22 Nov 2010

Time Warp

Purple +

This is a job I did in the first couple of weeks in the Service

Red 1 Allocated ?Suspended ?Purple

I'm driving because I'm on my Blue Light Experience Placement. So I am really fresh at this and I could feel the excitement and adrenalin rushing through my body. We arrive at this small flat in North West London and rush up the stairs, there was already a Fast Responder on scene and it soon became clear that our life saving skills were not required and only the "recognition of death" skill from the senior clinician on scene was needed.

The person who found our patient was a young lady who had an appointment to perform a pedicure on the poor old girl. She was crying saying that she had only seen her last week and that she pops around every week to do her nails. The old lady did have family but typically in this country they hadn't been in contact with her for years. The flat (apartment) was messy and under-maintained with minimal home comforts and absolutely zero heating.

The saddest thing for me was that you could actually picture the route she had taken from the kitchen to her living room and I could almost see her ghost replaying out the whole incident for us and the police to get a solid picture of what path she took to her fate. Here goes!

From what I could see she made herself some dinner and started walking towards her living room, at some point between leaving the kitchen and before entering the living room she had suffered a catastrophic acute attack, possibly a stroke or heart attack. I followed the trail of food on the floor through the hallway into the living room where the plate was broken with more mouldy food on the floor. There was a broken table in the middle of the room and I gather she stumbled on this just before landing in her final (4 day) resting place which was between the armchair and small side table where her careline alarm pendant was sitting, instead of it being around her neck where it should have been. I cant help but wonder that maybe if she had that pendant around her neck and pressed it at the time she fell, would the ambulance crew who would have been there within 8 minutes have been able to save her life. In a way I hope not, that way it would have been fate and not a tragic mistake.

To add a twist to this story, the people who lived below her did say that they heard a loud thump and crash on their ceiling 4 days ago and didn't think to knock on her door to see if she was ok. She was 89 years of age. REST IN PEACE

PS Purple means DEAD and Purple + means long DEAD

A new life across the pond!

Sometimes I get this overwhelming urge to work in the EMS in the US or Canada.

Why I don't know.

Any advice?

21 Nov 2010

A family affair

Amber 1 Allocated (89YO Male severe bleeding from nose)

We were 7 miles away from the job, I was driving so it didn't take long to arrive. I wasn't working with my usual crewmate I was with a lady. Making our way to the job I didn't get a chance to read the actual block name and door number I just followed the SatNav. When just under half a mile away from the address I took a quick glimpse at our MDT screen and notice that the job and the man in question was no other than my grandfather.

When we arrived my grandad was standing outside talking to the driver of the fast response vehicle that on this occasion just happened to be a manager. As I approached my grandfather I said "allo grandad you alright mate" on hearing that the manager turned and looked at me as if he was about to give me a bollocking for being patronising to the old fella. It was only when we were hugging that it dawned on him that he was my real grandad. Our control was really good and they allowed me some to with him to sort him out etc. He was ok, even fit enough to try and chat up my female crewmate (the dirty old fella) We left him with his horse raising and carried on the rest of the shift winding up my crewmate that I would give my grandad her number hahahaha

I'm going to add a glossary of terms and will add it on a separate page

When I work out how to do it!

20 Nov 2010

Hero's and Villains

How things can change in two days! (Last Week)


Heroes of the day!

Yesterday my crewmate and I were called in to our station manager's office for a little praise.

"Great! well done guy's for keeping your timings within targets" ie they like our average (At Hospital Times) to be under fifteen minutes, ours is 6.6. Basicly they like us working and moving rather than dossing. And we have been like ninja ambulance men keeping our times to a minimum. We haven't really been trying that hard to be honest all we have been doing is working hard to satisfy our enthusiasm. It was nice to get a thank you from our station manager though.


And the next day!

Held in contempt!

Amber 1 Allocated (25 Female Bleeding PV, feeling faint)

The address is in a Magistrates Court for immigration. I admit that I originally thought it was a person condemned for deportation pulling a fast one by pleading illness. However when we arrived we could see through the door as we were approaching the court room that this lady was splayed out on a chair looking extremely pale (she was afro-Caribbean) and not fully alert. As we tried to enter the court room we were instructed by a court security guard to stay outside while the hearing was in progress. So obviously we ignore him and enter the court room where we were told by the Head Magistrate in no uncertain terms "if you try to enter this court while the hearing is in progress I'll hold you both in contempt"

Well great stuff, one day we were heroes the next we were villains, in a way I wish we had entered anyway and been put into a court cell. Would have been an interesting post on the blog lol!

15 Nov 2010

16 Oldies pressed back into service

For the Christmas rush

The powers at be are pressing 16 vehicles that are currently enjoying retirement back into service for the Christmas rush.

WOW and they are being deployed to a small minority group of staff known as Urgent Care.

Roll on the the fumes, the breakdowns, the cold, the lifting, the broken cupboards, low fuel economy and to top it all no bloody radio.

