I wanna go work where you do, that would be so cool. I've often spoke of my favorite part of "rural EMS". Meeting all the interesting people. A lot of people retire here, and I've met so many people with the greatest stories to tell... and the best part, the ride is so long, you get a good view on their life. I could write a book. But I won't, I've done that too many times.

I've raised the feet of a lower GI bleeders who waited too long. However, in twelve years, I've yet to raise the feet of a traumatic hypotensive patient. I have put the MAST on them though. I'm not going to directly answer your question. I'm not interested in interacting with new members that are difficult to please.

I'd say no gloves is an excuse well with in his right, to protect himself... But more of an excuse to be used while on a trip to the mall, and silently to yourself, unless you're wearing something that says what you are.. The way you describe it, I'd say he's probably an asshole with an ego problem.

"as it's needed" Meaning, in my terms, Pro Re Nata; as needed, as the circumstance requires, et al.

A dozen pairs of shears. Pink ones. Shears and cravats, fun in the bedroom too, use your imagination.

Just learn to read today? Just where did I say I'm for or against it? All I said was it's not covered by our protocols. Like bandaid use, how to splint something, etc. One of those go with your brain things.

Raising the legs is an assumed treatment, like many things, it's not covered by our protocols. Just one of many things you're expected to know what to do, and when to do it; as it's needed.