The ugly truth

"I don't know how long she's been down" says the bystander. We enter through the doorway into the room. We behold our patient, a Lincoln Continental sized woman. The lifeless body buck ass naked on a mattress that was dwarfed by her size. The inner concern arises as we conceptualize a way to extricate this patient. Is this even possible? There is no way the two of us can move her. I couldn't even believe she would fit through the door way.

"She wont even fit on the elevator" my partner whispers. "Not laying down" I whisper back. "so we put her on the elevator car 1 and hit the lobby button, than jump in car 2 and race to the lobby?" my partner suggests. "are you kidding my? I'm not taking the stairs!" My partner looks at me holding back the laughter "how does you taking the stairs come into the equation?" he mutters, "I don't know, I was feeling confusion, We have a job to do" I say as I enter the room leaving my partner in utter confusion.
We approach, placing the monitor on the floor, and begin our assessment. A truly mute thing at this point. Neither of us are truly thinking this is a viable option for resuscitation, but relying on training we proceed with the steps to confirm. I chirp out a quick radio transmission of an additional truck and the police to the scene. My partner places the four lead on and glances at the monitor, while I throw a set of defibrillator pads on our patient. The Monitor reads Asystole yet her body is still slightly room temperature. We debate our options in the room more for show. We point out the lavidity in the legs and arms setting in, the staff unable to understand the words coming out of our mouths. We pack up and await for the police officer to take over the scene. The instant sign of relief washes across my partners face.
We as EMS providers are imagined as super humans. We arrive on scene and are expected to save a life. We are supposed to operate with no emotion but show compassion. We are supposed to be confident in our ability to over come the largest of obstacles, some times though our human nature and concerns get in the way. We are only human after all, we have our own ways to cope with the dismal and dark side of the world. We often dont deal with people when they are having a good day. EMS typically wont be called until a persons day turns to crap, and we must remain light hearted in order to continue in this job.

Be Safe

Ambulance Junkie