Thank youse

    A couple of weeks ago, we had brought a patient in to the hospital. We cleaned the ambulance and finished up the paper work and just as I was leaving, a family member of the patient mouthed thank you to me. Caught off guard, I said something like, "anytime....." Dumbbell!

    Then yesterday, a little white haired elder drove up to the curb, rolled down her window and said "we really appreciate you guys". This time I was ready and said "thank you" No other words came to mind.

Thank you's are few and far between in this job, so if you thank a paramedic and they say something stupid, like I did, please know that we really appreciate it, and that it means the world to us.

I made sure that I passed on the comments to all my coworkers, I just left out my replies.

Churchill, Manitoba

These are a couple of pics that I took while I was working in Churchill.

Wildlife

Call comes in for a roll over 3 patients, local ambulance responding.

This meant that we were responding just to back them up and help transport.

They were an hour away, This is in the middle of the night.

I am still running on the effect of the deliver on the side of the highway earlier in the morning.

We blast north up the gravel road, lights and siren watching for the eyes of wildlife in the ditches.

We arrive on scene and do another triage and load up the most seriously hurt patient in our truck.

And away we go, now south bound, lights and sirens for the hour drive to the closest hospital.

Our patient was a young fellow who had had a few beer so thought it best not to drive home.

The driver that he picked to drive his truck home, lost control, rolled and landed upright in five feet of water.

One passenger was ejected.

This was the second time this year that someone else had written off his vehicle.

I was in the back with him for the trip, keeping him awake and watching vitals.

About 15 minutes north of the hospital, I hear the driver scream " AAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhh" so I braced myself and the patient.

BANG!

 We came to a quick stop from 100kmh (60mph), contact was at 90 kmh (50)

"A moose" the driver calls out.

I check on the patient and he is fine, although now a little sensitive to other people's driving.

My partner is white, I mean that pale sweaty white of a cardiac patient.

The ambulance is in bad shape and not going anywhere by itself.

We call our second truck to come and get us.

Another medic has jumped in the back with the patient and I am out stretching my legs before we transfer.

One of the medics has a tag (license for a moose) so is determined to come and track down the moose.

We are standing out near the ditch, the hunter has his back to where the moose was, I am facing him.

I scream out "Moose" drop my flashlight for added effect and pretend to run.

Big bad hunter, spins and runs right into the side if the ambulance, clawing at it looking for the door.

I thought that I was going to pee myself I was laughing so hard.

Big bad hunter knows allot of curse words.

We get back to town, drop off the patient and fill out the paper work. Lots of paper work.

Now it is about five or six in the morning and pitch black.

I am walking behind the hospital, not paying particular attention to anything.

I look up and there is a bear about twenty feet from me.

I gently reach into my cargo pockets, pull out some dog treats, and toss them off the path.

I am too tired to walk all the way around the hospital so I just quietly walk by the bear, who is now busy searching for his treats.

Time for bed.

There Was A Pregnant Lady

    The patient had been discharged from a Hospital 1.5 hours south of us the day before, 4 cm dilated.

The patient lives 1 hour north of us.

That puts her 2.5 hours drive from the specialty hospital that she was to go to once labour had returned, not including the hour wait for the ambulance to come and get her.

The night shift truck was called out at around 0500hrs to go get her, labour had started again.

They brought her to our hospital and we were called out to relay her  back to the big city hospital from where she had just come the previous day.

She was considered a high risk pregnancy so the next closest hospital wouldn't take her.

About 20 minutes down the road, we had to pull over.

The waters had released and there was meconium staining (the baby was under stress and had defecated in the womb).

They were right, she was high risk.

The little girl just popped out, not breathing, it was a very long hour before the baby cried.

 In reality it was probably more like 3-5 seconds.

I would love to describe the whole delivery but adrenaline and shock make it seem as though it was just a dream.

At some points I was outside of my body watching. Totally intense.

Mom and baby were stable and when we radioed in we were redirected to the closer hospital since she was now not a high risk delivery.

Some how, I feel that we were used.

But Now I get my stork pin.