Called for a possible stroke. Find a middle aged woman lethargic, skin very warm, blood sugar reads HI, which means over 600. Delayed capillary refill. Pressure 76/40. Heart rate on the monitor – 120. Respiratory rate in the low 30’s. Can’t get a SAT. History of IDDM and a kidney transplant, with subsequent infection problems. […]

Ahead we see two state police cars and two private vehicles pulled over on the left side of the highway. Down in the gulley of the median, I can see the rear end of a car sticking out of the trees and bushes. The men near the car suddenly look frantic. A large man is […]

The guy sits on the cement floor when we enter the warehouse. Co-workers kneel on either side of him, holding his hands. There are tears coming down his cheeks. “What happened?” I ask. “The beam dropped on his boot.” The co-worker points to a twenty-foot long steel beam that lays nearby under a hoist, but […]

I work 12 hours (noon to midnight)with one of my old partners, who I don’t get to work with much anymore. We have a good laugh right off the back with our first call. Our patient is being transfered from intensive care to a rehab hospital. She has a trach and is on a vent […]

Busy day, five calls all in a row, three transports and two refusals. My ambulance is down for service so I’m working in another one. The medic who works in that one reguarly has the cabinets locked with pull ties so he doesn’t have to check the shelves unless they’re broken. I check my gear […]

We took a dialysis patient back to his nursing home. I was surprised when my partner told me the guy was only 55. He seemed much older. He’d had a stroke and couldn’t communicate. His body was all contracted and he seemed in pain, whenever we moved him like he may have had bed sores. […]