I love this job!!

[ALERT Medic]

Why not? Seems like the right thing to do. :wink:

[Just Plain Ruff]

on the whole matter of the seizure I took care of a person and she was very very very very well known at the hospital I worked at as she worked at the hospital. She indeed would have seizures and could talk during the seizures. Now before slamming me hear me out. she had a specific kind of seizure that was not technically a seizure but her neurologists could not classify it any other way. Her PET scan and many other tests proved it was a seizure even though it did not technically fully qualify as a seizure.

[Asysin2leads]

Well, to be honest, you can have a focal point seizure and still talk... but still anyone who is having grand mal seizure activity and complaining about anything is pretty much full of Ca Ca. I'm sure there are some neurological disorders that are treated with benzos that could present the way you described, but applying Occam's Razor, its more likely she was full of it. My $.02, maybe if you posted some info on this neurological disorder it would help.

[ffmedic9588]

I have watched this thread and I feel that James was treated pretty bad. James I am sorry that you had to endure your character being called in question however for some unknown reason to me ems is famous for this type of behavior. We tend to feed off of our own and tear each other apart. The fire department doesn't do this the police departments do not do this but it is common place in ems for some reason. It needs to stop let's support each other and help each other learn from our mistakes. James I know it has been said before but scene safety is very important and man be careful stick around for awhile longer. James continue to post you have just as much to offer as anyone else on here.

[James_ffemt]

Ok, so last Saturday night my partner and I were awakened by the phone ringing. I answer and it's my supervisor telling us to get in the truck and head to the Bestwestern hotel for a triple shooting. We get dressed and take off. We are about 15 miles away from this location. While we are en route the first crew gets on scene and states that there is a very large crowd and PD is on scene. Well about 2 minutes later they come across the radio and say they are en route to the hospital with their patient and shots were being fired while they were on scene. They also stated that the other two victims had gone by POV and the supervisor canceled us. We continued to head to the hospital knowing that our little ER would need help. Well the supervisor calls back and tells us we have another shooting victim at the scene. We get on scene and there is about 300 people in the parking lot of this hotel/club, police, sheriff, FD, Troopers and Tribal Police. We get out and start to our victim which we learn is not a gunshot but having a seizure. Pt. was seizing when we came into contact with her. The crowd is hitting us and cussing us and would not get out of the way. PD is no where to be found so we just start pushing our way through. We get her in the back of the ambulance and I lock the door and the Firefighters surround our truck. Pt. still seizing and complaining she can't breath. ETOH on board and she stated between seizures she took xanax. We head towards hospital and the above mentioned law enforcement pass us code 3. We get to ER and there is another three hundred or more people there fighting inside and outside the ER. We are escorted in, moving another OD pt. out of the way so we can get ours in and FD is taking care of her. Bird was on the ground when we get there and they take 2 pts. Another bird drops in and takes 3rd GSW. The OD outside goes unresponsive so we grab her and put her in the ER and our pt. starts seizing so hard she is coming past the bed rails. Dr. puts her down and intubates her and calls another bird to come in. So we had a triple shooting double overdose plus they had a patient waiting to be seen that had been stabbed in the head with a rust screwdriver by his wife. GOD I LOVE MY JOB!!! Everybody survived!!!!

Ok, I said I wouldn't do this but here goes anyway. Maybe I can make some sense out of what I wrote above. Hind site is always 20/20 and after reading this over and over I see why some of it made you question my integrity.

Let's start this off with you knowing a little more about me. I work full time for the Muscogee Creek Nation as an Indian Child Protection Worker. I am a basic and have been for a little over a year now. I just completed the EMT-I course waiting to test for my NREMT. I have been a vol. FF for 8 years and a Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer for 13 years.

