Skip to content
Streetwatch: Notes of a Paramedic
Menu
  • Home
  • Killing Season
  • Diamond in the Rough
  • Mortal Men
  • Rescue 471
  • Paramedic
Menu

Author: medicscribe

Kevin Andrews

Posted on June 5, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

With all that is going on these days, I thought of Kevin Andrews, one of my first partners in EMS. I first posted this in January of 2011. *** In EMS, we cannot help but be shaped by our earliest partners. They are the ones who show us the way. I was lucky in that…

Read more

Wild

Posted on June 3, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

Many years ago, I watched a long video of a police scene in California, where a man who was reported to be on “angel dust” (PCP), was being held down by police officers.  The officers chatted among themselves while the camera focused in on the man who was pleading for help.  I watched as the…

Read more

I Can’t Breathe

Posted on June 1, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 I have heard many people say “I can’t breathe.” Sometimes the people are full of it, other times they are dying. I have also heard the response line, “You’re talking fine.”  I’ve heard EMS say it and I’ve heard police say it. On May 25, 2020 , George Floyd said to officer Derek Chauvin, I…

Read more

A Visit

Posted on May 30, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

He is an old man with a stooped back, wearing tan work pants and shirt with his name on the right breast and his company’s name on the left.  He has gotten out of his old Pontiac, and wearing a face mask, walks toward us as we come out of the dialysis center with an…

Read more

Surgical Masks and Aerosolization

Posted on May 13, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

COVID-19 is spread primarily in respiratory droplets. Here’s why you need to put a surgical mask on your patients and why we should all be wearing masks ourselves when we are in public. These illustrations come from a study by Vapotherm. COVID-19 Transmission Assessment Report

Read more

Shower

Posted on May 9, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 The fire department had three of their men in full gowns when we arrived.  The patient was up on the fourth floor, unable to walk, they said.  They weren’t certain what was wrong with him — he wasn’t answering questions–but he had been shaking and vomiting all morning, and he had just gotten out of…

Read more

A Home

Posted on May 8, 2020August 13, 2021 by medicscribe

A beautiful spring day.  The sky is robin’s egg blue.  The air smells like fresh cut grass.  We cut our sirens on approach, and are driving now through the residential neighborhood.  Kids are out on their bikes.  There are joggers aplenty.  Nearly every house has someone out beautifying their yard.  Neighbors talk and laugh with…

Read more

Ghost

Posted on May 5, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 Death in a Nursing Home We’re called for a child not breathing. The address is a convalescent home. It makes no sense. Then we pull up. There is a car parked askance by the entrance, two front doors and a back door open. The engine still running. In the front lobby two nurses and a…

Read more

Rick James, David Crosby and Mike Pence

Posted on April 30, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 A large man stands handcuffed, surrounded by six police officers by the side of the road.  Nearby two citizens have their iPhones out recording.  The man does not mince his words.  “I’m going to kill all of you.  I hate cops.  I’m going to eat you.  You’re gonna be in my belly.” It is clear…

Read more

Battle Royal

Posted on April 27, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

 He is naked in the nursing home hallway, rolling over and over.  We manage to get a sheet under him and lift him up onto our stretcher.  His room air pulse saturation is 74–severely hypoxic.  The nurse, who told us he was COVID positive, said he walks around the wing and can hold a normal…

Read more

Easter

Posted on April 23, 2020August 13, 2021 by medicscribe

I worked the city today, and after a slow start, banged out 5 calls, and then they sent us in.  Volume is down,  plus today, as a holiday, we get double time and a half.  I could have stayed at the base and clocked the last three hours, but I wanted to get home to…

Read more

See-Saw

Posted on April 20, 2020 by medicscribe

The see-saw emotions of this epidemic are unrelenting.  The data is looking better.  While Hartford continues to increase its hospitalizations, the numbers are slowing and both statewide and downstate, the numbers are going down.  While there were another 41 deaths, this number is also starting to slow and be less that what was once feared. …

Read more

Rest Day

Posted on April 18, 2020 by medicscribe

For the first time, net hospitalizations fell in Connecticut.  Still 1,938 people remain hospitalized.  Another 50 died. As I’ve mentioned I follow the patients EMS has brought into our hospital who test positive so I can alert EMS for them to check if they had any exposures.  For the most part now, it seems they…

Read more

Tiger

Posted on April 18, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

It’s 12:59 A.M. I have given up on sleep. Fortunately tomorrow is my one day off (I will still go into the office to make my COVID EMS notifications) but I will go in at whatever time I feel like and will only stay for a couple hours. It’s not like I have to get…

Read more

A Different Day

Posted on April 17, 2020 by medicscribe

I worked twelve hours in the city today.  My partner and I lucked out as far as the COVID calls went.  I heard a ton of them go out, including a couple of cardiac arrests that sounded like they fit the bill of a person not feeling well for a couple of days with a…

Read more

Turn for the Worse

Posted on April 15, 2020 by medicscribe

Not the best news today. First off, I learned a friend of mine has been admitted to the hospital after taking a turn for the worst at home.  My friend is not on a vent, but requires 100% 02 by nonrebreather mask. It is a reminder that behind each of these case numbers there is…

Read more

Aliens

Posted on April 14, 2020August 13, 2021 by medicscribe

 A busy day in the city yesterday. I was in the fly car, which means I listen to the fire radio and dispatch myself to priority one calls. Because the fire department get the calls before our ambulance dispatchers do, a self-dispatched fly car medic helps considerably with the response times. Since I am already…

Read more

Hypoxia

Posted on April 14, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

Pouring rain and violent wind today in Connecticut.  It almost blew our hospital tent off the mountain.   I am home now and just finishing up making notifications to EMS services about COVID-positive patients.  Curiously, for the first time, one of the notifications was for a patient I was involved with as a paramedic.  Normally when…

Read more

Easter

Posted on April 13, 2020 by medicscribe

I worked the city today, and after a slow start, banged out 5 calls, and then they sent us in.  Volume is down,  plus today, as a holiday, we get double time and a half.  I could have stayed at the base and clocked the last three hours, but I wanted to get home to…

Read more

Me and Sponge Bob

Posted on April 6, 2020August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

SpongeBob torments me in the night. My daughter bursts into my room . “Daddy what are you shouting? What’s wrong?” “Nothing, I’m fine,” I say. “Go back to bed.” With my wife on isolation is another room, only half the bed should be disturbed, but I have torn off the covers, upended the sheets and…

Read more
  • Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • …
  • 33
  • Next

Categories

  • Blogging
  • COVID
  • EMS in City
  • ems-topics
  • Fiction
  • hazmat
  • Humor
  • Lights and Sirens
  • My LIfe
  • obituaries
  • Opioid Crisis
  • Pain Managment
  • Precepting
  • STEMI
  • Street Lessons
  • Trauma
  • Uncategorized
Tweets by medicscribe

Recent Posts

  • Killer Angels
  • An EMT
  • Paramedic! Paramedic!
  • Manifesto
  • TV Interviews
Log in

Archives

  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • August 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • August 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
© 2022 Streetwatch: Notes of a Paramedic | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme