Year in Review

I just sat down and thought about what, by God's grace, He allowed me to accomplish this year:

Read:
Stepping Heavenward - Elizabeth Prentiss
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia - CS Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - CS Lewis
The Silver Chair - CS Lewis
The Horse and His Boy - CS Lewis
The Magician's Nephew - CS Lewis
The Last Battle - CS Lewis
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
Till We Have Faces - CS Lewis
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
The Four Loves - CS Lewis
Do Hard Things - Alex and Brett Harris
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
When Every Moment Counts - Senator Bill Frist

Traveled to:
Virginia (3x)
Minnesota (1x)
San Diego (3x)

Recreated by:
Going snowboarding for the first time (w/ Aimee)
Going fishing for the first time since I was a kid (w/ Nick)
Going to my first Dodger game (w/ Aimee and Tara)
Going to a UCLA Softball game (w/ Aimee)
Seeing: The Dark Knight, Fireproof, Valkyrie and a few others (I forget)

Trained over 26 employees (including driver training, remedial training, evaluations, etc)

Passed the GED (huh, what? I know...its long story)

Failed the Glendale Fire Department written test (shoulda got the study guide!)

Got hired by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department (FxCoFRD)

Completed the hiring process for the Los Angeles Fire Department

Got hired by LAFD 12/31/08

Lost a grandparent

Had my little sister visit for a month (She was promoted to Jr. EMT Skills Instructor at UCLA)

Had two of my brothers in CA at the same time (John and Joe)

Ran a lot (mostly w/ John K.)

Did a lot of pushups (not enough though)

Finally conquered the pullup (still have a long way to go)

Made a lot of new friends

Got closer to a lot of friends

Learned a lot about people in general

Bought a new (used) car...(mine died)(thanks Kenn!!!)

Started to journal...occasionally

Recertified as an EMT

Took (and passed) PHTLS (Prehospital Trauma Life Support) (thanks for taking it with me Nick)

Learned to like sushi (thanks Kenn, Jess, Nick, Kyle and Anthony)

Went to my first FD funeral (w/ Jon, Tyler and Eddie)

Went to my first FD graduation (w/ Tyler, Eddie and Matt)

Lost my favorite partner to the USFS (still miss ya John)

Got a new great partner (thanks Eddie Ed)

Had lots of friends go to and graduate from paramedic school (Jon, Tyler, Trevor, and Ben to name a few)

And our safety record is...

We pulled up onscene to an "Auto vs. Structure" call to find this:



It's impossible to see, but on the whiteboard on the wall behind the car reads this statement:

"Our current safety record is: 348 days without an injury."

Way to go guys! Keep up the good work!

Practice what you preach!

I have come up to some delays in the process with the LAFD. I really don't have anything to worry about, but the busyness of the last few weeks have caught up with me and the volume on my frustration seems to have been turned up. I was venting to a friend of mine who is in basically the same position...but has a better chance of being turned down than myself...and is someone who I have attempted to encourage to be patient with what the Lord has planned. As he returned the encouragement...he said "do everything you told me to do." Practice is much harder than preaching...but so much more necessary, especially when coming to being the effective salt and light spoken of in Matthew 5. So even when I'm tired and my frustrations seem to be heavier than usual, I am thankful for the patience God has shown me, and His gentle way of reminding me through a friend and the support of family to practice the faith I "preach".

Week in Pictures

Chief complaint of the month

I got this call at 02:11 yesterday morning...when we were initially dispatched, this is the information we received (word for word).

"F/20 - feet hurt from walking all day @ Universal Studios"

I got to hang out with three of my best friends and 6 of these adorable little critters this weekend. Sick!!!!

Reading this letter tonight brought tears to my eyes. Not just happy that I received it, but an overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation to everyone who helped me get here. Most importantly I am thankful to the one who designed me and created me and placed the desire in my heart to do this work. My #1 goal is to honor Him in the completion.

One more hurdle...

