Why Do We Do This Job?

I was going to leave a comment on a post put up by Ambulance Driver, but it is long enough to be its own post.
----------


It was a beautiful spring day, probably right about this time of year. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, perfect for some parasailing on a Sunday morning. The view must have really been impressive, and I'm sure he could see for miles and miles.

While he was in the air he started to feel ill, so he brought the parasail down in a field where his adult son was waiting for him. They began to package the gear when it happened. He clutched his chest and his heart likely stopped beating before he even hit the ground. His son called 911 from his cell phone and immediately started performing CPR. An ambulance was dispatched along with the local first responders. There happened to be a sheriffs deputy near by who just also happened to have an AED in his cruiser. How that Crown Vic with its low ground clearance made it down that muddy, rutted road to the field we'll never know, but the deputy made it there and applied the AED and delivered two shocks. After just a couple of minutes the local first responders arrived on scene and took over CPR, they suctioned his airway and placed an oropharyngeal airway and provided oxygen via BVM, minutes after the first responders arrived two ambulances made their way down that rutted muddy road.

The first responders in this town can be hit or miss, it all depends on who is in town and available, on this day there were plenty of them, but not knowing that, both ambulances responded. As we made our way down that muddy road I took the radio "Gini, you're on airway. Brett, get history from the bystanders, Abbie will get a line. The EMT student can do compressions. I'll take the monitor & drugs."

The first responder who was bagging the patient was one of our full timers, he quickly made room for Gini, the ink not yet dry on her EMT-Intermediate license, to get in position for her first field tube. As the eager EMT-B student got into position to start compressions I told him "push hard, push fast, only stop when I tell you to." The deputy's AED wasn't compatible with our monitor and so I peeled his pads off and placed ours on the patients chest- asystole. Fuck.

The student continued the picture perfect compressions that the son had started. Gini placed an 8.0 ET tube into the patient's trachea and we confirmed its placement via condensation, colorimetric CO2 detector, good, clear bilateral lung sounds and waveform capnography. Abbie had an 18 at the left A/C and so I tossed her the epi & atropine. Brett gave us a report on the history and I had the EMT pause compressions. V-tach. "He's already had two AED shocks, I'm charging to 360. Stop compressions, everyone clear!" Sinus tach at 120. "Son of a bitch, he's got a pulse! lets get into the truck and check a BP." One of the first responders came over to use with a longboard & straps & C-collar & blocks. We got him onto the board and secured to the stretcher and into the truck.

The patient's son followed me to the curb door of the rig and I told him that he was welcome to ride up front. "I'm not leaving my father! I've been with him through everything this morning, I'm not leaving him!" I learned long ago to pick your battles carefully. He had a point, he was the one who started CPR, he was already committed, who was I to deny him that.

I sat on the bench, the son to my left, the student across from me, ready to start CPR again if necessary, Abbie at the head to maintain airway. On the way in to the hospital I got on the radio "Podunk General, this is Medic 8, we're about five minutes out with a male patient, 50's, status post asystole arrest. After one round of ACLS drugs he's in a sinus rhythm now at 80, I've got a lido drip running, 12 lead shows an anterolateral infarct, he's got a pressure of 130/70, I'll see you in five, might want to start LifeFlight now."

Every link in the chain of survival was there that day. His son provided early CPR. The deputy provided early defibrillation. The first responders were able to provide good BLS airway control. My crew and I provided early ACLS and rapid transport. The ED staff was on top of their game that day as well. Just over an hour passed from the time he went into arrest until he was back up in the air, this time in an Agusta helicopter on his way to a cath lab. Several days later he walked out of the hospital under his own power. His only deficit- he doesn't remember landing the parasail.

And that is why I do my job. Because I was a part of the team that saved his life.

I don't know his name, but he was my brother.

I don't know why he got into EMS. I don't know how long he has been in EMS, I don't know what his life's experience was. But the simple fact is he was an EMS provider, he chose a life of dedication to others and one patient, in an instant, took that away from him. His name has not yet been released but we do know that he was 37 years old, married and had two children who expected their daddy to come home in the morning after his shift.

Resquiat in pacem, brother.

Slacker

Second Annual AD NE Bloggershoot AAR to follow later.
I left the Harvard Sportsmen's Club to go directly to a friend's birthday party. Shooty Goodness + darn good company + 150+ mile drive + revelry with drunken fools (only one drink for me) + another 30 miles to home = direct to bed, then off to work this morning and now getting ready for bed again. Just like last  year's event I had a darn good time.

