Skip to main content

New Stuff

We all love new stuff right?  There is always that excitement when we unwrap or open that new package that has just arrived.  And then the anxiety set in when we actually try to use or operate that device or item.  The stress over doing something wrong, pushing the wrong button, breaking a piece during assembly or adjustments.  Tonight is no different.  We received some updated new equipment bringing us very high tech.  I have been excited about it early on, as it got busier today I struggled.  I had decided earlier in the shift I was going to be open to it, although it would hurt my normal routine.  I will adjust.  I didn't mind it and spent several hours trying to determine if I was handling it properly.

I at one point decided that I wanted to go without it for a while slowly breaking myself in.  And then I realized how much easier after I had gotten used to it, that it actually was with little struggle.  I ended up a short time later switching back over to it and using.    I have found it beneficial although adding it in, and switching out other things have made it a minor change.  I feel somewhat new, and like a rookie.  But I still have that excitement for something new.

I was sitting here feet kicked up, messaging with a friend, when all of the sudden it started.  The emergency line rang, and it was a hang up.  Wonderful!  I wait for the auto re-bid on the call to determine if it will plot the location.  Negative nothing.  I recall the number that it came in from, and it rings once and then to voicemail.  As I am getting the audio recording, the line is ringing again, I disconnect and answer the 2nd line.  It's the same number as the hang up call.  It a female reporting a house fire.  She gets upset with me as I question if everyone is out, and confirm her address and name.  I ask her how the fire started, and she tells me.  By this time we are maybe 45 seconds into the call and she is really upset that their house is on fire, and they need someone there now.  I dispatch the fire department and the officers go heading that way.  They arrive on scene and report back that the house is fully involved.  The fire department is quick to shut off the power and gas and get to work.

As this incident is starting to get going, I receive a call from a lady whose mother has fallen and she has cut her face and is bleeding, she is otherwise fine, the ambulance responds and assists and clears without transporting.

Then I get a call from a nursing facility, they have a patient with lower oxygen saturation than normal.  They have given breathing treatments and have the patient on oxygen.   I get the ambulance dispatched and responding, they are nearly there and then facility calls back and says never mind.  The family is not wanting the patient removed from the facility, apparently there is supposed to be some paperwork saying they are on comfort measures but the nurse says he is unable to locate it.  The ambulance is arriving in the parking lot and says they will stop in to make sure everything is ok.   They clear a short time later.

And then there is the other call, the lady from the fall earlier was assisted to bed by the crew, well she got up and tried to get back to the bathroom where she had fallen earlier.  And guess what she has fallen again!  So I dispatch another crew to respond to do the same thing and help her up and return to service.

Earlier in the shift I had the report of a teen girl at a gas station around midnight, the caller reports she just fell down and was bleeding from the mouth.  The caller also reported she was currently unconscious but trying to move around.  I get an ambulance and an officer responding as well as fire department.  The officer arrives on scene and report that she was on a hover board type device and wiped out.  The ambulance transports this patient to the hospital.

Popular posts from this blog

Year gone

Another year approaching the threshold entering new explorations, new challenges, the same game.  Coworkers have came and went a few more than normal this past year and likely more  any day now.  I am starting to think more like a go with the flow person and less with a complainer attitude. I won't say this year was easy, there were many 12 hour shifts and shift coverages due to long term illness and resignations.  Nearing 10 years in the seat behind the headset and at times I feel unwanted, unrespected.  Then a day comes up where my officers thank me or have a discussion with me about nothing.  But it shows they are people to who maybe forget dispatchers need asked if they are ok too. 

Fall

It seems as the temperatures start to change, so do attitudes among co-workers.  Its almost like the cooler weather triggers animosity.  The simplest of things can trigger someone.  Lately things have been kind of that way anyways.  We were in the process of training one new dispatcher, and he was not quite up to par, and it seemed like everything resulted in a review of how he was handling things, from trying to field calls himself, to just down right ignoring important details from callers.  Then at at some point he decided to quit, as we were just barely ready to release the trainee who was hired before him.   So now we are short staffed again, as such as been the norm for about the last 2 years off and on.  I don't think administration has anything to do with it. Eh, well I actually do.   The past year we have seen a major shakeup.  We saw not only a change of leadership in the agency, we also experienced changes of leadership o...

The Start of something?

I often have wondered if I could ever have the ability to write, or compose something. I can run on once I get to typing and it just comes easy since typing class in high school. I don't know how fast I type anymore but I could do up to 30-40 words a minute back then or faster. I am starting this blog to kinda show my life and log things that happen. I won't use any names or locations as that wouldn't be allowed by state/federal laws. I will do my best to keep the details together but sometimes they might sound totally crazy but it does happen. I work in EMS things are always crazy. Nothing goes totally as planned, nothing happens when you want it to, nothing is worth really going on about. I have been in EMS several years now and work in a mostly rural area with under 25,000 citizens. I never intended to stay in EMS let alone have a job in EMS. It was accidental. I hope you enjoy my life and stories and maybe get a laugh or two a week. Come again and I hope yo...