I got a call from the LAFD to schedule my medical/psych evaluation. This means I made it through the final panel review. This evaluation is the last step between me and a tower date. I am excited and nervous. Anyways...one more step to go before an official job offer.

Code 3, Negative PMA...

My partner and I were responding to a "maternity" call in the south side of the city earlier this week when a vehicle pulled across the middle lane and directly in front of our ambulance. People do all sorts of crazy things when they see/hear an emergency vehicle...but this was pushing "stupid" into "suicidal". As I looked into the vehicle that had just risked coliding with a couple-ton vehicle I saw that the male driver and the female passenger were waving at us. It's one thing to make a stupid move because you don't know what to do. It's another thing to attempt suicide by pulling a small car in front of a large vehicle traveling at high speeds...but waving at the same time just doesn't make sense. Unless of course you are almost 9 months pregnant and about to deliver in a matter of minutes.

I quickly notified my partner that I thought that our patient had come to us. We had them pull to the side of the road where hopefully they would be a little safer (We are on a 6-lane road and they are facing the wrong direction.)

I jumped out of the front seat and began to ask some very important questions:

Me: What is the problem?
Female: AHHHHHHHH!!!
Male: She's in labor!!!! (duh?)

Me: How many months pregant are you?
Female: AHHHHHHH! Help me!!! Nine!!!!
Male: She's nine months pregnant. She was due a long time ago!!!!

Me: Shhhhhhhh. It's ok, calm down. I need you to calmly answer my questions so I can help you. How many times have you been pregnant?
Female: 4

Me: How many kids do you have?
Female: 3! Help me!!!!!

Me: Can you make it to the ambulance?
Female: Yes. (Runs to the back of the ambulacne and gets in.)

My partner then told her to lie on her side. I told my partner I thought we should just go since we were right around the corner from the hospital. We informed the male where to go and took off. Enroute I placed my patient on high-flow O2 and asked some more questions. As I placed the mask on her face she kindly informed me that there was now water all over my gurney and ambulance floor. I quickly assessed the situation and came to the conclusion that the infant would complete it's dramatic entrance in less than 5 minutes. Let's make it less than 3.

Now, I was calm and in control of the situation. However, my sympathetic nervous system decided to pump my system full of a chemical that makes it difficult to think straight, your heart race...and can even make it difficult to see details. As I opened the OB kit I found it extremely difficult to distinguish all the small, individually wrapped packages in the box. All I could see was a bunch of towels, the sterile gloves and the bulb syringe. I found this extremely frustrating as I wanted to do well and knew exactly what to do...I just couldn't see well enough to do it. Thanks epinephrine...much appreciated.

My partner parked the rig and opened the back doors. I grabbed the bulb syringe figuring at least I would be able to help protect the infant's airway in case she decided to make her entrance on the gurney between the ambulance and the delivery room.

Running through the sometimes narrow and many-cornered hallways was less than a smooth ride...but we were losing time...fast.

As we pulled into the delivery room the nurses quickly helped us pull the patient onto a hospital bed. No sooner than she was on the bed and the nurse pulled on some gloves the kid made her entrance. At 5 lbs, 14 oz and 19" long, she was a tiny but healthy.

I was mostly disappointed that I couldn't claim responsibilty for an amazing catch....but hey, we did most of the work as far as healthcare providers go anyways. Funny thing was we handled the call without waiting for ALS to arrive. Had we waited...the kid would have been delivered in the back of my ambulance, not in the hospital. It made a great illustration for the EMT class I had to teach the next morning about making transport decisions in the field. If your ETA to the MAR is less than the ETA of ALS...then go.

And we did.

Another step closer...

Today I recieved another envelope from the City of Los Angeles. Everytime I open my mailbox and see one of those City envelopes sitting there...I think my heart skips a beat. I tore it open to read: Background Investigation Complete - Final Panel Review. Basically, the panel review is the last step between me and hopefully a conditional offer of employment from the City of Los Angeles Fire Department.

...snap...I need to do more pushups.

Not an option...

There are many things in life that are reality. Two of which are fear and failure. Both happen. Both are a part of every day life. How often do we use these as excuses for deciding not to do our best?

