In the high-charged, adrenaline-rush world of rescue paramedics, Jason Holt’s instincts may mean the difference between life and death for future patients. While preparing for a state inspection, Holt discovers a vast conspiracy connecting thousands of past suspicious deaths. Holt is an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) chief/paramedic for a county ambulance service during the era of the 1970s and ’80s, a time of sex, drugs and dangerous living. During this annual quality assurance review of EMS records, Holt discovers several reports – 5500 to be exact – that share an unusual connection. These were the files of healthy geriatric patients who allegedly died of natural causes during transport by his ambulance service. All the files trace back to a single individual. Holt realizes he may have stumbled into the paperwork remains of a mass grave of serial killing victims. But he needs more evidence to make his case stick. During this nightmare adventure, Holt experiences graphic memories from his past with uncanny clarity burned into his subconscious. These visions are triggered by the adrenaline rush from emergency runs and the thrill of saving lives. Holt pieces together circumstantial evidence that points to not one individual, but a ring of individuals involved in this crime. But it’s only a circumstantial case. He needs something to pull it all together. Will his investigation be for naught, or will he discover the final key that confirms his suspicions? Through it all, Holt is reminded of the pitfalls and rewards, the trauma and euphoria, the rollercoaster existence of being a rescue paramedic. One final vision flashes into his mind: This is a job he can’t quit. He’s an adrenaline junkie.  

Excerpt
A Peek at CHAPTER 4

IS THIS A COOL JOB OR WHAT?

Talk about an adrenaline rush. A 19-year old, male, licensed to drive like a maniac. Speeding at 100 mph on the straits. Busting through red lights, responding emergency to the hospital. No one stopping me to see if I was legal or not. As I entered the parking lot of the hospital, I could see my partner waving.
It’s Denny (B&B), another partner of mine on the hospital crew. I thought to myself, why do EMS personnel have nicknames that mainly have to do with alcohol?
Denny yelled, “ Hey, we have a call. We going to a mower accident out on S.R. #33.”
Now you have to understand that most mower accidents resulted in the amputation of fingers or toes where someone had made the mistake of clearing the bound up grass from the exit shoot while running. They usually brought themselves to the hospital. Right off the bat this doesn’t seem to be right.
Denny is a 55y/o Hispanic male with multiple health problems. One is he has frequent minor chest pains and shortness of breath. He’s a chain smoker that fills the ambulance with smoke when he burns one.
Nice guy though, knows everyone in the county. He’s the fire chief for a little volunteer fire dept, city commissioner for another city, and has 10 grandchildren. Has great common horse sense and is easy to work with. He’s one of the “Good Old Boys” who had been working on a rescue since 1970.
Since there was no volunteer or paid fire department services in this part of the county, the sheriff office responds as first aid responders and physical help.
“Trauma 28, Update on your victim. He is a 67 y/o male pinned on the back of a bush hog. Sheriff office is on the scene and request you step it up. Patient will be located in a large open field; you’ll be unable to reach the patient in your ambulance. S.O. advises they’ve commandeered a tractor and a flatbed trailer. They will meet you at the entrance of the property.
“Trauma 28, advise sheriff office thank-you for the transpo, we have a 7 – 10 minute E.T.A. We’ll put the sails up for maximum speed, just hang in there.”
B&B looked over at me “ Warp speed Capt., run her till she buckles?”
Now I know how the stockcar racers get their adrenaline junkie rush, need for speed. Trauma 28 was a customized extended rear end ford van with mag wheels and a 460 Hp, gas guzzling 4 barrel, rocket ship. The best thing about this unit was the Kenwood cassette stereo with 200w speakers. Just think, cruising at 100 mph, down a straight road with Boston’s first album cranking. Wow what a rush.
“Trauma 28 on the scene” 6 minutes and she didn’t buckle. As we pull up to a gated dirt road, S.O. was waving. What a sight, here was this tractor/
trailer combo that reminded me of the show “Green Acres”. An Iron Horse steam looking engine with matching steel wheel trailer. It would work for the terrain we were about to go on.
“Gentlemen, E-tickets please, watch your step, this is the only mode of transportation available. My name is Corporal Hanson and I’ll be your guide for this tour. The wife is with the patient right now and I have another S.O. unit enroute. The guy looks all right and bad at the same time, hard to describe. Not much pain though.”
We loaded all the equipment onto the flatbed trailer as the deputy explained what happened. We board the trailer and away we went. This was a 100-acre woodland adventure; of course he was in the back 40.
As we approach the incident, it appeared that an elderly gentleman had fallen through the deck of a bush hog somehow. The operation of the cutting blades seems to have stopped and the engine was turned off.
Walking up to the hog the deputy introduced us to Jimmy. He was the owner of the property and had been working in this field for the last few hours, cutting grass.
He was attempting to obtain a tool box off the back of the bush hog. He had just completed mowing the field and was about to head to the barn. The tractor was running in neutral. He did not pay attention to the drive shaft of the mower, which was still spinning in slow rotations. Imagine the blade being engaged at full torque spinning and upon shutdown continues to rotate, due to its weight, slowing with each revolution. Taking a long few moments to stop.
He stepped off onto the deck plate of the mower, not noticing that the deck plate had rusted to a point it couldn’t support any weight. As he placed most of his weight on his right foot, climbing onto the deck plate, he fell through. The rotating blade caught his leg in the rotation, pulling him down to the deck and pinning him up to his groin. The blade had stopped when his leg was caught. He was unable to move.
His wife just happened to stop by to see what he wanted for dinner. She found him in this predicament and immediately called the ambulance.
The wife said, “He’s been out here for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Has no pain or numbness in his right leg.
Jimmy said, “It hurts to move my foot.”
He appears to be rather pale and moist, seeming alert and oriented. B&B began by applying oxygen via a mask. The Patient’s B/P was low but manageable for the time being.

