Dumb things people do at emergencies

[Richard B the EMT]

Perhap[s we need to impart for would be rescuers on job sites the adage I was taught for handling initial discovery your scene is a HazMat job:

Don't just do something, Stand there!

[firedoc5]

While writing a post on another thread I remembered a doozy.

Had a car fall and pinned a kid under it. Before they called EMS for someone that had a tractor or something that could lift the car. I know this is pretty much a farming community, but let's have a little common sense here. They said the reason they called around was because they were afraid that we wouldn't have anything to lift the car either. Once we got there and set up, we had the car up off him in about 90 seconds. The family, farmers, and "Oh my God Squad" was amazed. One of them (I think the grandfather of the kid) said, "I guess we should have called you all first." Another DUH.

[Christopher.Collins]

Okay I got one that I did a while back... its embarassing but I laugh to this day about it. A back story first though, my old FDs boat was an outdated boston whaler and a total peice of junk. Everyone hated it and wanted to get rid of it.

Back on track, annually we cover a local resort hotel's fire works shows by water and ground. I was on the rescue, as always, and as soon as we go there the radio starts going nuts... "mayday mayday mayday, xyz fire unit 4-2 has run up a rock, we're taking on water." After we established the crew was safe on board another towns fire boat and Sea Tow was assessing the damage, I went up to the chief in front of many tax payers and said, "think the town will finally buy us a new damn boat?"

~~~~~~

Last week I worked a wreck. Mind you I acted on selflessness, never took into account that I had no PPE or anything. Not to mention at that time was not affiliated with any fire agency. I couldnt just drive by a person pinned under a car. I established c-spine bare handed to his bloody head. Took a knock to the head when FD lifted the car (the door hit me), and glass shot all over me and in my face because a mutual aid unit failed to take out the passenger window before lifting it with the hurst.

Would I do it again like that? Probably not. I always used to poke fun at the boy scout types who have more stuff in their POVs than an apparatus.., but in retrospect it makes sense.

[Christopher.Collins]

When you've done plenty of Motocross and Rodeo standbys I guess you become immune to dumb people

A-freakin-MEN!!!!!

Motocross, Hunters style horse shows and stock car racing... if you even mention the importance and need to cut off their clothes/boots/ect... youll be in a world of badmouthing. Ive done some stock car races... where the red flag means NOTHING to some. Ive almost been t-boned many times on the track.

~~~~~~~

Got another story: Dispatched to a person down. Arrive on scene to find a female who had hit an object with her bicycle and went over the handlebars onto some train tracks. She was running around flailing her arms crying and screaming "Im paralyzed, Im paralyzed!!!" After the tracks were cleared and she was in the back of my ambulance... a train went by. From that day on a grew to hate people who worry about things that didnt happen :evil:

[ERDoc]

Back in my EMS days we had this guy that never knew when to say when to the heroin. Frequent OD'er. We get there one day and get him in the ambulance. We hit a turn and something hard comes flying out of his shorts (perverts). Someone picked it up and it turned out to be frozen squid. Quick check of his boxers turns up a whole lot more. We were all saying, WTF? Once we got to the hospital we pulled the wife aside and asked her about it. She said that she had heard that if you have someone who ODs on heroin you should pack the groin with ice. She couldn't find any ice, but had a whole bunch of frozen squid.

Another time we picked him up we find him laying in the bottom of the shower, with the shower turned on. The water was running into his mouth, lucky for him he was not breathing. We asked the wife if he had fallen in the shower. She says no, she put him there and turned on the water thinking it would help wake him up.

His habit eventually caught up with him, or maybe his wife tried some new form of druggie torture, but I heard he ended up dying from an OD.

[Christopher.Collins]

Wow, the old memories are just pouring in now...

Not a call but my initial EMT class. It was good old pharmacology night too!

Instructor: Talking about epi-pen administration

Girl: "What happens if the patient has no legs?"

Ins: "Then you may be able to inject it into their arm"

Girl: "What if they have no arms or legs?"

Ins/Class: Silence

Girl: (SERIOUS NOT JOKING) "What if they are hiking in the woods, have no arms or legs, get stung by a bee and left their epi-pen in the car?"

KED Vest night:

Same girl: If you flip her upside down she'll look like a stop light!"

Another night:

Same girl (about 23y/o mind you) brings mom to class... mom never shuts the fu*k up... asking all sorts of questions.

FYI THIS GIRL PASSED HER NR EXAM DO NOT GET HURT OR SICK IN MADISON, CT

[reaper]

I would ask her, how they were hiking in the woods with no arms or legs?

[Christopher.Collins]

I would ask her, how they were hiking in the woods with no arms or legs?

We did, she said she didnt know... but was still curious about the "potential" scenario.

[firedoc5]

Another time we picked him up we find him laying in the bottom of the shower, with the shower turned on. The water was running into his mouth, lucky for him he was not breathing. We asked the wife if he had fallen in the shower. She says no, she put him there and turned on the water thinking it would help wake him up.

His habit eventually caught up with him, or maybe his wife tried some new form of druggie torture, but I heard he ended up dying from an OD.

We had a call of a woman who fell in the shower at one of the "motels/dives". When we got there she was laying in the shower in a fetal position and only the hot (scalding) water was turned on. For just formality's sake I checked her pulse. She was already in rigor. Her male companion said he kept knocking at the door and she wouldn't answer. That's when he had the manager open the door. The manager called 911. The guy kept changing his story. Turns out her "pimp" knocked her around a bit and went overboard. The story goes that he did admit to hitting her and she was "knocked out" so he undressed her and put her in the shower "with the cold water running to wake her up. When she didn't wake up he realized she was dead, so he turned the hot water on to burn her enough so the bruises wasn't going to show. She did have 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Her skin would just sluff off. So we know she was under that hot water for quite awhile. Since it was a homicide case only those of us that had some additional classes were allowed to help. You know how hard and how much it sucks to straighten out "riggy"?

But this guy was stupid enough to think that putting her in the shower like that would first try to wake her up, and second how stupid it was to think he could burn her enough to hide trauma.

Oh, the guy got life, with no parole.

[Kaisu]

Please specify which type Indian, one originating in India, or a "Native American/First Nations" tribes-person.

(First Nations refers to someone from the tribes in Canada)

And did you know Richard that "tribe" in Canada is a pejorative? In Canada, the politically correct term is "band".