Fear is not an option.
Failure is not an option.

Relating to what I am working towards (wearing the turnouts of an LAFD firefighter)...the only way I will leave a drill tower is because they:

1) Have to carry me off due to an injury.
2) I am kicked off.

I will not walk off a drill tower a quitter.

"Let's run more red lights!!!!"

My little sister got to spend almost a month with me this summer. Some of the things we did together this summer, included teaching EMT skills at UCLA...and going on a ride-along at an LACoFD fire station. Here is a pic from that day. Fun fun times!!!

My favorite little sister quotes:

Jenn: "what kind of call is this?"
Kyle (paramedic): "a difficulty breather..."
Jenn: "are we going to put him on high-flow O2?"

Kyle: "this is going to be an auto vs ped."
Jenn: "what does that mean?"
Kyle: "it means that someone who was walking got hit by a car."
Jenn: "Cool!!! Is it going to be an MCI?!!!"

Recruit School 126

Today is kind of a downer day for me. For one thing I am really tired. I am on day 7 of 9 without a day off. I just got off a 24 without much sleep and lots of work. And...worst of all...today would have been the first day of my tower if I had accepted the Firefighter position with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department. Right now the 126th Recruit school is probably wrapping up their first day of school. I would be thinking about all I have to do tonight to get ready for tomorrow. Shine boots. Pack lunch. Work out. Get some sleep (I probably wouldn't have slept well last night knowing that today is was my first day of academy.)

In the middle of the disappointment that I do not currently have a pair of yellow turnout pants with my last name stenciled on the back...I know I made the best decision to wait and see if I would get picked up by the LAFD. I am more and more motivated to keep working out hard to be in the best shape possible. I am finally up to the point where I am able to do 30 pushups (no, not the girl kind silly.) But the pullups are still killing me. I was told today that I should probably gain some weight. A funny concept in the thin crazy world we live in...but I have been slowly adjusting to the idea for a while...especially since I understand the difference between fat weight and muscle weight.

All that said...LAFD is still my number one choice of departments to work for and I feel priveleged to have made it this far in the process. My background investigator is busy talking with my neighbors and reading reference letters from my family and friends...and I am looking forward to finding out whether or not I get to move on to the next step. In the meantime, I am thankful for the time to work out hard. Harder than before. Every LAFD apparatus I see inspires me. Mostly I try to keep in mind if this is really what I am called to do...I need to put my best effort foward to honor the gift God has given me.

Great Minds...

My partner Ed and I were talking about something and happened to say the same thing at the same time. Ed immediately responded...
"Great minds think like me!"
:-)

It's just the way it is...

Sometimes we don't realize that the circumstances we live in are different, right or wrong, pleasant or difficult because we don't have anything to compare them to. I overheard this conversation at work last night...

EMT: "Why did you stand up to a 200 lb guy?"
13o lb teenaged patient with a dislocated shoulder: "It's the hood."

Hired!!!!

This morning I was hired by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department. I cannot tell you what a privilege it was to get that phone call this morning. The story is long...and will have to wait for another post...

Love ( s )

I just finished reading The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. Interestingly enough, I am also studying 1st John which is, in a great part, about love. Here is one of my favorite quotes from Lewis.

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; aviod all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in the casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

He continues later...

"God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. He e creates the universe, already forseeing - or should we say "seeing"? there are no tenses in God - the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the mesial nerves, the repeated incipient suffoctaion as the body droops, the repeasted torture of back and arms as it is time after time, for breath's sake, hitched up. ...This is Love Himself, the inventor of all loves. - C.S. Lewis

Where will my love lie? Will I attempt to protect my heart by burying it in a "casket of my own selfishness" or will make myself vulnerable to hurt and pain as I share the love God has shown me?