R.O.E. #12 “Patient’s in trauma situations, who are pale and/or moist are in late stages of shock, These people should receive O2 soon, real soon.”

R.O.E. #13 “Newton’s Law: For every action there should be a positive and equal reaction.”
“Jason’s Law: For every sign you see, there should be a positive and equal treatment in your bag of tricks”
We really needed to get underneath the deck. We couldn’t release his leg until we could see what it was pinned to. As Hanson attempted to figure out how to lift the mowing deck, without engaging the blade. I contacted medical control.
“Trauma 28 to medical control, we are on the scene of a trauma victim who has his right leg entrapped underneath a bush hog mower. The patient’s leg broke through the upper deck of the mower and is pinned somehow underneath the deck. We are attempting to raise the mower deck hydraulically, stand-by for further details.”
B&B. came up to me suggesting, “Just raise the deck, it won’t engage the blade. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, just disconnect the drive shaft from the rotating spindle by knocking out the metal pin.
“We still need tools.” We had basic hand tools back at the unit. An adjustable wrench, a few boxed-end wrenches, a hammer and a few other things.
B&B was on it, unhitching the wagon and riding the other tractor back to the ambulance.
You know, sometimes a little black robed hoodie guy shows up sitting on your shoulder. He keeps nudging you to do something out of the box. Something you wouldn’t do normally.

R.O.E. #14 “When you have a “gut feeling”, you need to act on it, adapt and overcome.“

R.O.E. #15 “Don’t regret your decisions. The reason you made it was based on your experience and judgement. Most of the time decisions are made in the patient’s favor.

“Hey B&B pick-up some fresh batteries for the Med Com portable, I need to make a long phone call. In your absence, I will see what we can do to move things along. One thing we really need is more hand’s, Hanson, we actually need something like a helicopter.”
Corporal Hanson looking surprised said, ”We have a helicopter. You can put a long backboard in sideways through the body of the aircraft if we need to transport the patient.”
“Could your helicopter land in this area?”
Hanson replied “ Sure, there will be a lot of sand blowing around on landing and taking off, but it appears to be pretty solid ground.”
“Can it land at the hospital?”
Hanson said, “I think it can land right outside in the open field next to the ER.”
“I need you to put them on standby. Have them report back if they see a safe site to land. I also need a few more hands, can you ask for some more available units to respond out here to help? I think we are going to need it.”

To find out if Jimmy survives buy "Adrenaline Junkies" A Paramedic Nightmare at the publishers website.
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