Author Topic: Funny EMS call  (Read 1737 times)

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Offline Bullfrog

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Funny EMS call
« on: June 22, 2009, 07:26:51 AM »
I finally remembered a funny call that I made, it kept tugging at my mind and something triggered it today. Rural EMS in the country is interesting to say the least. The calls are different than the ones that you get in the city.

One sunny day we got a 911 call from a small boy. The dispatcher said that a woman was
Trapped in her car and can’t breathe.” I asked was there any additional information and the dispatcher said “No, her son is pretty frantic, he says his mom is trapped in the car and can’t breathe.”

We acknowledged, lit up the lights and siren and raced to the scene wondering what was going on? Were the doors malfunctioning and she was having a panic attack? Asthma? .

Upon our arrival we pulled into a driveway of a mobile home and the car was parked right there, the door was open and a large pair of legs were sticking out. A volunteer firefighter (wearing overalls) was struggling to help her. I ran to the door and the front floorboard was filled with a very large woman. The power seat was straining forward with the motor running cramming her under the dashboard.

On that particular model Taurus the power seat buttons were on the front of the seat instead of the side. I later learned that her radio had stopped playing and being a country girl, she decided to give it a look herself, maybe it was just a loose wire. So she opened the door and began to wiggle and squirm her way on her back in the floorboard to take a look. Both arms were over her head and as she progressed, her generous flank hit the “forward” button trapping her and crushing her under the dash.

Her breathing was compromised as she couldn’t expand her chest. The firefighter had his hand crammed in there, trying to reach the button. He said “I’ve got the button!!” He pressed and the seat tilted back further, cramming her more up under the dash. Wrong button. What was slightly humorous a moment ago suddenly turned into a serious life threatening situation.

Now she could barely draw a breath and her lips began to immediately turn blue. I screamed for the firefighter to go and get a ram. The jaws of life have an attachment that is just a hydraulic rod with a foot on either end and can spread metal easily. I applied oxygen while he hooked up the jaws. Her eyes began to swim and she was passing out. This woman was going to die by a power seat if we didn’t do something fast.

He handed me the ram and it just fit between the seat and the floorboard. I was afraid that if it slipped once under pressure it could pop out and break her neck but it was the only alternative that we had. I pushed the trigger as the power seat motor continued to whine away. The jaws quickly broke the seat away from it’s mounts and the woman took a deep breath.

She looked right at me and said “You broke my seat! This car isn’t even paid for!” I explained that she was dying, if she remembered what it was like. She finally calmed down and I asked her if she was hurting anywhere. I palpated her ribs and she had pain upon palpation so I raised her shirt up to take a look. There was a perfect impression of the switch panel on her ribs complete with the screw heads. It would have said “Ford” had the name been there. I advised her that she might have some broken ribs and advised her to get an x-ray. She agreed and we took her into the hospital. Dr. Eaves, a friend of mine bounced up and said “What have we got?

I looked at the woman and said “You tell him.”
« Last Edit: June 22, 2009, 07:31:38 AM by Bullfrog »


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Offline Joyce

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2009, 07:54:20 AM »
 lol   lol   lol
Peace to all  ... Joyce



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Offline Jerry

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2009, 08:32:41 AM »
Amazing!
Jerry
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Offline jw

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2009, 10:46:14 AM »
I would have loved to have been there to see that one  lol

Offline Esther

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2009, 11:00:34 AM »
Sounds funny now. Bet it wasn't all that laughable when it was happening.

Offline Desertponder

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2009, 12:37:43 PM »
LOL! Those rather odd calls are serious at the moment but rather funny later when you get to thinking about them. ;)
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Offline Kittyzee

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2009, 01:56:14 PM »
 lol  Rural calls are pretty much all we get...our "city" isn't all that big.  It's amazing how ungrateful some patients can be....and some patients are so grateful it changes your life forever.  :)
LuAnn

There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here:  to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good.  ~  Brian Andreas 

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Offline Julles

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2009, 02:34:38 PM »
Bullfrog, you're a good writer. 

KittyZee, I don't think she was ungrateful... I think people just don't realize the danger they are / were in.  It's so uncommon to be in that situation, they simply don't recognize it for how serious it is.  I also think they don't understand that life can really end that quickly, that even the EMS and other rescue workers are not a guarantee that everything will work out OK.  We all see too much TV with happy endings.

Thank goodness you guys were there, and able to respond so quickly.

Offline Ky Kim

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2009, 09:07:09 PM »
Love your stories.  Its like reading a book, I can almost see everything that happened.   lol

Kim

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Offline Bullfrog

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2009, 01:45:20 AM »
Sounds funny now. Bet it wasn't all that laughable when it was happening.

You are right Esther, it is funny looking back but when it was happening it was downright frightening. Even if we had cut the battery cable the seat would not have retracted, thank God we had the right equipment and it was readily available, we rolled the firetruck not knowing what we had and the jaws rode on that truck.  While it was happening it developed into a real life threatening situation but looking back at the absurdity of it all now, it is funny because it had a happy ending.

A lot of real life drama plays out in the back of ambulances every day, things you never read about in the papers. A few of them are funny but a lot of them aren't. It does enrichen your life at times and taps your soul at others. You never forget the funny ones though.


Never leave your partner, especially in a fire.

Offline Bullfrog

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2009, 10:14:26 AM »
Bullfrog, you're a good writer.

Love your stories.  Its like reading a book, I can almost see everything that happened.   lol

Kim

Thank you both, I do love to write and tell stories. When people say kinds things like this I find it so encouraging. I’m working on a book and I’m really enjoying it. My wife is helping me with input from a woman’s point of view. Two kindred spirits that were meant to be together since the beginning of time. They had lived many different lives but never were good enough to go on to their ultimate reward. They were watching the third stone from the sun waiting for another chance to be together.

They knew they would find each other, they always did. They each had an ally and a personal nemesis. Time had no meaning to them, it was spread out like an endless fabric. Some of their lives were in the past and some in the present or future. Sometime one of their allies or their nemesis would leave before them and they knew the time was drawing near.


A point of light would shimmer and they each would be drawn to earth to meet and try again. Thrust into circumstances beyond their control and naturally rebellious spirits, they find themselves in one epic struggle after another. The first book is taking place in Mexico shortly after Cortez conquered New Spain and the colonies were thriving.

The main male character was not born a bad man, he and his father were fishermen. But the Viceroys men killed his father falsely accusing him of piracy for the bounty and he escapes and becomes a wanted man. He was taught by his uncle, a master swordsman from Spain how to be deadly with the blade and bow. He vows to avenge his father and becomes a pirate.  With his ferocious crew of freed slaves he prowls the Carribean killing every Spanish soldier that he can. (I'm having a great time with the interaction of the newly freed slaves and this scoundrel)

She is the only child of the king of Spain and heir to the throne. Bold and beautiful, she is a spirit that cannot be tamed. She demands to see the new colonies that she will soon rule and her father against his better judgment consents, knowing that she will do it with or without his permission.

With a double escort of galleons her ship sails for New Spain only to be attacked by the pirate and she is taken captive. As bad as she doesn’t want to, she slowly falls for the rouge, she always was attracted to bad boys. She joins him and they have a son, a direct blood heir to the throne. The kings men relentlessly pursue them so his son can take the throne.

I’m having a blast writing it and we can keep bringing these spirits back over and over again in different lifetimes. The old west and she is an Indian and he is a soldier, the civil and Viet Nam wars, it is an endless story.


Never leave your partner, especially in a fire.

Offline Desertponder

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2009, 12:16:47 PM »
Quote
KittyZee, I don't think she was ungrateful... I think people just don't realize the danger they are / were in.  It's so uncommon to be in that situation, they simply don't recognize it for how serious it is.  I also think they don't understand that life can really end that quickly, that even the EMS and other rescue workers are not a guarantee that everything will work out OK.  We all see too much TV with happy endings.

This particular woman may not have been ungrateful but trust me, we run our share of calls where people are ungrateful or could care less. ::)
Its the ones that do appreciate our help that keep us halfway sane ;)
Shanna
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Offline Bullfrog

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Re: Funny EMS call
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2009, 12:43:32 PM »
Quote
KittyZee, I don't think she was ungrateful... I think people just don't realize the danger they are / were in.  It's so uncommon to be in that situation, they simply don't recognize it for how serious it is.  I also think they don't understand that life can really end that quickly, that even the EMS and other rescue workers are not a guarantee that everything will work out OK.  We all see too much TV with happy endings.

This particular woman may not have been ungrateful but trust me, we run our share of calls where people are ungrateful or could care less. ::)
Its the ones that do appreciate our help that keep us halfway sane ;)

You are right, I've been thanked and cursed at times. The inner city ghetto of the north end of Beaumont was never boring, thats for sure. Country people are different, sure you get your hicks and see some real poverty out in the boonies, but they are generally more laid back country folks. When you do get a sincere thank you it does help get over the spitting, cursing, drunk patient.


Never leave your partner, especially in a fire.

 

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