"...if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another..."
1 John 4:11

:-)

"I'm always getting interupted!!
I guess my brilliance will have to wait." -J.K.

tiny one

Tiny
Grey
Limp (rag doll)
Pump
Motionless
Trying hard
Too easy
Pump
Chaos
Where are the tools?
What is the dose?
pumping...always pumping
Harder than I thought...
No, not harder, more tiring.
Shock
Hoping
Knowing
Keep going, keep going
Do you want a break?
pump, pump...faster
forearms tired
can i really be breaking a sweat?
tiny, so tiny
still grey
everything is changing
losing hope
pumping, pump, pumping
"let me do that for you"
thinking i should go, finding out there are only a few minutes left...
...to try
"let me go again"
pump, pump, pump
eyes closed
still motionless
still grey
still tiny

extreme ways...

seen so much

in so many places,

so many heartaches,

so many faces,

you wouldn't even believe.

i would stand in line for this.

-Moby

c l o s e r . . .

This morning I turned in my preliminary background packet to the LAFD.

One step closer to wearing the badge...

(back to pushups)

My new hot rod...

Last shift my partner and I moved into a new station built to cover the north end of the city. We were busy all night and got little sleep. After our reliefs showed up we both slept for a few hours at the station before heading home. My partner left, and I stayed behind to get some administrative responsibilites taken care of. Another employee of the company was there doing some finishing touches on the paint job. After I finished up my work I told him I would see him later and packed up my truck to leave.

I got in the driver seat and turned the key. To my amazement, what had been a quiet running engine just the day before now sounded like a hot-rod. The first thought that ran through my head was "what kind of piece of trash truck did I buy?" (I have only had the truck for about 3 weeks). I popped the hood and looked at the engine. Nothing seemed out of place. I walked around the truck thinking the whole time that the noise it was making sounded similar to the sound my Camry made when the muffler went. I noted that the exhaust pipe was still there and didn't look damaged, so I walked to the side of the truck and dropped to the pavement to look underneath the car.

As my eyes adjusted to the light I found that a huge piece of the pipe that connects the catalytic converter and the muffler was missing. My first thought was..."how could I miss that falling off?" Then I noticed the nuts and bolts that had been holding it to the frame of the truck lying on the parking lot.

Yup...my catalytic converter and part of the connecting pipe was gone, jacked, stolen.

As I drove to the repair shop I smiled thinking about the story I would have to tell a police officer if I got pulled over for making too much noise...

"Um, yes officer, I know it sounds like I had a muffler job done, but you see, $400 worth of parts was just stolen off my vehicle and I'm on my way to get it fixed now."

Never a dull moment working in the City of Champions.

"There are some things money can't buy..."

1/2 Tank Gas for 3 Fire Station Visits : $25.00
Ice Cream: $40.00
Dry Clean Suit and Shirt: $30.20
Resume Paper: $ 2.22
Friends to help you get ready: Invaluble
Passing the LAFD Interview: Priceless

Sup Shift

The first call I responded to as a field supervisor was an "officer invovled shooting" on the 105 freeway. If you live in LA and drive that freeway every morning, then you were certainly affected by this incident yesterday morning.
Apparently an off-duty sheriff's deputy and another driver got into it on the streets of LA...with the driver trying to ram the officer, and the officer trying to do the "pit" manuever on the driver. After unsuccessful attempts to stop the driver from trying to ram him, both men pulled over. The driver apparently pulled a knife and rushed the deputy who informed the driver of who he was and instructed him to drop the knife. The driver refused to comply and was subsequently shot multiple times by the deputy. The driver was transported to a nearby hospital. The deputy was uninjured in the incident

Close to Home

"Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Everyday thousands of men and women show up at work ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. Every so often...one of them does...for the benefit of complete strangers. This week an LAFD Firefighter was killed in the line of duty in an area close to where I work. The 800 and medic units from that area often transport their patients to the hospital I frequent most. (See story at http://lafd.blogspot.com/2008/03/los-angeles-firefighter-killed-in-line.html)

Their sacrifice reminds of how fragile life is, how courageous some men are, and most importantly of the ultimate sacrifice that the Creator of the universe made for unworthy, ungrateful objects of His mercy.

