0945.25

no pulse

ice cold

jeez, he’s my age

what happened

that guys going to be trouble

got to get to the gym

hot in here

look at all these pills

still in the bottle

Vicodin Oxycontin

no sign of a fight

what the hell happened

Narcan

CPR

what’s for lunch

too late

need the cops

where’s the monitor

get the pads

don’t need the pads

this is a crime scene

try an iv

too late

he’s gone

watch that guy

what do I tell him

no coming back

when’s my doctor’s appointment

is that mottling

stiff

dizzy

work him

do something

let him rest

he’s dead

that guy’s going to snap

where are the cops

shit

9:45.30

He was dead, and had been dead for hours. His roommate/lover/husband found him, in bed, not breathing and called us. I knew it was far too late for resuscitation, the roommate/lover/husband did not. He stood by while I assessed the patient, expectantly.

“I’m sorry, sir, he’s gone.”

“Do something!”

“There’s nothing anybody can do, he’s gone.”

“Get out! I’ll do it! Get out of my house!”

I had a dead guy in bed, another guy jumping on the bed attempting compressions and mouth to mouth on the dead guy. Thank god I wasn’t alone. With help from my partner and a firefighter from Engine 15 we separated the living from the dead, and kept them apart.

I briefly considered going through the motions of CPR and all of that for the survivors sake, then some clarity entered my brain, and I thought how inappropriate to desecrate a body at rest for the sake of another persons closure.

Eventually the police came, the hysterical man calmed down and the body was removed.

After a while you just give in, and go along. Drunks crash, the police call for EMS, we take them to the hospital and that’s that. No charges, no fines, no license suspensions, no accountability. It’s absurd. I used to write about it a lot here, but got tired of sounding like a broken record. Nobody cares, until it’s their kid, or brother, or friend who gets killed. Then watch out.

http://www2.turnto10.com/news/2011/feb/03/7/reason-why-providence-lags-smaller-cities-dui-arre-ar-385664/?referer=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fturnto10.com%2Far%2F385664%2F%3Fsms_ss%3Dfacebook%26at_xt%3D4d4c8bf21c6f6c40%252C0&h=7e1c0&shorturl=http://turnto10.com/ar/385664/

You heard it here first!

http://rescuingprovidence.com/2009/09/01/not-me/

http://rescuingprovidence.com/2006/12/04/some-days/

He shuffles toward the rescue, no particular hurry, he’s got nothing much to do. It’s ten o’clock on a Thursday Night, he’s out of money, the buzz from the half is wearing off and he’s hungry. He has that wary look about him, not quite knowing what to expect from the people he called for help. I’m sure it’s not his first such call, or second, or twentieth.

“What’s going on, buddy, we got a call for an elderly man with chest pains at the bus station. Can’t be you, you’re too old to be elderly.”

“You got that right,” he says with half a smile. “I’m way past elderly, got one foot in the grave,”

“You look like shit. Come on, let’s get out of the cold.” It’s freezing. He’s freezing. I’m starting to freeze.

“Sit over here and take off your coat, uh…coats.”

He settles in. The homeless have one way of moving. Slow. One coat comes off, then the other. Slowly.

“Are you in pain?”

“My chest hurts. Got the pnemonia. Had it going on two years now, can’t shake it.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifty-six.”

“No kidding, you don’t look a day over seventy-six.”

He laughs at that, a good, belly laugh. The strength of the human spirit never fails to amaze me. Here’s a man who by most standards should be in the depth of despair, yet finds humor in a wiseguy EMT.

He sees through me, and knows I’m actually bonding with him, making him feel like one of the rest of us by treating him like I would an old friend. Men have a strange way of communicating, homeless or not. We’re not comfortable with sentimental gestures and overly caring other men, that stuff makes us feel weird. A good natured insult puts us at peace much more effectively.

“What have you been drinking, cough syrup?” This elicits another laugh, though not so hearty.

“Whisky.”

“Good whisky?”

“Is there any other?”

“Guess not.”

He’s from New London, a city in Connecticut. He doesn’t know how he got to Providence. He does know that a ‘nice lady’ gave him ten dollars for bus fare back to New London hours ago, but he bought himself a decent sandwich and half pint of whiskey instead.