Anyway lets all grin and bare it, after all its not like its a new thing, I mean why shouldn't we be forced to use condemned vehicles. We are only a group of under represented staff that are excluded from applying from every position in the service because of our skill level.

"Why don't you do something about your skill level" I hear you say! well we dont because that would mean resigning from a full time contract onto a 3 year contract with no guarantee of employment if you fail the course and even if you pass and become a Paramedic they still do not guarantee you a position.

Oh well and I promised not to moan on my blog.

12 Nov 2010

Mobile Dental Support Unit

Green 2 Allocated (37YO Male with toothache. ring back for Clinical Telephone advice but patient demands an ambulance.

Gobsmacked we radiod control and asked why they were sending an ambulance and is this appropriate. They informed us that he didn't want Clinical Telephone Advice and wanted an ambulance. Our response "OK control, show us attending cad ???? as we are a Big Green Tooth Fairy Machine" Controls response to us "OK ???? i'm sure you'll get to the root of the problem".. So laughing we head off to the job with a plan in mind.

Our plan was to turn up wearing full body armour and helmet and infection control kit (Green Apron and elbow high gloves) We were going to explain that there was a highly contagious virus in the area that starts with effecting peoples teeth and that he needed conveying to A&E ASAP before his teeth fall out. We were even going to dress him in some sort of hazmat suit and rap a bandage around his cheeks assuring him that is was for protection.

Unfortunately we were cancelled off the job for a higher priority call. Just as well really as we would have probably got the sack if we had carried all that out.

I'll f?ckin shoot you bruv!

Amber 2 Allocated (67YO Male, fallen off bus ? Fractured Hip plus Head Inj)

So running on lights and sirens we head through Edmonton in North London and as we pull down this back street I notice a car purposely speed up and try and get by us before we made entry into the street, however we were slightly faster than him and he ended up being blocked by us. He wouldn't reverse his car and at the angle we were at I couldn't reverse the truck. My crewmate got out and politely asked him to reverse and even offered to direct him back, instead he said "Move your fuckin truck init bruv" My Crewmate "I beg your pardon" Arsehole "now bruv or i'll fuckin shoot you" Hearing this I jumped out of the truck to confront him fearing for my crewmates safety. The prick then put his hand in his jacket and said "i'll shoot you bruv". So we moved to our Ambulance and called for urgent assistance (with me fuming and wanting to rip his head off his shoulders). He then mounted the pavement and made off shouting "i'll hunt you down and fuckin kill you c?nts"

This did delay our attendance to our patient but we attended to him and took him to hospital despite our earlier trouble.

The arsehole was arrested earlier that day. But its a shame its not the 70's where the old bill could've given him a bloody good hiding.

The things we do!

Green 1 Allocated (77YO female needs help getting to the commode, carer needs assistance)

Well you can imagine that the air was blue in the cab of our ambulance as my crewmate & I ranted and raved that surely we are not here to support the private (for profit) care company. Not that we have anything against the poor old girl that needed a poo, we just didn't agree that an ambulance should be sent. Anyway we arrived at the address and discovered the real story, so here goes:

The old girl had an accident in the morning and hurt her knee while the carer tried to move her on her electronic standing machine. Due to the old girl suffering from cerebral palsy since birth it turns out that she had originally refused transportation to hospital that morning by another ambulance crew because she is terrified of being admitted to hospital for a couple of months. She doesn't like hospital due to being in and out of them all of her life. Well I can tell you that it was a mission and half to get her to agree to go to hospital, we did everything. The upsetting thing for us was that she started crying as we explained that the best thing for her at the moment was to pop over to A&E have a quick xray and come back home.

The only way to persuade her to go in was to promise that we'll pop in every time we're close to that particular A&E. I can tell you that we did pop in and see her and reassure her that she'll be ok. We even arranged that her carer would be at her home just before Patient Transport dropped her off.

Green 1 Allocated (97YO female cut to leg)

It's late 2245, 15 minutes before the end of our shift and we are making our way to an affluent part of London. We arrive in the block of flats and are greeted by a concierge who showed us to the apartment. These apartments were in Victorian era buildings with lovely mosaic flooring in the hallways and still had the old lifts which had wooden doors. The flat is a multi million pound apartment but clearly under-kept due to the old girl being to old to care for it. She had been a journalist by trade and was one of the first women in the industry. She was as tough as old boots and had just been to dinner at her club. She had a very slight cut to her leg, for which an over zealous and now absent carer had called us out for. We dressed her leg and ensured we left enough dressings for the next day. Because she didn't want to go to A&E the London Ambulance Service has a policy of not allowing any person over the age of 55 to stay at home without further assessment from a Paramedic (We are a type of Medical Technician). So we waited for the Paramedic and had a chat with her to pass the time. In comes the Paramedic, carries out some checks and an ECG and signs us off and goes off to another job.

We of-course stay to help her brush her teeth and assist her to the toilet, help her into her nightie and tuck her into bed. We then ensure that her pendant alarm is within handy reach and that her bedroom light is off. Oh we also notice that her clocks are wrong so we adjust them, and that there are trip hazards everywhere so we adjust that (Creased rugs etc) we then close all the windows, turn her heating on, switch all the lights off and lock her front door as we say goodnight and sweetdreams. It's now 0045.