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7-8

But God. But God. We were helpless and hopeless. But God. We were still sinners. But God. God, the Almighty, Holy, Just, Merciful, Creator of the World...died...for me.

LA Times Story

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-explosion27mar27,0,4394475.story

Skills

Apparently I am so proficient at opening Band-Aids that it is worth the energy to walk all the way across the room, past two firefighters, to get me to open it instead of opening it yourself.

6-Hour Call

We had to run a transfer last shift that took us 6 hours. We don't usually run transfers...especially wait and returns...but somehow we got this one. We had to take a 320 something lb patient to an open MRI because he couldn't fit in the hospitals closed MRI. They scheduled the appointment for 1600. We get caught in LA traffic and miss the appointment by 15 minutes, so they tell us we are at the back of the line and have to wait until everyone else goes first. So about 2.5 hours later they finally call us in. We get the guy on the table and they tell us it will take at least 1 hour, maybe more if he moves or something (you have to hold perfectly still for an MRI). So we go upstairs and pack up our stuff so it is out of the way and are on our way out the door to kick it for an hour or so while we wait. Then the tech comes upstairs and tells us that the patient can't hold still so she can't do the test so we have to come get him and take him back to the hospital. While we are working to move him back to our gurney, ,my partner looks at me and goes "Liz, watch your footing." I look down and see that he has just peed all over the floor (and my boot). Fun times. Makes for a good story.

3/12/08

Our first call of the day came out as a rape/assault. We pulled up first on scene and made sure we were "clear to enter" since the cops weren't there yet. Our dispatcher informed us that there were no notes in the information about staging out for PD and told us to "enter with precaution." My partner laughs...irritated at the inappropriate word usage. "What does "enter with precaution" mean?" I pull out the gurney and start down the driveway of the motel. Part way down I decide wait for my partner to catch up with me...after all, we are supposed to use "precaution" and he, being the awesome partner that he is, is very protective and I know I will hear about it later if I keep heading towards the room by myself. As I wait for him I see the room door open and a young woman walk out, purse in hand. She walks up to us and I can see the makeup streaming down her face from crying. I can tell she's been beat up around the face and she has blood on her shirt. The first thing she says to me is "I don't need that", looking at the gurney. Still, we have her sit down and try to get the story. "My boyfriend beat me up" she tells us. I ask if he is still around. She states that he might be, but that he "probably got on a bus around here." By this time the fire department has arrived. The medic asks if I am riding in the back today. I assure him that I am. Even if I wasn't I would have jumped in the back on this call. He asks me to get her loaded up then try to get the story from her. I jump in the back with her and ask her what happened...and this is what her story was.

After being raped last night by a stranger and being taken to the hospital for a "rape kit" and some medications including a "morning after" pill and something to prevent gonorrhea, the police gave her a ride back to the motel where her boyfriend was. She came in and didn't feel like talking about the rape with her boyfriend (he was aware of what had happened) and went to sleep. In the morning she woke up to her boyfriend trying to "do her." Still torn and sore from the night before she told him to get off. He insisted. She thought he was messing around. "Get the f--- off me!" He still pushed himself on her. She started to fight him. He asked her "did you fight him? did you fight him?" She starts to scream. He covers her head with a pillow. She is still trying to figure out whether or not he is serious or just messing around. The more she fights the more violent he gets, eventually choking her out. I look into her eyes and see the blood vessels in one of them are all blown. Her eyelids are so swollen I have a hard time getting them to open so I can check her pupils as she continued with her story, tears streaming down her face. She gave up fighting and just tried to not think about what he was doing to her as he continued to choke her and beat her. Finally he stopped and she escaped to the bathroom. After a few moments, she tried to make a break for the door of the room. He shoved her into the wall then kicked her in the stomach, hard. She lay on the floor curled in a ball as he pulled on his clothes and left. She walked to the reception desk where she asked the lady behind the desk to call the cops. The lady asked what happened and the girl said "never mind what happened, just call the cops." The woman insisted to know what had happened before making the call then finally decided to turn the phone on in the room so the girl could call from there. The girl returned to the room and called us.

