Nights yet again? Marvellous! Very busy as usual with last night, Saturday, being busiest so far on my run of three.
Most jobs were of a medical nature and easily sorted out with referrals to G.P.s or a quick trip down to A/E for X ray exclusion of fractures. The latter part of the shift seems to fill up with the drink related jobs around 2 in the morning.
I,ll just run by quickly on 2 jobs that stand out for me which reflect the different ends of the spectrum in this profession of ours:
Called to a 99 year old lady who had fallen at home. She lives on her own, is fiercely independent but is very grateful for our assistance in helping her back onto her bed. This lady is becoming increasingly prone to falls and as such she is getting an invite to the next Ambulance staff night out as I think most crews have been to her.
We picked her up and sorted out her room where she lives her life, happy and content with her lot. But this time she was in tears and said that perhaps this was the time for her to move into a home. We could see that it was a monumental effort for this proud woman to come to this conclusion that yes, she has done well to survive this long with minimal help, but now it was time to let others look after her. A very nice lady who will, I hope, find a nice home to help her thrive once again.
Arriving at an address for a “haemorrhage…possibly dangerous body area” as we got out of the truck two police cars pulled up behind us. They asked us what address we were going to and we replied “number 123456, This Street”.It was the same address they were going to for reports of a “domestic” after a nights heavy drinking. (Thats a big surprise).
Any way I let the police lead on and knock on the door which was answered by a male in his twenties who said “please help my girlfriend“. We all marched in to find her on the floor covered in blood after putting her arm through a window. (She had done this accidentlly whilst trying to stop her boyfriend from breaking in after they had an argument).
I knew that this was bad….I had just got my new Hi-Viz jacket after waiting months for it to replace my old, battered, torn, faded, ripped one. As soon as I approached the female to ask about her wounds, like a moth attracted to a bright light, she grabbed my sleeves! I now had a yellow jacket with red arms!
We assessed her cuts and dressed her arms saying she needed a trip down to A/E for some stitches and to check for any underlying damage. After what seemed like a lifetime we got her onto the truck. Her boyfriend wanted to come with her, and since he had calmed down we said ok.
That calmness lasted about 1.5 seconds as he launched into “…you f##king slut…” 1.5 seconds later and I launched him out of the back of the truck. He was upset and proceeded to lay down under the back of the truck so we could not reverse and would have to run him over if we did,nt let him back in!
No way was this going to happen, I had washed off the truck earlier and did not want bits of him stuck to our nice shiny vehicle! Eventually we pushed him out of the way and took the female to A/E who shortly after arrival discharged herself and caught a taxi back to her boyfriend who she “loved”.What was the point?
Purpleplus 
What’s going on lately? Everywhere you look society has gone mad. I guess you expect it in the Medical and Law Enforcement sector, but, as a Photographer, I am becoming increasingly involved in Chav culture madness. Take a look at my last post:
http://multipleexposure.blogspot.com/2007/01/whats-wrong-with-this-picture.html
BTW, I have been reading your blog since you started, it gets better with each passing week. Keep the posts coming, er whens the book coming out?? – JCA
What would be fab is if we could with the power of an ageing machine let the twenty-somethings live, breathe and fully experience the life of those in their eighties and nineties or thise with chrinic illnesses for a few days and then let them come back and decide how to live their lives with the benefit of foresight.
Aint never going to happen though, so I guess we have to learn to cope with these very frustrating jobs.
Nicenurse
Where were the coppers when this Div was laid out behind your vehicle?
Anyone stupid enough to lie behind ‘The Thing’ would need treatment after I’d started it up…….
SD
😉
Unfortunately the boys in blue had bluelighted off to another job after the boyfriend had calmed down.
King Magic – re photography – yes, shout up anytime – feel free
JCA
I’d remember the address. You’ll be back!
Again and again and again, until finally one of them ends up maimed or dead.
ecp, they’ll probably end up married with a kid. Best case scenario – he gets run-over next time.
I find domestic violence distinctly uncomfortable.
As a reasonable sane rational person, you can’t understand why these women put up with these abusive relationships. I certainly didn’t. To the onlooker, rational thought is easy to come by and it seems perfectly sensible and very simple to leave.
I always imagined that’s what I’d do if ever I was in that situation because I’m a confident, intelligent, assertive woman.
But I didn’t recognise that I was in that situation until I ended up in hospital.
Crazy people make sane people crazy without them even noticing.
It still troubles me to this day.
Iain,
Ain’t that the truth, the only thing they seem to be able to do competently is reproduce.
SD
hum the question I would’ve asked has already been answered, where were the cops….. unless with the possible exception the second call they went to was a colleague getting a serious pasting I really would not be happy that they had left early. Not happy at all. Was only the other night I barrelled to an ambulance crew asking for urgent police assistance following guess what, a domestic, and the bloke was trying to force his way into the ambulance where his missus was having her head put back together
To be fair to the lads in blue, as I said before, they had just left when the boyfriend kicked off again. We managed to sort him out without any problems.
If it had been a bit more iffy we would have locked ourselves in the truck and hit the emergency button on the data terminal.
As in any ambulance service, we have a pretty good relationship with the police as they know we will be there for them if the S**t hits the fan.