Basking Ridge Fire Co. # 1 & EMS, February 2008 News

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Three Injured Arms People who dial 911 in Basking Ridge speak to highly trained dispatchers with a lot of experience. Those dispatchers get all the information they can before they send an ambulance to a call. Sometimes that is a great deal of information, and the squad is toned out with information such as “a 54-year-old male with a broken left forearm”. Other times, though, the caller is a panicked child or a victim in pain, and the only information the dispatcher can get is that “Squad 20 is responding to 123 Some Street for a male with an injured arm”. Here are three tales of what we might find when we arrive. A Burn When the EMTs arrive, they see two people in distress: a three-year-old boy holding a cold compress on his left arm, and a mother struggling to keep control of her emotions and the situation. When the EMTs ask what happened, the mother explains that the lad reached up towards her cup of recently brewed coffee, and it spilled all over his left arm. She immediately grabbed a package of frozen peas from the freezer, placed it on his arm, and called 911. By the time the ambulance arrives, there were two red spots on the arm, each about the size of a quarter. Mother and son were each struggling to control the panic, and barely succeeding. When they inspect the arm, the EMTs tell the mother that the injury is not severe. They reach into their bag and give the boy a stuffed animal (in this case, a teddy bear wearing a T-shirt that says “I’m Sorry”). Those two actions are enough to break the cycle of panic, and mother and child are both breathing more slowly. The EMTs then proceed to wrap a loose bandage over and around the burn. And rather than tying the ends together, they finished the bandage with a Snoopy Band-Aid. A wide smile spreads over the boy’s face, and the situation is officially under control. The EMTs tell the mom that, in their opinion, the burn doesn’t look serious enough to merit the inconveniences of a visit to the emergency room; she heartily agrees. She vows to call her pediatrician as soon as the squad leave. They congratulate her for the presence of mind to use the frozen peas as a cold pack, and remind her that, in the future, she should immediately hold such a burn under the cold running water in the sink. They get out a form to allow her to “Refuse Medical Assistance”, and read through the details with her, encouraging her to call 911 if there is the slightest sign of trouble. As they leave, they notice the boy staring longingly at the flashing lights on the ambulance in his front yard. His mother is going to be busy now with that call to a pediatrician, so they invite the pair to visit the Fire House any Monday night, 7:00PM-9:00PM, for a personalized tour of the ambulance. A Dislocation When the EMTs arrive, they see right through the polite smile to realize that this 74-year-old gentleman is mad. He is mad at the edge of the carpet that tripped him, he is mad at the granite floor on which his left elbow landed, he is mad at the pain in his elbow, and he is really mad that all the fuss is interrupting the fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration of his brother and sister-in-law. With a grin pasted over his grimace, he tells the EMTs that he is just fine, and that everyone can return to what they were doing. But the EMTs are equipped with smiles and politeness of their own, so they ask the gentleman if they may see the elbow he is holding oh-so-gently. The gentleman swears that it is nothing, really, but shows it to them anyway. It looks funny by itself, and comparing the left and right elbows shows that the left one is out of whack. Because EMTs don’t have X-ray vision, they have to classify it as a “Painful, Swollen, Deformed Extremity”. But it sure looks like this gentleman has dislocated his left elbow. Even knowing that, he wants to stay at the celebration. The EMTs reassure him that the choice is entirely his, but they point out that dislocations can cause substantial nerve and blood vessel damage if they aren’t reduced quickly. Furthermore, that reduction usually decreases the pain, too. With that information, and a little encouragement from his wife of almost fifty years, the gentleman chooses to seek medical care, and the EMTs happily splint his elbow with a pillow, and take him to Morristown Memorial Hospital. A Fracture The 13-year-old boy was fortunate enough to crash his bicycle only a hundred yards from an Emergency Room nurse who was out walking that fine spring afternoon, and she uses her cell phone to call 911. The angle of his forearm makes it look like he had an extra joint between his elbow and his wrist; it sure appears to be fractured. Worried about the possibility of her patient going into shock, the nurse props his feet up on the box she had just picked up at the post office. When the EMTs arrive, they find the young man gritting his teeth at the pain, and they are tempted to treat the obvious injury. But they first inspect the patient, and notice a scrape and a bump on his head. When he fell off the bicycle, he absorbed most of the impact with his arm, but he might have damaged his spine on the way down. The EMTs therefore put on a cervical-spine collar and fix him to a long board to immobilize his neck and back. This precaution will ensure that they do no further damage to his spine as they proceed to splint his arm with a pillow and cravats. By the time he is finally packaged, his mother has arrived on the scene, and the patient is loaded into the back of the ambulance to be accompanied by his mother on the short drive to the Emergency Room. The Basking Ridge Fire Company responds to anyone in our town who is injured or sick. We always need more fire fighters and EMTs who are willing to contribute their time to help their neighbors. For more information on volunteering, see [ Joining the Company ]. And if you don’t have time to join the Company, you can still contribute through your financial support at [ Donate Here ].	February 2008 In This Edition Table of contents: Home-2008 Officers Three Injured Arms 911 is a Team Sport Profile: Ernie Hicks 59 Years of Service Bob Fullagar, BRFCO's Newest Fire Fighter RECIPES Homemade Baked Macaroni & Cheese Meatloaf We’ve made it VERY EASY to help us financially. Click HERE to donate using your major credit card.
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People who dial 911 in Basking Ridge speak to highly trained dispatchers with a lot of experience. Those dispatchers get all the information they can before they send an ambulance to a call. Sometimes that is a great deal of information, and the squad is toned out with information such as “a 54-year-old male with a broken left forearm”. Other times, though, the caller is a panicked child or a victim in pain, and the only information the dispatcher can get is that “Squad 20 is responding to 123 Some Street for a male with an injured arm”. Here are three tales of what we might find when we arrive.