After relaying the story to the medic, a female police officer I recognize comes to the back of the ambulance and informs me that she is going to ride in with us. I am thankful to have another woman there with me. I continue with my assessment of the 19 year old girl. She has neck and back pain from being beat up and choked. Abdominal pain and tenderness from where she was kicked. Wrist pain. Her eyes are bloodshot from being choked and her face is swollen from the beating. She looks at me and asks "does my face look really bad?" I tell her that I can tell she has been beat up, but that it doesn't look that bad. She is a beautiful girl. I splint her wrist and give her a cold pack for her face. At the hospital one of the nurses asks me if I think she is a prostitute..."there's just too much going on here" she states. I disagree. The girl is too upset about everything to be a hooker. There is too much pain in her eyes.

chinese water torture

We all are familiar with Chinese water torture, where water is slowly and randomly dripped on someones forehead making it impossible for them to sleep and eventually driving them insane. Last night was like that for me and my partner J, only in our world, instead of water dripping constantly and randomly, its a phone ringing...constantly and randomly. That is part of the torture of it...you never know when the next one is going to come...so its impossible to rest easy. However, we do have the hope that at 0700, while the phone will continue to ring...it won't be for us. Even though our total number of calls was only 11 in 24 hours...we did not sleep until at least 0400. (I didn't even make my bunk up until that time.) None of our calls were particularly interesting either. Oh well. Maybe next shift there will be something worth a post.

3/7/08

- Difficulty Breather
- 18 m/o swallowed top of Visine bottle
- Syncopal episode w/ dislocated shoulder + neck/back pain
- Sternum pain secondary to assault w/ piece of marble (in custody)
- Shortness of breath (severe)
- Headache
- Auto vs. pedestrian (DOA)
- Constipated
- Man down (ETOH)

Threats

"I'm gonna take your badge off you and open it up and slice your throat with it!!!

-my patient to me...(apparently she didn't like me very much)

ems superstitions

OK, someone please remind me never to title a post "quiet shift" every again!!! I am not usually superstitious...but as soon as someone says its quiet...it is usually very busy for the rest of the night after that (or in this case the month). I have at least a dozen stories to add...but that will have to come later (I'm still too busy to have the time to write.)

exactly what i needed to hear (read)...

"They're all worth it," he insisted quietly. "They each look like the Almighty, and that's worth saving." - j.c.

Quiet shift...

Yesterday's shift was relatively uneventful. It was relatively quiet which seemed to provide some much needed down time. Our calls included abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, seizures and a spider bite that happened a week ago. It seems like a common theme in the area I work is that people have little to no access to medical care other than the emergency room...and no way to get there accept for the ambulance (unless you count taxi cabs and buses, but those cost money up front so they aren't usually considered my lower income families). Other than that, there was nothing significant that happened...maybe next shift...

Superbowl Sunday

Yesterday, as a company we broke our own record...we ran more calls in one day than ever before. Before 1800 we had run over 200 calls in the Los Angeles County area. There was nothing particularly special about the day other than the fact that we assumed everyone would rather stay home and watch the NE Patriots lose their 18-0 winning streak to the NY Giants...apparently not. My day started out with me getting split up from my regular partner...which made everyone at my station frustrated and out of sorts. (We are a tight knit team.) We ran a total of about 15 calls in 24 hours (not bad you might think, but don't forget that we spent time hanging out on street corners covering low-staffed areas while waiting of other units to clear in between calls.) We were low on staffing to begin with. Honestly, who wants to pick up overtime on the best TV commercial day of the year? Our calls ranged from a 15mo boy pulling a cup of coffee on himself causing minor burns to his chest, to difficulty breathing, chest pain, seizures, near syncopal episodes, DOAs to anxiety attacks. There are only two stories I will relay in detail today...