I understand scene safety very well. As I wrote in the post above I stated that law enforcement was on scene. I then contradicted myself by saying we pushed our way through the crowd(mob) whatever. As we stepped out of the ambulance my fist question to an officer walking by was is this scene secured and safe and I was told yes. We took the cot out of the back and began walking towards our patient. I believe that my estimations were very close to the number stated above regarding the number of people involved. Now let me make this point. I first want to say that in no way is this a racial post or a Black/white thing. 99% of the crowd were black. This due to the great number of black citizens in our community and surrounding areas. Black, white, hispanic,irish it doesn't matter but I say this for a reason. Over the years working in the funeral business, ems, ff and even selling shoes I have come to appreciate how black people watch out for their family members and friends. I have also noticed that in some situations that go to extremes. I have also noticed this in native american families. NOTHING WRONG with this I just want everyone to understand this post and please no one take this in the wrong context. I feel like I need to write this and explain everything in detail. If I am wrong about how black people react in situations like this please inform me. I must say that I spoke at length with a co-worker today (who is black) and she agreed with me on this and actually stated that she would have acted in the same manner. I also talked with co-workers who are Native American and they to agreed with the way they act. Ok, just wanted to clear that up. So as we are heading towards the patient there are 8 or so people around this young lady. Remember PD stated that the scene is safe. We have fire walking behind us to assist. As we approach I can see the pt. seizing and friends and bystanders are screaming "she can't breath". Asking several times for the people to move out of the way we made our way through the 8 or so people to get to our patient. At this point our patient has stopped seizing and is gasping for air. During this time a crowd forms around us. This is when the cussing and hitting on our backs began. We load our patient on the cot and FD surrounds us and we make it to the ambulance. Once inside I lock the doors and FD surrounds our ambulance until we can get out of the parking lot. Pt. is awake with hands over throat and whispers I can't breath. She seizes again. O2 started NR 15lpm. SPO2 was 94% and rate of 22p/m. HR was tachy at 112. A family member at the scene knock on the side door and we asked her to step in and give us pt history and what led up to this event. FYI we also had a FF/EMT in truck with us to assist. Family member gives us brief history, states no ETOH or drugs on this night. ETOH was on board due to smell from breath. During this time pt. seizure stops, line started, and questions asked of patient such as illegal drugs, ETOH, drug allergies, etc. I guess at this point I should be saying seizure like activity. Pt. states she took 4-5 xanax. EMT-P gets monitor hooked up (sinus tach) and we have FF drive to hospital. EMT-P inspects mouth due to pt. still saying she can't breath though SPO2 was now at 96-98%. EMT-P states that her tongue is swollen and then she goes unresponsive on us. So he thinks overdose. I am not the one with P behind my EMT. Ok? He pushes narcan and pt. wakes up. I would say A/O x 3. En-route to hospital pt. goes unresponsive again. Airway still open and her SPO2 is still good. We weren't abut about 1 min from ER when this happened. Into the ER we go and she will not respond to any painful or verbal stimuli. The she begins to seize hard. Coming up almost to the top of the bedrails. At this point we have transfered care over to ER staff. I walk by room and ER DR. is talking about knocking her down and tubing her. So he does, His call, I don't know what made him do it. He obviously saw something or found out something we did not. Comes to find out, pt. had OD or had a reaction to Ecstasy(Spelling?) Anyway that is what happened.

I hope I don't catch any hell over putting the rest of the details in. I was reluctant at first but after reading some of the posts thought what the hell it can't hurt any worse. If I missed something or stated something wrong in this post I apologize now. Again I want to state that I was not making this post, in any way, racial. I wanted to paint a picture of what the crowd was like.

Our local paper's website is down or I would add links to their news story. One article stated that there was a riot outside the hospital and a small riot inside the hospital. It also stated that the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations is thinking that this incident is gang related. I have then heard that it was a bartender of the club who did the shooting. Can't confirm until case is solved or someone confesses.

So as far as scene safety goes we were told it was. Then it wasn't. If anybody can share and experiences of similar situation please do so and let me know how you handled it.

[DwayneEMTP]

+5 for not running away!

Good job...I think you have a lot to offer...

For someone like me that hasn't worked in the field yet I find this to be a great learning scenario....Had I given it some thought I might have viewed scene safety as being so dynamic....but I hadn't done so before...I tended to think of them as safe or not...I'll rethink it now.

You may get some folks screaming about the racial stereotypes...but that doesn't invalidate them....(I haven't spent enough time in such non diverse communities to have an opinion) take the comments you can learn from and and let the rest blow on by...

Glad you decided to stick around...

Dwayne

[Ridryder 911]

I agree, it is somewhat confusing; however if you do not know the area, you cannot probably understand the situation. We are talking about a small rural community. As far as P.D., you might have the the full force of 8 officers there and in this area.. the crowds can grow rapidly as news and as James described "potentially gang related " should have gave you a clue of the type and caliber of people. Gangs in the rural areas are growing in number much faster than in urban areas, in comparison.

Sure, saying the scene is safe, awaiting for P.D. etc. is nice to say and even nicer if one can perform it, but I too have been in situations where it was as dangerous awaiting for help, than to initiate care. Sure, could it be done better maybe.. maybe not.. and again if you were not there it is way to easy to play armchair quarterback.

Sorry, James you were misinterpreted and mis-understood.. yes, you probably made errors, but if you did the best you could at the time.. so be it.. and learn off your errors, like the rest of us do, and chalk it up on experience.

Hang in there...

R/r 911

[Just Plain Ruff]

James, kudos for the clarifications.

It explains a lot.

The bottom line is We are glad you are ok after this call.

[Dustdevil]

Group hug!

[Mastabattas]

Group hug!

But beware of what's in Dust's pants!!

James...I'm like Dwayne...not in the field yet. Found your post useful to read both the first summation and the second clarification. Always helpful to see how calls are recounted, and educational also to see how things play out in these threads.

Keep posting, and stay safe!