There is no “typical EMS call”; each one is unique.
The first few steps, however, tend to run along
common lines. What follows is how a call usually
starts, with details dragged in from a dozen
different runs.
9:15AM. A man stumbles to his phone and
dials 911. At Police Headquarters, a Dispatcher answers with
“911 – What is the nature of your emergency” and the man blurts
out “I just … can’t seem … to catch … my breath”. A few more
questions and answers narrow down the problem, and two police
cars are shortly on their way to the scene.
9:16AM. Across town a handful of pagers
simultaneously chirp an alarm, and hands start to move.
Television sets are turned off, conversations are halted, and
pagers are held nearer ears. A few seconds later, the
Dispatcher’s voice comes over loud and clear: “Squad 20 is
responding to 123 Some Street for a 43-year-old male with
difficulty breathing.” The squad Captain is working at home
that day, and his next conference call isn’t until 1:30. He
picks up his radio and reports “Dispatch, 20-Captain is en route
to the building.” Another squad member is heading back from the
store to work at home for the day, but she knows that the
groceries will keep in her car on this cold day, so she radios
that she also is heading to the fire station. Two other members
are working in town right now, but they are more constrained in
their work schedules and they know that this call is covered, so
they return to their jobs (and stand by in case another call
comes in).
9:19AM. The first police officer arrives on
the scene. She is trained as a First Responder, and can see
that the patient needs oxygen, so she sets up the mask and
starts the oxygen flowing from the bottle that she has carried
in from her patrol car.
9:20AM. Two members are driving to the fire
station. They are driving safely but quickly – they know that
someone might not be getting the oxygen that their body needs to
live. A few times during the drive, they come up behind another
driver and turn on their flashing “blue lights”. The
law-abiding drivers in front of them pull over and stop, to
allow the EMTs to get to the crisis.
9:21AM. The first member arrives at the
station, starts the ambulance, and radios “Dispatch, 20-171 is
on the air awaiting crew.” That EMT puts on the plastic gloves
that will protect both himself and the patient, and jots the
address and the nature of this call (“difficulty breathing”) on
the run sheet.
9:23AM. The second member enters the
ambulance and fastens the seatbelt, and the radio reports
“Dispatch, 20-171 is en route to Some Street.” The lights are
flashing, and when the ambulance approaches traffic, the siren
goes on, and the courteous drivers pull over.
9:25AM. The ambulance parks in front of the
house, and the radio reports “Dispatch, 20-171 is arriving on
scene.” The EMTs load an oxygen bag onto the cot, and then
wheel the assemblage to the house. As they enter the front
door, one EMT starts recording observations on the run sheet,
while the other approaches the patient and says, “My name is Jon
and I’m a Basking Ridge EMT. How are you feeling now?”
At this point, the call can go in dozens of
different directions. We’ll consider just three illustrative
outcomes.
1. A Small Problem. The patient
just had a phone call about a family crisis, and suffered a
panic attack. The EMTs start by helping him to slow his
breathing, and then find that years ago he had two panic attacks
similar to this. The tingling in his fingers is typical of
hyperventilation, and it goes away as his breathing slows down
and becomes deeper. They turn off the oxygen, cancel the
paramedics who are en route, and talk him through the crisis.
Eventually, the patient feels so much better that it he doesn’t
wish to go to a hospital (he does, however, recognize the need
to discuss this with his personal physician). He signs a form
to “Refuse Medical Assistance”, and the ambulance returns to the
station.
2. A Medium Problem. The patient
was diagnosed with asthma just a couple of years ago, but this
is the worst attack by far. The EMTs continue providing
oxygen. The patient has never before used his prescribed
“metered dose inhaler”, so the EMTs assist him in doing so, and
he quickly improves. By the time the Paramedics arrive on
scene, they rule out the severe status asthmaticus attack
that the EMTs have feared, so the paramedics return to their
base. Nevertheless, the patient chooses to be transported in
the ambulance to the hospital where he is seen by his personal
physician.
3. A Huge Problem. The patient was
outside when he was stung by a bee. His entire body immediately
started swelling, and what makes his outside look like the
Michelin Man on the inside starts constricting his airway. The
EMTs continue oxygen therapy. In his panic, the patient forgot
about the “EpiPen” auto-injector his physician had prescribed
last year, so the EMTs help inject him, and the swelling
immediately subsides. The Paramedics arrive a short while
later, and continue to treat the patient as he is transported to
Morristown Hospital in the Basking Ridge ambulance (one of the
volunteers drives their truck back to the hospital behind the
ambulance). A Paramedic tells the EMTs that that one was close
– had this patient not received medical care as soon as he did,
he might not have made it.
This system only works if enough
volunteers can take time out of their lives to help their
neighbors. The Basking Ridge First Aid Squad needs more EMTs.
For more information on becoming an EMT, click
here. And if you don’t have time
to become an EMT yourself, you can still contribute through your
financial support here.