A Burn

When the EMTs arrive, they see two people in distress: a three-year-old boy holding a cold compress on his left arm, and a mother struggling to keep control of her emotions and the situation. When the EMTs ask what happened, the mother explains that the lad reached up towards her cup of recently brewed coffee, and it spilled all over his left arm. She immediately grabbed a package of frozen peas from the freezer, placed it on his arm, and called 911. By the time the ambulance arrives, there were two red spots on the arm, each about the size of a quarter. Mother and son were each struggling to control the panic, and barely succeeding.

When they inspect the arm, the EMTs tell the mother that the injury is not severe. They reach into their bag and give the boy a stuffed animal (in this case, a teddy bear wearing a T-shirt that says “I’m Sorry”). Those two actions are enough to break the cycle of panic, and mother and child are both breathing more slowly. The EMTs then proceed to wrap a loose bandage over and around the burn. And rather than tying the ends together, they finished the bandage with a Snoopy Band-Aid. A wide smile spreads over the boy’s face, and the situation is officially under control.

The EMTs tell the mom that, in their opinion, the burn doesn’t look serious enough to merit the inconveniences of a visit to the emergency room; she heartily agrees. She vows to call her pediatrician as soon as the squad leave. They congratulate her for the presence of mind to use the frozen peas as a cold pack, and remind her that, in the future, she should immediately hold such a burn under the cold running water in the sink. They get out a form to allow her to “Refuse Medical Assistance”, and read through the details with her, encouraging her to call 911 if there is the slightest sign of trouble. As they leave, they notice the boy staring longingly at the flashing lights on the ambulance in his front yard. His mother is going to be busy now with that call to a pediatrician, so they invite the pair to visit the Fire House any Monday night, 7:00PM-9:00PM, for a personalized tour of the ambulance.

A Dislocation

When the EMTs arrive, they see right through the polite smile to realize that this 74-year-old gentleman is mad. He is mad at the edge of the carpet that tripped him, he is mad at the granite floor on which his left elbow landed, he is mad at the pain in his elbow, and he is really mad that all the fuss is interrupting the fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration of his brother and sister-in-law. With a grin pasted over his grimace, he tells the EMTs that he is just fine, and that everyone can return to what they were doing.

But the EMTs are equipped with smiles and politeness of their own, so they ask the gentleman if they may see the elbow he is holding oh-so-gently. The gentleman swears that it is nothing, really, but shows it to them anyway. It looks funny by itself, and comparing the left and right elbows shows that the left one is out of whack. Because EMTs don’t have X-ray vision, they have to classify it as a “Painful, Swollen, Deformed Extremity”. But it sure looks like this gentleman has dislocated his left elbow.

Even knowing that, he wants to stay at the celebration. The EMTs reassure him that the choice is entirely his, but they point out that dislocations can cause substantial nerve and blood vessel damage if they aren’t reduced quickly. Furthermore, that reduction usually decreases the pain, too. With that information, and a little encouragement from his wife of almost fifty years, the gentleman chooses to seek medical care, and the EMTs happily splint his elbow with a pillow, and take him to Morristown Memorial Hospital.

A Fracture

The 13-year-old boy was fortunate enough to crash his bicycle only a hundred yards from an Emergency Room nurse who was out walking that fine spring afternoon, and she uses her cell phone to call 911. The angle of his forearm makes it look like he had an extra joint between his elbow and his wrist; it sure appears to be fractured. Worried about the possibility of her patient going into shock, the nurse props his feet up on the box she had just picked up at the post office.

When the EMTs arrive, they find the young man gritting his teeth at the pain, and they are tempted to treat the obvious injury. But they first inspect the patient, and notice a scrape and a bump on his head. When he fell off the bicycle, he absorbed most of the impact with his arm, but he might have damaged his spine on the way down. The EMTs therefore put on a cervical-spine collar and fix him to a long board to immobilize his neck and back. This precaution will ensure that they do no further damage to his spine as they proceed to splint his arm with a pillow and cravats. By the time he is finally packaged, his mother has arrived on the scene, and the patient is loaded into the back of the ambulance to be accompanied by his mother on the short drive to the Emergency Room.

The Basking Ridge Fire Company responds to anyone in our town who is injured or sick. We always need more fire fighters and EMTs who are willing to contribute their time to help their neighbors. For more information on volunteering, see [ Joining the Company ]. And if you don’t have time to join the Company, you can still contribute through your financial support at [ Donate Here ].

February 2008

In This Edition

Table of contents:

RECIPES

We’ve made it VERY EASY to help us financially. Click HERE to donate using your major credit card.

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© Copyright 2007-2008 Basking Ridge Fire Co#1 & Emergency Medical Services. All rights reserved. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.