The Last of a Long Weekend
Saturday morning came on with the constant roar of Harley Davidson motorcycles cruising past the station. They are beautiful machines, but they do get tiresome when you are trying to sleep. The night had been quiet and the morning would not be the same.
Around 10:30 we get a call for a motorcycle accident with injuries, multiple patients. On arrival we found on pretty banged up dude and a not-so-banged-up wife of said dude. The guy reeked of alcohol. He ended up with a sprain and a few other bumps and bruises, all the while screaming in pain. It always cracks me up; the big huge tattooed and ass kicking motorcycle guy just screaming to end all, then you get the tiny little frail men and women who don't seem to be bothered by anything.
At about noon tones sounded once again for a motorcycle accident with injuries, multiple patients. Bystanders on the scene had decided to load up the patients and take them towards the hopital. This is not uncommon around here (as evidenced by the post covering Friday), in fact it was the second motorcylce MVC of the day with bystanders deciding to transport. Well, on arrival (or rondezvous) we find a mom and daughter who had dumped their bike at low speed. Mom had one of the most horrifying cases of road rash I have ever seen. Daughter was fine, just scared to death and banged up a little. Again no helmets; again very lucky. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have a vegetable for a daughter because you didn't make her wear a helmet. Lucky people, er well, lucky and stupid people.
We come to the end of Saturday with yet another motorcylcle accident in the exact same area as the previous. On arrival the patient had a GCS of 3 and snoring respirations. Load and go. I was particularly happy with myself on this one because I nailed bilateral 16g IV (both on the first attempt). Manic medic had a tough time with the airway, but did eventually get the patient tubed, with a little chemical assistance. We use a rough version of rapid sequence intubation here, better known as "pharmacoligically assisted intubation." A little etomidate and valium usually does the trick. It's kinda new around here, but works with the old TBI clamp down. Anyway, we did what we could, again lamenting the under-use of helmets. Our patient died the next day when it was decided to remove life support.
Saturday night brought a few more BLS calls, old people, drunk people, but generally pretty slow. Sunday we were skunked. All in all it was a busy weekend with 17 transports between Thursday and Saturday.
From a learning perspective (which is where I seem to see everything from since starting paramedic school) it was a great review of trauma. I got to do it over and over again on real patients. Usually trauma call are pretty few and far between around here, at least serious trauma calls. It was a good trial run for me, and Manic Medic is cool about letting me do whatever I am comfortable with. Next semester, I won't have a choice, but this early in the game it's great to work on the skills I know and to get better and better at them.
Around 10:30 we get a call for a motorcycle accident with injuries, multiple patients. On arrival we found on pretty banged up dude and a not-so-banged-up wife of said dude. The guy reeked of alcohol. He ended up with a sprain and a few other bumps and bruises, all the while screaming in pain. It always cracks me up; the big huge tattooed and ass kicking motorcycle guy just screaming to end all, then you get the tiny little frail men and women who don't seem to be bothered by anything.
At about noon tones sounded once again for a motorcycle accident with injuries, multiple patients. Bystanders on the scene had decided to load up the patients and take them towards the hopital. This is not uncommon around here (as evidenced by the post covering Friday), in fact it was the second motorcylce MVC of the day with bystanders deciding to transport. Well, on arrival (or rondezvous) we find a mom and daughter who had dumped their bike at low speed. Mom had one of the most horrifying cases of road rash I have ever seen. Daughter was fine, just scared to death and banged up a little. Again no helmets; again very lucky. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have a vegetable for a daughter because you didn't make her wear a helmet. Lucky people, er well, lucky and stupid people.
We come to the end of Saturday with yet another motorcylcle accident in the exact same area as the previous. On arrival the patient had a GCS of 3 and snoring respirations. Load and go. I was particularly happy with myself on this one because I nailed bilateral 16g IV (both on the first attempt). Manic medic had a tough time with the airway, but did eventually get the patient tubed, with a little chemical assistance. We use a rough version of rapid sequence intubation here, better known as "pharmacoligically assisted intubation." A little etomidate and valium usually does the trick. It's kinda new around here, but works with the old TBI clamp down. Anyway, we did what we could, again lamenting the under-use of helmets. Our patient died the next day when it was decided to remove life support.
Saturday night brought a few more BLS calls, old people, drunk people, but generally pretty slow. Sunday we were skunked. All in all it was a busy weekend with 17 transports between Thursday and Saturday.
From a learning perspective (which is where I seem to see everything from since starting paramedic school) it was a great review of trauma. I got to do it over and over again on real patients. Usually trauma call are pretty few and far between around here, at least serious trauma calls. It was a good trial run for me, and Manic Medic is cool about letting me do whatever I am comfortable with. Next semester, I won't have a choice, but this early in the game it's great to work on the skills I know and to get better and better at them.
posted by Slack at 8:52 AM
4 Comments:
I cannot believe that in some US states it is legal to ride without a helmet. Madness. My dad once put it down to "the americans don't enjoy being legislated agaisnt".
It blows the mind (literally). I have seen people watch us scrape up their no-helmet-wearing buddies and then hop right on their bikes and keep going with no helmet. Amazing.
Moving from MD to NH, I am constantly amazed at the number of people who choose not to wear helmets here. Freaks me out everytime I see it. That's what "live free or die" means, I guess.
Slack I know its slow where you are, but is it really THAT slow?! We misss you dude!
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