Saturday, September 6, 2008

Situation Normal

Called for a 40 year old having a seizure.
Arrive to find a party going on in full swing, the middle of the afternoon.
Of course, everyone is very helpful.
We manage to clear some room around the patient and begin to access him.
He is known to EMS as one who is very combative when he starts to come around.
We put in a call to the Band Constables but they won't come.
He is laying in a chair with a glazed look in his eyes.
Now is the time to grab a quick set of vitals.
Too late, he all of a sudden gets a horrified look in his eyes and starts swinging.
He has a forearm cast which makes quite a formidable weapon.
We start dancing around the living room and he then decides that we are going outside.
He is about my size but still too intoxicated to really take me on.
We go out to the porch and he decides that he is going to escape the evil that has befallen him.
So off we go across the yard.
As he reaches the boundary, I grab him and steer him back across the yard.
My goal was to play him out until I could gain his trust.
There is a heavily trafficked road near by and I am worried that he will run out to it to get away.
After a few laps, he has had enough of my interference so decides to stand and fight.
I end up sitting on him, out in the yard, him swinging his one good arm and the cast at me.
I look up just in time to see a RCMP truck going by.
The officers just wave at me and keep going.
Like this happens every day.
Its normal for a Paramedic to be sitting on a patient out in the yard.
My partner had placed a call into the RCMP for help about ten minutes prior so they do finally get the call and respond.
By this time the patient is sitting calmly in the back of the ambulance letting us do a full assessment.
The officers are very cordial and tell us to call them anytime that we may need them, no problem.
OK, thanks guys, we're under control, but thanks for coming.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am amazed. at the level of your dedication, and the inactivity of the rcmp-#1 fan

Jessie said...

We had called the Band Constables right away but they refused to come. They are made up of locals, have their own trucks but no guns, and are for domestic problems.
The RCMP have always been there for us, but it takes about twenty minutes for them to get our call and then to respond. We use the RCMP as a last resort because they are always so busy.
Thank you for your comments.