The old man with Alzheimer’s who used to stand out by the road and watch the traffic go by isn’t there this morning as we pass. He hasn’t been out there for awhile. Ahead there’s a For Sale sign in the yard of the now vacant split-level ranch where for a time we used to […]

The President was in town the other day. The first I found out about it was seeing a string of police cars and sawhorses by the side of the road. My partner mentioned she’d heard he was coming to speak at one of the local schools. As soon as we passed (headed South into the […]

We all carry trauma shears. Of all the tools, a medic has to carry, I would say there are only three — a pen, a stethoscope and trauma shears that are essentials. I wear my stethoscope around my neck, my pen or pens in various shirt and or pants pockets, and I carry my trauma […]

I receieved an update on the condition of the EMT who lost her arm in a recent crash, as well as her partner, who also suffered serious injuries. JKosprey writes: “I am a regular partner of both EMTs involved in that horrible accident. Seems to me there wasn’t much that could have been done to […]

I received the following very enlightening comment from “pozzo” – Shannon Burke, the author of Black Flies. I’ve seen the comments about the novel Black Flies and was holding my tongue, but…I wanted to say that the book was not meant to demean paramedics or the job they do. Just the opposite. I meant to […]

I wanted to thank everyone who has posted comments. I always read them and have learned a lot from many of them. I want to use this post to followup on comments and some recent entries. *** I particularly want to thank the commentator who brought up the tidbit that Nitro spray (NitroLingual) doesn’t have […]

It doesn’t happen often, but every once and while, there we go again. *** Where I work in the contract town, we have three ambulances that all look pretty much the same. Box Type. Red stripe along the side. AMBULANCE written on it. We have four medics (but only one on at a time). Every […]

The husband awakes to an empty bedroom. He reads the note his wife has left him on the kitchen table and then goes out into the backyard and finds her in the backyard at the edge of the woods, hanging from the big tree. When we arrive, an officer in the driveway tells us they […]

I just finished reading a new EMS novel called Black Fliesby Shannon Burke, who also wrote Safelight. The novel is about a young paramedic in Harlem who, trying to fit in, falls under the influence of some seriously burned out medics. Black Fliesis a much better read than Burke’s first book, which while well-written, seemed […]

Earlier this week I did a cardiac arrest at a nursing home. I arrived to find an elderly patient apniec and pulseless. The patient was quite large and had a lifeless face with a small amount of facial hair that made it difficult to ascertain gender. The nursing home staff had last seen her (she […]