Ignored!!

Busy responding days don't usually happen till Friday or Saturday when a large number of the local people decide to venture out and go shopping! There is always a exception to every rule and today was the exception with 4 calls in 4 and half hours!

All Cat A calls and all within 2 miles of my house.

The first was a poorly bean who needed to be in hospital without delay and the third and forth were falls with severe cuts and brusies. It was the second call of the day which developed into me being ignored!!

Control phone and asked me to attend a female disabled patient who had collapsed in the local car park.
It took me about 4 mins to reach the scene and i was met by members of the public gathered around a slumped lady of about 70.
I took my kit from the car and made my way to my patient.
"I'm a community responder from the ambulance service, a ambulance is on its way and i'm here to help until the ambulance arrives"
She moans and is incoherant for a short while, patience and a few more questions quickly establish a list of complaints all serious in their own right but added together could be very toxic!!
She suffers from heart problems, is diabetic and is suffering from D & V to name the major ones!!
It appears that her D & V are to blame as she has difficulty keeping her fluid levels up.

This poor lady, how on earth did she manage to drive her car, park it and get out of it!!!!!!
She collapsed about 70 feet from it on her way to the shopping precinct.

Her o2 and heart rate are sensible for her and her breathing is in normal range so I don't at this point administer o2. I try to dig into what brought about the collapse, what happened immediately before and after this episode.
The solo responder arrives and i hand over and work with him whilst he does the obs and starts the paperwork.
The far off wailing of sirens hit my eardrum and before long the crew have arrived.
The solo is handing over the patients details and the crew disembark and start talking to my patient.
At this moment in time they haven't acknowledge me or my existance! Not even eye contact or a smile!!
Ok, its not a problem as my little lady needs their attention and rightly so gets it!!
They finish up and start moving things to get her into their truck, this is 10 mins or so after their arrival and they have spoken to a couple of bystanders BUT........................................
They completely ignore my "would you like some help" or "can i get that for you" not a no thanks or even a grunt..............NOTHING.....

This really makes me angry ......... my apologies for being a little cross at the moment,

I must point out that the solo responder was very polite and thanked me more than once. He offered me replacement masks and an O2 cylinder, i refused because, as i mentioned earlier, i didn't need anything anyway.

Now i was brought up to be polite and if possible, always acknowledge the people around me, this crew were rude and completely out of order in their behaviour. They didn't even offer me replacement kit for my responder bag they left the scene without so much as a bye!!!

OK so what can i do about it!!
I can report them!
But what will that achieve????????
it won't achieve anything!!!!!
it will simply cause a divided split between my responder group and the crew involved. Something i have worked hard to achieve for the last 2 years.

What worries me is that they have "this attitude" and that won't change unless someone stands up and says............................. "excuse me" please be more thoughtful and at least acknowledge us with a smile next time!

So I will have to think on the best way of dealing with this!

Your comments and thoughts would be really appreciated as always.

XX

Where do you want me?

They are changing the way we are deployed! We used to have text messages and immediately a text came you you would call control on a dedicated number and you would be told if you were required to attend the job. Now this is changing!!
"Why".........
well in remote parts of this county text messages can take 6 or 8 hours to go around the satelite and arrive at their destination................
Now this has had a undesired effect on me, at 2.30am.....
grabbing the nearest pile of clothes, dropping the said phone, stubbing my toe, hitting my head on the door frame all as i stumble through the bedroom and out on to the landing without putting a light on!
Well by now the whole neighbourhood has heard my pain, my children are all stirring, the dog thinks he is going for his morning walk and his huge tail is drumming on every piece of furniture from landing to front door!!!
With the phone to my ear with control saying..
"No hun, sorry we dont have any calls in your area"
I can honestly say the phone was nearly, so very nearly, sent on free flying lessons.............
On returning to bed my partner sighed and turned over to resume snoring!!!!!
Now I am sure i am not the only one who finds a partners snoring sooooooooooooo annoying when coming back to bed after a disturbance in the night.

I digress and my apologies..............

We had a little meeting and its been decided that we will submit a rota via email to control giving our availability. Now thats good because, as soon as the 999 call is received a operator can be on the phone to the CFR on duty, according to the rota, and we can be deployed within seconds.......... a text message will follow confirming details. Now this sounds great, but what happens when things go wrong..........................yep it happened........to me.............yesterday........

The phone rings...............
I answer..."Morning control Zulu XX here"
"Morning,Can you go to a chest pains please"
So i reply..."Yes certainly control", "Can you give me more details please" (.....Like the address!!!!!!!!!!)
There is no answer..........................
"ERRR CONTROL Can i have the address please"
"WHERE DO YOU WANT ME?"
No answer, they have hung up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I am not a professor or a specialist and as yet i do not have any qualification in telepathy.............. so this piece of missing information is rather vital!
I tried to call back but they are obviously busy.
By the time i get in my car and make out towards the main road I receive the text with full details on it so little time was wasted.

Now another thought occurred to me................... Ok, I say my availability is, for example, 18.00 to 23.00 but in that time, i may need to drop off and pick up my kids at various clubs and activities, shop, eat supper or even use the toilet, so maybe the rota may have to be tweaked!!

XXX

I am Back!

Firstly my apologies for being away from the scene for so long!

I have changed my job and now work for one of the emergency services........................ Bet you know which one!!

6 weeks clinical training, 3 weeks driving and 1 week blue light driving and its all happened really fast! Not to mention the portfolio and other underpining knowledge stuff its all in a haze!!

Now i haven't attended as many CFR jobs as i have wanted to but its a nightmare fitting everything in............ enough excuses ..........

Had a call yesterday which took me to my boundary ............... thats the maximum distance from my house i can travel in 8 mins but i offered my services and control were happy for me to go.......

When i arrived i collected my bag and defib and made for the address........ I was met by the ladys husband who told me to go up the stairs,
he said
"I have just man handled her upstairs to bed" !!!
" she is very difficult to move you know"
"she is in the first bedroom"!
"I took her to bed after phoning for a ambulance".................
Now i have a question ??????
Why, oh Why.......
Do people struggle with bendy, twisty stairs haul themselves, or get their partners to, get them into bed when they feel unwell enough for an ambulance!!
WHY!!!!
This is something which has me beat from day one of working with poorly people.
Now I know this person was a poorly bean and needed to go to hospital, although in my role a a CFR I would not communicate this to the patient, I administered Oxygen and I could hear the far off wails of a siren and i gathered some history from the husband.
It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived and i was able to hand over my patient to the attendant.
The other half of the crew was despatch for the carry chair because the patient was off legs!
I moved the flowers and paperwork from the stairs to help the crew when they brought her safetly down.

She was packed off to hospital and I wish her a speedy recovery.

I know in the victorian era, if you were ill you went to bed!! But this is 2008 and if someone is ill, ill enough to call an emergency ambulance, please please do not take them to bed, make them comfortable where they are................. unless they are already in bed of course!........

XXXX