So there I was right, working another 24 hour rescue shift. As long as the hours may sound, these shifts can actually be pretty interesting. Sometimes. However, it is very much hit or miss. The first 6 hours or so of the shift seemed to be heading in that direction. Then people started calling 911. So much for having an easy shift. But hey, you gotta earn your money some how.
Now I have to admit I hate it when we get a call for a "fall". I don't know why I hate it. I just do. The funny thing is that some of my better calls have been initially dispatched as "falls". I guess I always associate it with the LOL in otherwise NAD that breaks her hip or pain in the ass drunk people that interrupt an otherwise pleasant Friday or Saturday night at the station.
So we get our call for a, you guessed it! A fall. So my partner and I do the lights and sirens thing to the call. No new information pops up over our super high tech notification devices we in the business refer to as pagers. These little throw backs to the the 90s are prime examples of why some people think EMS is stuck in the past while other say simplicity is a beautiful thing.
Anyway, in a few short minutes we arrive on scene at just about the same time as the local FD. Well all get out of our vehicles with the appropriate equipment and set off to where we thing the pt is. Fire had the right idea and went around to the back. Apparently we missed the memo and decided to enter the house. As I open the door, we are "greeted" by a large, scary looking black dog. SLAM goes the door! Well they are not in there or the scene is not safe. Better double back and reassess the situation. Luckily as we are doubling back we take the road less traveled and discover our pt with the FD on the slope of a small hill.
At first glance it looked as those this patron on of the 911 system had way too much ETOH on board. There was the slurring of speech, the uncooperative nature, and just a general feeling of "WTF" in the air. No matter what the injury pattern or disease process, this pt is getting an IV or two, some O2, and will be wired for sound thanks to Zoll medical. Oh and lets not forget the whole c-spine and assessment deal too.
At this point I "introduce" myself to this pt and discover very quickly that not only do they not want to go to the hospital, but according to what the pt said, it was night time and that our current location was actually a town located across the state. Yup, you're going to the hospital. Sorry but it kind of has to happen.
Now that we have a bit of a better look at this pt, we notice a few things. One, he is unhappy. Two, he is not the most cooperative. Three, he can't move his right side. And to top it all of at four, his eyes are constricted and fixed to the right. However, still alert and oriented times 3. Oh and all of his other vitals check out reasonably well. This pt also didn't know he wasn't moving his left arm. I kind of didn't want to believe that he couldn't move his left arm, but reality slapped me in the face with her right hand, SMACK! Now, I'm no doctor, but sounds to me like this guy has a lot of neuro badness going on at the moment. Not much we can do about this in the field except a diesel bolus. For those of you not familiar with EMS slang, that means going lights and sirens to the closest appropriate hospital.
So c-collar, IVs, monitor, oxygen, v/s, and we are enroute. Lights and sirens. Meanwhile, our pt still thinks they the trip to the ER is totally unnecessary. Really? Ugh! Lucky for me I get to drive this on this call. From what my partner tells me, nothing too much had changed enroute.
Upon our arrival to the ER, we give report to the RN and transfer care over to the clinical staff. No deterioration in the pt's condition while with us and is otherwise stable. However, this pt does require swift intervention. Lucky for all parties involved, there was a known onset time and that there is a good chance for a full recovery.
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