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Paramedic Stories, Part XXVI: Too Much Chaos (By Pat E. Moss, EMT) *Warning: Strong Language* by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Rated "PG13" by the Author.
A female paramedic writes of the demands she faces every day on her job as a emergency medical technician.
I have the type of job where people often treat me like shit--or worse. They don't give a damn about us, and they don't care enough to move their goddamn cars out of the way when our ambulance is screaming full tilt boogie down the road, sirens and lights going full blazes! Yet, on the other hand, I feel I must do something to help those people in need, even when they give me nothing but a crock of shit!
I am a paramedic. Okay, not QUITE there, yet, but I AM on my way! I am actually an EMT, or Emergency Medical Technician, which is my "official" title. I can do a lot of the lifesaving techniques, but I can't give out meds or do some of the more advance steps, like doing I.V.s, putting in nose hoses, or "tubing" someone. I CAN do CPR or put oxygen on a person, use bandages, bandaids, or dressings, splint a broken limb, or put someone on a back board and then "brick" them into place, to where they can't move (so as to stabilize their neck or spine), but I can't give out meds or do the I'V.s or "tube" someone, as in putting an oropharyngeal airway (OA) down their throat, or putting in a nasogastric (NG) tube down their nose. I still have more training ahead of me before I can get my license, and only then will I become a full-fledged "Paramedic".
I put up with a lot of guff on my job. People cursing at me, calling me a "goddamned pig" or "whore", people spitting in my face, throwing up on me, or having hysterical family members freaking out when I am trying to saved their loved one's life, and all they end up doing is getting in my way, or in the way of my partners, or working crazy hours. I am always "on call", meaning that I am available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and if I am needed, I'd best go, or else I am to be fired. I work holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year's Day, and I often work long, arduous hours, sometimes as much as 24 to 48 hours straight, with no breaks whatsoever. By the time I finally get some time off work, I am so tired I am about to collapse from sheer exhaustion, and all I want to do is crawl into a warm bed and SLEEP! But for me, I have very few times where I am off: I am usually in the back of a moving ambulance, trying to save the life of a little kid who got run over by a car, and the kid is crashing right before my very eyes, or suctioning crap out of a drunken fool who got ripped at a party and choked on his vomit; and now he is near death. Or I am beating a person further into unconsciousness, as I try to pump his heart back into beating before brain damage sets in, rendering the person a vegetative cripple, or I am arguing with a psychotic whacked out teenager who is wigging out on drugs, and it takes at least six of us to sit on top of this kid before he destroys the inside of our ambulance (or US). After a while, all this starts to weigh on you, and it starts to effect you and your mind. You wonder why you ever got tangled up in something like Emergency Medicine in the first place, and you also wonder why people have to be so goddamned stupid to get into these predicaments in the first place.
I love my job, but at the same time, I HATE it. I absolutely LOATHE it at times, especially when we have to deal with the gangbangers or the drunkards, or those punked out kids who don't care about anyone or anybody, and I hate it when a baby or little tot's life is endangered. That changes things, and you are so stressed out by the time that you get the dying baby or tot to the hospital you can't see or think straight. You also have to deal with angry or hysterical family members who threaten to beat you with every inch of your life for "killing their kid" when the kid didn't have much of a chance in the first place, and no matter what you did, or how hard you tried, nothing was good enough, and the kid ends up croaking on you in the first place. Or you deal with people who purposely inflict harm on their kid, and then they act all apologetic and promise to you that "they will never do it again" when you know that they will, and the next time, the kid may be damaged or dead if something drastic isn't done to get these monsters away from the kid. The kid just may not be that lucky the next time: the next time, they could very easily end up dead or hopelessly crippled for life. And for WHAT??
I also dislike dealing with crotchety seniors who are out of their mind due to any number of dementia-related problems, or are suffering from a million different health problems, and they are so bad off you don't know what to do for them first to make them comfortable or better. I especially loathe nursing home patients who should be at a nursing facility, but because of one reason or another, they are home, and their loved ones don't know what to do whenever a problem arises, and they are screaming in your ear to save Mother or Father when they are clearly on their way to Heaven, and there isn't a chance that they will ever have a "quality" life as it is.
I see problems like these day in and day out, and it is no wonder sometimes I feel so stressed out. Dealing with sick, dying, or injured people will do that to you, but as I said earlier, they need our services, so we must do our best to provide care, even when all hope seems lost, and hope that we can make some difference in a person's life.
i love the paramedic stories series--you capture the drama and heartbreak they go through every day on the job--are you sure you aren't a paramedic in real life????? dang--could have fooled me! BRAVA! on an excellent write
Suspenseful and close to home, Rain of Deception 2 will leave you in Tears. Much like Part 1, this will shocking sequel will keep you on the edge of your fingertips.
I have the type of job where people often treat me like shit--or worse. They don't give a damn about us, and they don't care enough to move their goddamn cars out of the way when our ambulance is screaming full tilt boogie down the road, sirens and lights going full blazes! Yet, on the other hand, I feel I must do something to help those people in need, even when they give me nothing but a crock of shit!