DOA...
I had just finished cleaning up the gurney in the hospital ER after dropping off a patient and was on my way to make a much needed "pit stop" when my dispatch supervisor contacted me on the Nextel. "Can any of the units there clear?" He asked. I assured him that my unit could clear in about three minutes. "No", he said. "I need someone now!...I have a full arrest one block over from the hospital...can someone clear?" "I can take it" I answered..."give it to me..." As I hurried out of the ER grabbing my partner on the way out, one of the other crew members came after me...at first I thought he was trying to jump the call...but he just wanted me to take his ride-along for the experience. We grabbed the ride along and jumped in the rig, quickly backed up and lit up as we exited the parking lot. As we pulled up onscene less than 30 seconds later, the dispatcher attempted to reassign us to a chest pain call, but I quickly informed him that we were already onscene with LACoFD, so he changed his mind. We followed the captain into the gated apartment complex (most of them are gated in Inglewood), and attempted to locate the apartment. We waited for the elevator to come, and were met by an older woman who was obviously under a great deal of stress. We attempted to squeeze the gurney into the tiny elevator with the woman, the captain and all 3 of us...it didn't fit. We dropped the gurney outside the elevator and rode up to the floor, the anxious woman tellings us that "he wasn't breathing, he threw up and wet himself...!" As we made our way into the apartment whose walls were covered with various knickknacks, pictures and odd collections of key chains...I couldn't help but feel I had been here before. (Maybe I had, but I never could recall what run it was...) We walked into the bedroom to find an older man lying on the bed in nothing but his underwear...his skin almost the same color as the cloth. It was quickly determined that he had passed on, at least some hours ago as rigor mortis and dependant lividity had set in. We had the ride-along move to that side of the bed as the paramedic on the engine performed the necessary steps to declare someone in the field. He patiently pointed out the obvious signs of death and let the ride-along feel how stiff he was and let him see what "fixed and dilated" pupils look like. During this assessment the woman waited in the living room as the room and hallways was too crowded for her to squeeze in and see what was going on. I followed the captain out to the living room. He calmly proceeded to get some information regarding the patient as she told him that "she was calm now." She was doing everything she could to be helpful to us, asking if we needed his list of medications, telling us his medical problems, etc. The captain asked for her relationship to the dead man. "His common-law wife." was her answer. She told us that she was scared when she saw he wasn't breathing, but "knew he was in the best hands." A handsome, young police officer looked on as the captain told her we were doing everything we could (which at this point was declare death...he had been down too long for CPR to have any affect). I couldn't help but noticing that she was ready to go, follow us to the hospital with her purse slung over her shoulder. Little did she know at this point that we would not be taking her husband anywhere and that his next destination wasn't going to be a hospital bed...rather it would be a morgue. The captain told us we could cancel so we grabbed our equipment and quietly left the apartment. On the way down we met the paramedics who would attach a monitor and verify "asystole" and complete the procedures for determining death in the field. I am not sure at what point the woman figured out or was told that her husband was gone...we were already on our way to more work.

CO
Me and my partner were en route to the ER with a patient complaining of I forget what when we heard another unit dispatched to a 3 person full-arrest. The first thing that came to my mind was a murder-suicide. The second thing that came to mind was CO poisoning. With the weather being colder, people tend to use inappropriate forms of heating to warm their home such as outdoor grills and the like...also faulty furnaces can leak CO into the air creating a potentially deadly atmosphere in the home. As it ended up...CO was a contributing factor. Two adult victims were declared dead at the scene and a 12 yo F was transported to a nearby specialty hospital for possible CO poisoning. Two young people lost their parents last night.

After 24 hours of work, 1-2 hours of sleep and 15+ calls later...I think that Superbowl Sunday was the busiest day this year...and it had nothing to do with the football game.

Why...

...blog...? working as an EMT in South Central Los Angeles, I come home after every shift with a number of stories. Some sad, funny, frustrating or any other number of emotions that a situation can concoct in the human soul. There are some who would rather not hear the gore or the hardship experienced on a job like this (and I cannot fault them because there are days where I would rather not have stories to tell)...and there are some who would eagerly listen. This blog is for them.