And something a little more on topic
Two blog posts in one day?! After not posting anything for 2 weeks?! Wow!
I have been getting asked a lot about the specific calls I have been getting so I am going to do a quick little post about some of the ones that have stuck with me. Honestly, all of the calls sort of blend together. Even by the end of a shift it's very hard to remember every individual one, but I think it would be nice to have this to look back on so here are just a few (from both MICU and regular ambulance shifts).
There was one call for a man who had taken some heavy drugs and was lying unconcious in an alley way. His pupils were so enlarged that his entire irises were black, and his body was twitching and jerking uncontrollably. We raced to the hospital at top speed and when I was opening his file at the reception, we found out that he was actually only 16 years old. He was so tall that his feet hung over the end of the stretcher, so that was the last thing we were expecting. We ended up having to speed him over to the children's wing for treatment- luckily in the end he was alright.
We also got a call for a 6 month old baby who was experiencing dry coughs and wheezing. She ended up being ok, but this was a really great call just cause I got to sit next to her on the way to the hospital. She was staring me down with her adorable big brown eyes the whole way and had an iron grip on my finger. So cute!!
There was one really old lady who was in very bad shape. She could barely breath on her own, had clearly not bathed in a very long time, and was very fragile and thin. On the way to the hopsital, the paramedics intubated her. We had to suction out thick brown fluid from her lungs so it would work, and it sort of got all over the equipment in the chaos of trying to save her while zooming to the hopsital. Since the team consisted of me (a mere volunteer) and 3 paramedics (the ambulance gods), I had to clean all of the equipment myself. It took over a half hour to de-gunk everything and it was very smelly and gross, but still a cool experience.
A 75 year old man called an ambulance for extreme back pain after he slipped in his home. In order to comfortably move him from his bed to the ambulance, we had to give him very, very strong pain killers. The entire ambulance ride consisted of him trying to (and I quote) "fight the medicine and stay as normal as possible". We talked about his kids, his grandkids, his army service, my studies, my plans for the future, etc just so he could keep his head clear despite the very strong drugs. At one point he started sobbing because of his overpowering love for Israel, so I am not sure how successful he was in doing so. Nonetheless, it was some very endearing (and entertaining) patient interaction that I very much appreciated.
We had a call for a 105 year old lady. Just imagine being alive for 105 years. This call was memorable because this lady did not look a day older than 85 at most. She functioned incredibly well for somebody who is 105 years old... I repeat: 105 years of age. An entire century of life plus some. I can only hope to be half as lucky as this lady.
We were called to the home of a 62 year old man who had fallen and hit his head on his countertop. His house looked like the set of a Criminal Minds episode. There was blood all over the patient, the couch, the floor, and the countertop. Not just specks of blood, literal pools of it. It was very cool not gonna lie. The guy was also mostly fine (considering the circumstances)- I think he was just taking anticoagulants so he bled a lot.
That's all I'm gonna write today but I will try to focus more on writing about what actually goes on during the shifts because this is definitely more interesting and something I will regret not keeping a record of.
I have been getting asked a lot about the specific calls I have been getting so I am going to do a quick little post about some of the ones that have stuck with me. Honestly, all of the calls sort of blend together. Even by the end of a shift it's very hard to remember every individual one, but I think it would be nice to have this to look back on so here are just a few (from both MICU and regular ambulance shifts).
There was one call for a man who had taken some heavy drugs and was lying unconcious in an alley way. His pupils were so enlarged that his entire irises were black, and his body was twitching and jerking uncontrollably. We raced to the hospital at top speed and when I was opening his file at the reception, we found out that he was actually only 16 years old. He was so tall that his feet hung over the end of the stretcher, so that was the last thing we were expecting. We ended up having to speed him over to the children's wing for treatment- luckily in the end he was alright.
We also got a call for a 6 month old baby who was experiencing dry coughs and wheezing. She ended up being ok, but this was a really great call just cause I got to sit next to her on the way to the hospital. She was staring me down with her adorable big brown eyes the whole way and had an iron grip on my finger. So cute!!
There was one really old lady who was in very bad shape. She could barely breath on her own, had clearly not bathed in a very long time, and was very fragile and thin. On the way to the hopsital, the paramedics intubated her. We had to suction out thick brown fluid from her lungs so it would work, and it sort of got all over the equipment in the chaos of trying to save her while zooming to the hopsital. Since the team consisted of me (a mere volunteer) and 3 paramedics (the ambulance gods), I had to clean all of the equipment myself. It took over a half hour to de-gunk everything and it was very smelly and gross, but still a cool experience.
A 75 year old man called an ambulance for extreme back pain after he slipped in his home. In order to comfortably move him from his bed to the ambulance, we had to give him very, very strong pain killers. The entire ambulance ride consisted of him trying to (and I quote) "fight the medicine and stay as normal as possible". We talked about his kids, his grandkids, his army service, my studies, my plans for the future, etc just so he could keep his head clear despite the very strong drugs. At one point he started sobbing because of his overpowering love for Israel, so I am not sure how successful he was in doing so. Nonetheless, it was some very endearing (and entertaining) patient interaction that I very much appreciated.
We had a call for a 105 year old lady. Just imagine being alive for 105 years. This call was memorable because this lady did not look a day older than 85 at most. She functioned incredibly well for somebody who is 105 years old... I repeat: 105 years of age. An entire century of life plus some. I can only hope to be half as lucky as this lady.
We were called to the home of a 62 year old man who had fallen and hit his head on his countertop. His house looked like the set of a Criminal Minds episode. There was blood all over the patient, the couch, the floor, and the countertop. Not just specks of blood, literal pools of it. It was very cool not gonna lie. The guy was also mostly fine (considering the circumstances)- I think he was just taking anticoagulants so he bled a lot.
That's all I'm gonna write today but I will try to focus more on writing about what actually goes on during the shifts because this is definitely more interesting and something I will regret not keeping a record of.
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