There will be another nice lady or two tomorrow, maybe he’ll get back to New London then.

First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate Kelly Grayson on his impressive victory in the EMS Blog of the Year Contest at Fire Critic. http://firecritic.com/2011/02/and-the-winners-are-iron-firemen-and-ambo-driver/

His gracious acceptance of the award is aww…inspiring!  http://ambulancedriverfiles.com/2011/02/ems-blog-of-the-year-baby/

Iron Firemen http://ironfiremen.com/2011/02/we-did-it/ took the award in the Fire Blog category, congratulations to him, well done sir!

Thanks to the Fire Critic for hosting the contest, it was a lot of fun, and hopefully everybody got a chance to find some new reads and will continue to visit these blogs, and all of the ones that were nominated, and the ones on the blogrolls, there are a lot of gems out there, waiting to be discovered by the masses.

What of Rescuing Providence you ask? Is another #2 finish going to finish him? Will he go through life a perpetual bridesmaid, and never a bride?

Hell no!

Meaning no disrespect to Fire Critic, and the winners of this years contest, I hereby announce that I am the recipient of something far more valuable than a pair of boots and some bragging rights:

http://happymedic.com/2011/02/03/firecritic-ima-let-you-finish-but-rescuing-providence-is-the-greatest-blog-of-all-time/

I’m nearing the end of a twenty year career in EMS, I think. I never thought I would last this long. During my darkest moments, when I had given up on our profession, and considered it a joke, Justin, and Mark, http://999medic.com/ developed a little something called EMS 2.0 http://chroniclesofems.com/ems-20.htm

If somebody cared enough about what we do, and who we are, and what we represent, perhaps all isn’t lost, I thought. I wanted to get more involved, but simply had no time, and to be honest, my heart just isn’t in it to the extent Justin and Mark deserve.

Anyway, without EMS 2.0, and The Happy Medic there would be no Rescuing Providence. And that is the absolute truth.

A sincere thank you to The Happy Medic, for everything.

It’s easy dealing with strangers and their emergencies, even the life threatening ones. It’s just me and them, no complications, easy answers. And when I don’t have the answers, I just bring them to somebody who does.

Easy.

If only my own life were so easy. I wish I could call 911 and somebody would show up, and take me to a place where people are paid to solve my problems, or at least try.

And then I could go home, and there would be no worries.

You can say what you will about dogs being more loyal than cats,

but here’s nothing better than coming home from a long weekend shift and having the sentinels join me for a long, winter’s nap.

And, I’m certain that if a burglar invaded our home, these cats would take a bullet for me.

As long as I feed them before hitting the hay, that is.

A car with a mother and her two teenaged sons slides down an icy hill and crashes into a truck on a two lane road. The air-bags deploy, the occupants are injured. Nothing life-threatening, but in need of medical attention. There is room for cars to squeeze past the wreckage but barely. A fire engine is on scene, assisting the rescue. All members are busy putting collars on the victims, assessing injuries, securing the vehicles and providing scene safety. Traffic backs up. The incident is in its tenth minute. The police are not yet on scene.

A man, six cars away gets out of his car and angrily approaches the scene.

“Let’s go! Get this traffic moving! One of you direct traffic instead of standing around with your thumb up your ass!”

Do you:

a. abandon the patients and direct traffic

b. explain the severity of the situation to the concerned citizen and escort him back to his vehicle

c. ignore him

d. tell him to get the f back in his car before he has a lot more than a thumb up his ass

Three cheers for picking the right answer.

I’m toast. Ambulance driver broke out Katy Beth. Dirty trick, yes, but considering I’m the charter member of the Katy Beth fan club, Providence Branch, don’t be afraid to throw a sympathy vote my way.

http://ambulancedriverfiles.com/

Time is running out…

And, as a bonus, if you vote for Rescuing Providence, I’ll make sure Katy Beth doesn’t have to hold the cans that Ambulance Driver uses for target practice anymore!

http://firecritic.com/contests/fire-ems-blog-of-the-year-2010/finalists-and-voting/

http://firecritic.com/contests/fire-ems-blog-of-the-year-2010/finalists-and-voting/