I also need to revamp my blogroll, the format I'm using currently takes up too much space, I need to shorten it and add a new list of Bloggers I've met. But that will be done in the not so distant future.

g'night all

"Gun Control" Ur doin' it rite, Maine

I am blessed in that I live in a free state. Concealed and open carry are allowed, though I'm pretty sure despite our decent gun laws the average liberal Mainer would lose their shit upon seeing me walk down the street without concealing. I'm quite sure that no matter where you go you will encounter some degree of "ZOMFG!1!! He haz a gun!!1!!!!1eleventy!!!" whilst openly carrying. The Brady folks (spit) have released their annual state survey of gun laws and Maine received a respectable 11 out of 100. In New England only New Hampshire & Vermont received "lower" scores in the eyes of the Brady folk- nine and eight, respectively. From the local news...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Gun control laws in northern New England are being given low marks in the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence's annual survey of state gun laws.
The survey gave Maine a score of 11 out of 100 for its laws, while New Hampshire was given a 9 and Vermont was given an 8. The Brady Campaign says laws in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont allow the sale of guns without background checks, put children at risk and help feed the illegal gun market.
Utah was at the bottom of the survey with a score of zero, while California was given the highest score, a 79.
The Brady Campaign is a Washington-based group that advocates for stronger gun control laws.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) 

 I just don't get Sarah Brady. Okay, fine your husband was shot in the head when someone was trying to take out ol' Ronnie Reagan, how about we get pissed off about the degree of crayzee shown by the shooter and not the fact that he had a heater. For fucks sake, look at the fucking numbers you ignorant bint.  Number of gun owners does not equal number of violent crimes, in fact the two numbers are not even related. There are violent douchebags everywhere who will resort to violence with our without a gun.

Fuck I need a drink.

Meme bandwagon

Since all the cool kids are doing it I figured I'd jump on the latest meme bandwagon. Here you see what leaves with house with me each and every time I go out. As with AD the exception being when I go to work administrators frown on carrying when I'm in the office at the hospital and when I'm working on the ambulance.

• Wallet- complete with serial killer license photo
• T-Mobile G1 w/Google- the original Android phone and it's still way cooler than you iPhone
• Keys to Xterra v2.0, the office & a cuff key- never know when you might need one
• Machined metal pen with which you could totally shank a bitch
• Burt's Bees lip balm
• iPod, yes those earbuds are pink, you got a problem with that??
• Bersa Thunder 9 Ultra Compact- 13+1 rounds of 9mm goodness with combo IWB/OWB holster
• Extra 13 round mag for aforementioned Bersa

So, what's in your pocket?

Stingray makes me giggle

Being the avid fan of Vicious Circle that I am, whenever I read a rant by either of the Atomic Nerds I can't help but hear their voice inside my head. Today's giggle fit comes to us thanks to a rant by StingRay.

With that one little ad, OnStar has absolutely positively made certain that I will never own or operate their monkey-felching syphillitic aids-weasel of a product. There is no fucking way in dildoslurping shitfuck that I want anybody other than the driver with that kind of control over my car. I’m glad the bad guy got caught, but the potential for some chicken fucking corpse diddler to abuse this system is so profoundly out of proportion to its possible beneficial applications that I am frankly appalled that when the idea was floated, the sister-fucking ass munching paragon of privacy violation wasn’t kicked in the junk with such force as to render whatever pus-crusted excuse for genitalia the miserable little month-old pile of clown-shit possessed into a fine mist.

I must admit, I LOL'd, literally.

"monkey-felching syphillity aids-weasel of a product"

"no way in dildo-slurping shitfuck"

"chicken fucking corpse diddler"

"sister-fucking ass munching paragon of privacy violation"

Yes, I really am just a 12 year old boy who laughs at name calling.

2012 Rant

These sanctimonious ass clowns that actually think the world is going to end in 2012 fail to understand that while yes, the Mayan calendar does indeed "run out" in 2012, *another* Mayan calendar begins the next fucking day.

TEOTWAWKI is not going to come as a result of some ancient fucking calendar that most people don't fucking understand. It is going to come as a result of motherfucking zombies. ZOMBIES God damn it! How many fucking times do I have to fucking explain this to people?!?.
Fuck I need another drink.
/rant