Finally Working

[White Cloud]

I haven't been too active on this site, mostly just a lurker, but I've learned a few things while browsing the forums.

One thing I was worried about was all of the posts by new or current basics spazzing out over not being able to find a job.

I got my national and state cert in October. A family emergency called me out of town for a good three weeks and I finally got around to applying at a local company where I did my ride outs for school.

A few days ago, I finally got on board with them and I'm loving it so far. From what I was told, they do not usually hire on fresh basics, but I got my foot in the door by getting recommended by a supervisory medic who was an instructor aide at my school. (Yay!)

I'm on a sweet shift, 24 on, 48 off. Well, in theory that is what it is supposed to be. Being the rookie, I get the weekends, so it looks like 48s on weekends, and a 24 on Wednesday for awhile for a 72 hour work week. They have plenty of available hours, which is what I was looking for.

Standard low pay of course, but a good bit higher than minimum wage. All of the guys (and gals) have outstanding personalities and there is never a dull moment as of yet.

I'm looking forward into gaining more experience in the field before moving on to paramedic.

My first call was definitely my "cherry popper" as some of the medics called it. Dispatched for a "laceration to the head", turned out to be a 61 year old man who had fallen about 20 feet from the second story of his home while painting on scaffolding. Landed on the pavement of his driveway.

Compressed skull fracture in the back of his head, fractured radius and ulna on the right arm, fractured wrist on the left arm, shattered elbow on the left arm, every bone in his face was fractured so I got to see my first raccoon eyes. Distended abdomen, bruised chest, possible broken ribs of course. Oh yeah, and a laceration to the head.

This call got a medevac called in also, so that was an interesting experience. No IVs were possible to get established due to poor veins on the feet (and lack of access on the neck and arms) so by the time the flight medics got there, they performed an IO IV, which I had never seen before, and I never want to personally experience one after seeing it in action.

All in all, I am enjoying it so far. Other guys talk about how boring it gets or burn out and all of that, but for the time being, I am glad that I got the job that I dreamed of and that I am enjoying it.

Don't give up on the job that you want. Try to get your foot in the door and you just might get it.

 

[Aprz]

Cool story. A couple of things that just kind of hit me as I read this was that there were fractures all over the place: back of the head, the face, left elbow, the right lower arm, and then I thought it was ironic you mentioned "possible broken ribs of course" after all that, hehe. It sounds like some of those fractures were very obvious, but with most of them, I think you're probably getting too excited with what was probably just suspicion.

I think you mis-recognized Raccoon eyes. Raccoon eyes usually take about >48 hrs to appear. It would have to do with basilar skull fracture, not "broken bones in his face" facial trauma.

At least there really was a laceration to the head.

Hopefully you'll enjoy continuing to work with the company you're with. If you don't mind me asking, which company is it? Are you on a basic-basic or basic-paramedic rig? Any other interesting stories to share?

Thanks for the shout. I am hopeful of getting a job as an EMT at least within a year.

 

[White Cloud]

Cool story. A couple of things that just kind of hit me as I read this was that there were fractures all over the place: back of the head, the face, left elbow, the right lower arm, and then I thought it was ironic you mentioned "possible broken ribs of course" after all that, hehe. It sounds like some of those fractures were very obvious, but with most of them, I think you're probably getting too excited with what was probably just suspicion.

I think you mis-recognized Raccoon eyes. Raccoon eyes usually take about >48 hrs to appear. It would have to do with basilar skull fracture, not "broken bones in his face" facial trauma.

At least there really was a laceration to the head.

Hopefully you'll enjoy continuing to work with the company you're with. If you don't mind me asking, which company is it? Are you on a basic-basic or basic-paramedic rig? Any other interesting stories to share?

Thanks for the shout. I am hopeful of getting a job as an EMT at least within a year.

Well, I said "possible broken ribs" because it wasn't as obvious as the other injuries and the guy said that his ribs hurt when he breathed in. Not only did he hit the pavement, but the scaffolding fell on him after he hit. Everything else was obvious.

They were, indeed, raccoon eyes. Not secondary to the facial fractures, but to the compressed skull fracture of his occipital bone fracture. Trust me, it looked like someone put golf balls under his eyelids.

The experience itself was exciting and I'm sure I'm the typical green EMT newbie that thinks that everything is cool, but I'm making sure not to overdo things when explaining them. Right now I am enjoying the fact that I got this experience, as some of the EMTs and medics that have been here for a good while have never got the experience that I did on my first call.

As far as mentioning the company I work with, I'd rather keep that to myself. I'd kind of rather not give any more information out about what area this call happened in for privacy reasons. Maybe I'm just being overly protective of it, but that is just my point of view.

We only have one BLS unit. The rest are medic/basic units.