The call is for a man on the ground, not injured just needs help getting up. Been there all night. The front door should be open. The stink hits us when we go in. There he is lying on the floor in a nearly empty house, shit on the rug, shit crusted on his underwear….
Beam Away
We’re on the third floor of an apartment building whose elevator doesn’t work. In the tiny efficiency apartment, layered with dirt, an old skinny man with dreadlocks says he didn’t call us, and why are we bothering him. The man’s body reminds me of a Biafrin child’s it is so emaciated. We’re here because a…
The Line
You’re a paramedic. You’re on your knees. A naked obese patient lies in front of you, their flaccid head in your hands as you try to position their mouth open. Watery vomit flows from between their lips. The monitor shows flat line. Every time your partner does compressions, more warm vomit spews onto your hands….
Troublesome, Unformed Idea
Since I closed down my daily blog I have been trying to increase the number of posts to Street Watch, which I have always thought of as my weekly blog. I am hoping to post at least three or four times a week. Since I will not always be able to write the type of…
Fair Enough
A few days ago I promised I would try to write something true about lights and sirens response in EMS. I believe I have come up with something, but first I want to outline a call this morning. The horn goes off. The call is for an unresponsive at a nursing home, history of diabetes….
American Summer
It’s been over ten years I’ve been working in the city. Driving around in the ambulance, you can see the changes. None of the book stores I used to stop at are still in business. The barbeque place in the north end where they sold cornbread muffins for twenty-five cents is gone. The Lion’s Den…
Thoughts on Blogging
Hello Everyone. I hope you are all having great summers. I am writing this entry today because I lack the energy to write well about a funny call I did recently. I have been working quite a lot — 84 hours in seven days this past week –and am finding it hard to keep up…
New Frontier
They said she was vomiting and nauseous and having seizures. I asked what the seizures looked like and the patient’s friend who had witnessed them, said the patient shook all over with her arms and legs out. It didn’t sound like a seizure. She said they had done all kinds of tests, but hadn’t been…
CPR
I did a code last week which ended the longest drought of my career when it comes to cardiac arrests. When I came back from the EMS Conference in Baltimore all excited to try the new CPR, I had no opportunities. Not to sound morbid, but when I walked into the basement bedroom and saw…
SAVED (TNT)
Okay. The new TNT paramedic show SAVED. So what do I think about it? First, here’s the link to My Hollywood Adventure, which details how the producers of the show had read my books in preparing the pilot for the show and how I was then asked to be a technical advisor/possible writer and how in…
National Registry Project Trip Report
My relief comes in two hours early so I can get to the airport — I am headed the Ohio to serve on a committee for the National Registry looking into paramedics competencies — whatever that means. I will soon find out. The flight is on time, but the plane is small and rattles when…
Competencies and Components
A couple months ago I recieved the following letter: Dear Mr. Canning, The National Registry of EMTs is forming a committee to help define the essential competencies of paramedic practice. This committee will consist of paramedics from around the country who will participate in a focus group lead by faculty members from The Ohio State…
Dread Life
Spent a week in Jamaica. It was my third time there, but the first time I stayed outside of an all-Inclusive resort. This time I really got to see the country and to “eat the fruit off the tree.” I grew grey-whiskered stubble on my face, listened to reggae music, swam in the ocean and…
Tincture of Chicken Soup
I have been a big advocate of pain relief for patients. All the studies show that patients are consistently undermedicated both prehospitally and in the ER. Pain relief is something we can do that makes a huge difference for the patient. We can take care of their pain. I try to be as aggressive as…
Problems Associated with the Determination of Carbon Dioxide by Infrared Absorbtion
I apologize again for the lack of a post for the last two weeks. I have been very busy and have had too much to write, and so haven’t written anything. The title above refers to a study I was trying to find this morning as I researched a question raised to me by a…
Safe
It’s raining. The Saab comes around the corner and sees a car pull out ahead of it. The driver turns to the right. Immediately the car begins to hydroplane. Ahead is a telephone pole. We are dispatched to a MVA at a familiar location – a known bad corner. It is ten minutes before crew…
Electricity
The call is for a man’s defibrillator going off. When we arrive, it has gone off four times already. I put him on the monitor. “No wonder,” I say. “It looks like v-tach” to me. Then all of a sudden, he cries out as his whole body convulses in pain. (The artifact was caused by…
Meetings
Worn Down
At a doctor’s office, there is a man in his 80’s with a BP of 70, dizzy, not feeling well for two days. I take his pressure — 68/34. He is pale and gray and does not look well. His capnography number is in the low to mid twenties, showing poor perfusion. I do a…
Transfers
When I started in EMS paramedics rarely did transfers. Out of twenty cars, maye six were medic. Sometimes only two. One of my first partners used to get very upset if we were even dispatched to an ETOH. We were to be kept back for the bad ones. Who you work with, particuarly when you…