Thing is we don't have to go to this level of compassion and I'm not sure if other crew's do it (I'm sure they do) but I know that I go home feeling good about myself, I would much prefer these old girls over and above any self induced issue like drunkenness.

10 Nov 2010

Junkie

I'm talking about myself

I'm a junkie. I have a habit which a lot of people would call a dirty habit. Yes at the moment I'm addicted to work. I'm in the middle of a stretch of 6 rest days and I can't cope, I'm climbing the walls like a junkie my teeth are starting to itch, I'm starting to scratch the door. Has anyone ever seen the film "train spotting" well that does't have a patch on me at the moment.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

9 Nov 2010

Heroes on that day 7/7

I feel it pertinent to mention, while the inquest into the 7/7 attacks is taking place and while there is much criticism in the media about the role of the Emergency Services on that fateful day that:

While the innocent victims of that day where running away from those tragic events there was a group of people running towards it all. These people are normal people, people not born with special bravery genes but ordinary people doing an extraordinary job. Where the victims of that day never had a choice but to be brave and try to survive, the people heading towards the danger had a choice whether to go and risk their lives or not go. Every one of these people made the choice to go and try and make order out of chaos and life out of death and to bring help and support to colleagues and victims.

These people where the brave men and women of the London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police Service, British Transport Police, City of London Police, London Underground, British Red Cross Society, St John Ambulance, Salvation Army & the numerous County Ambulance Services that help with our regular calls.

To all you Men & Women, I salute you as does the rest of the world.

4 Nov 2010

Ambulance Man vs Bus Man

Red 1 Allocated (5-YO Male Life Status unknown, caller crying and hung up phone)

As you would imagine there was a real need to get to this job as quickly as possible driving as fast as safety would allow. Well I did, we were 5 miles away and it was 17:00 hours which meant I had to navigate my way through rush-hour traffic. Having safely manoeuvred through 3 miles of traffic I reached a set of road works, the works were quite passable except that two buses had stopped next to each other in opposite directions with their drivers having a little chat. Oblivious to the fact that they were holding the traffic up one of them looked up and noticed me, yes me driving a big yellow ambulance with blue flashing lights and nee naaaws sounding stuck in front of him. He slowly looked back to his brother driving the other bus slowly finished off their conversation and gently pulled off. As he drove past me I shrugged my shoulders with disgust and do you know what he said, he told me to "go fuck myself" well I nearly exploded with anger. Two things stopped me from getting out of my truck and battering him 1) The 5-YO Kiddie & 2)My job is worth more.

Guess what! We didn't make to that job luckily there was another vehicle closer and they got there first so we were cancelled off.

Did I want to drive to that bus depot and Ram Raid it with my ambulance? Damn right I did.

104 Years old and still working

Green1 Allocated (104YO Male, fall ? Fractured Hip)

We arrive at the sheltered housing apartment block and walked into the residence's communal area. The Scheme manager approaches us and informs us that the gentleman will down shortly. I asked how is he getting down considering he has pain in his hip. "Oh" she says "he's very independent and he's cheesed off that we've called him an ambulance, he doesn't want any days of sick from work". "From work" I said "what are you running here a work house, what do you mean days off sick". "Oh" She said "He works for the plumbers around the corner, cleans their vans, he ran the marathon 2 years ago too".

Shocked from hearing this information I had to take a seat while waiting for the old fella. As I sat back on the chair in the communal lounge I heard a crunch with a sudden sharp pain right in my arse, I shot straight up onto my feet thinking I had sat on some poor old folk. When I looked down there was a skeleton sitting in the chair. Apparently the 104YO bought this skeleton and likes to leave it in the chair covered with an old blanket to scare the old girls that live there.

Anyway shaken up from my ordeal with skeletor I greet my new patient and walk him to our ambulance for some observations, as he refused to go by chair. All the Obs we fine (actually they were text book) I had a feel of his hips which he didn't appreciate but they seemed fine, just had a little bruising. After a lengthy conversation I informed him that we will pop him down to hospital and he reluctantly agreed. (Because of his age it is best to get him checked over). But before we could leave for hospital he challenged me to an arm-wrestle which I reluctantly agreed to.

I wheeled him into A&E where there was a half hour wait due to the Nurse shift change. This is how the clinical handover went.

"This is ?????? he is 104 years old, he had a fall last night and now suffering from a little bit of pain in his right hip. I've assessed him and he has a full range of movement in his hips and legs. He can weight bare and walk without pain. His Obs are all normal and he his alert and well. Plus he's still in full time employment" Unimpressed Nurse "What is he doing hear then! Pissed of me "BECAUSE HE'S PAID HIS NATIONAL INSURANCE FOR 90 YEARS"

Did he win that arm wrestle, yes of-course he did. Don't know whether I let him though lol

Writers Block

My head is loaded with jobs from the past week but for the life of me I can't put them into words.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!