| 2/08/2006 |
EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE, I'LL BE WATCHING YOU
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So Jay is looking into taking a CPR class. I think it is a worthwhile venture. It is aslo on my 101 List. Which would be nice ot have another task checked off.
Two jobs ago the group home I worked for made sure anyone who worked with the kids had standar CPR training. Having just finished a stint on the local rescue squad I was already familiar with what to do. The half-day training would've been rather boring if I hadn't been allowed to test out of it. During the initial demonstration the teacher would treat the Resusci-Annie as his personal gimp. With no real emotions in his voice and devoid of personal attachment to the apendageless amputee he would fling her about saying, "Annie! Annie! Are you ok? Are you alright? Someone get some help!" Which was the class clown cue to stand up and act like he was going to actual... well you see where I'm going with that.
Now my job is less than vital when it comes to knowing CPR. While I still remember the basics of what to do and feel comfortable in helping someone... there is little chance that someone may need CPR. Even if they did... I'm in a hospital. I can't throw a punch without hitting a doctor.
I've known a couple people who either did or wanted to work as an EMT as part of rescue squads. The training that goes into such a job is no easy task. It makes my year and a half on a volunteer squad seem like a game.
I was thinking about this again after the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy. A rookie EMT (played by Christina Ricci) put her hand inside the chest wound of a man who was hit by a homemade bazooka shell. While I certainly did nothing like this... Thank God ...my first call was for a man who had a heart attack while in town visiting his family. When we showed up on scene, at Arobor Lodge (if you know the place), he was conscious but obviously having difficulty breathing. He was 'resting' on some stpes, but I wouldn't say the position his was sitting was by his own choosing. I think it might have been where he landed when he fell or tripped or just stopped moving. Whichever it might have been... He didn't look comfortable.
As we loaded him up in the squad my job was basiclly to play gopher. I did manage to get a chance to take his blood pressure and heart rate, which was cool but nerve wracking. The energy of what was going on... combined with obvious newness of my ability... combined with the unavoidable reality that someone who hurt in front of you... didn't make things easy at first.
While I feel inept at trying to describe what exactly goes through a person's mind or how other react in such a situation, I can see it played over and over in my mind with great detail. The smell on the ambulance (diesel mixed with antibacterial). The cool feel of the air. The look on my first patients face.
If you know where I grew up you know that you can get anywhere in town in ten minutes. By ambulance... Maybe five. There was a lot of work being done to this guy. Even more so once we reached the hospital. After we passed him off the adrenaline is still there, but the need for it has gone. We cleaned, restocked, and repacked the squad and drove back to the station.
I found out a coupel days later that he had passed away. He was elderly and had a heart condition. This was not his first issue with his heart. Which was supposed to make me feel like it was okay that he died.
I though about that guy for two weeks after the call. Not in a tragic way. Honestly not even in a I feel-for-his-family way. With whatever good and bad comes of such a situation.... It was (and still is) a moment in time that I won't forget.
There were many more calls after that in my short time as part of the volunteer squad. Some were way more intense. Many were mundane and routine. I think it goes without saying that it's times like that where I think about what I am doing with my life. Am I doing what I can to help people? Is there something more I can do?
Well.. I hadn't intended to get sappy. So I'm just going to stop there. |
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I posted this @ 2/08/2006 09:09:00 AM.............Need a link?..........
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