DT4EMS
Kip Teitsort, Founder
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Fixin’ the Fear
It’s what the good ones do…..
Kip Teitsort
From the time I was in kindergarten I knew I wanted to be a policeman. I can recall during that time a police officer visited our school and I knew then what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I would ride my bicycle down the block I would jump it off a curb while humming the theme to C.H.iP.S. I would watch every cop show like Adam 12 and dream of taking the bad guy to jail. Then of course I wanted to be just like the cops on Miami Vice………
Everything changed one South Florida, sunny, summer day. I was with my Dad while he was on an air-conditioning service call. I was out in the van cooling a fan motor using the air conditioner of the van. I was sent out by my dad to cool it off so he could handle it to re-install it.
I was doing what any 14 year old kid would do in the driveway with a running vehicle…….. I would put it in reverse and move a few feet then go forward. All of a sudden, the front door of the residence opened and I knew I was busted. My dad appeared to peek out, but he didn’t come out and the door closed.
A few moments later I saw my dad stumble out of the door. He was clutching his right arm against his chest and he fell to his knees. I dropped the fan motor and ran to see what was going on. He told me he had been “shocked”. I was scared to death…… I had no idea of the address of where we were. My dad was losing consciousness and was confused. He was unable to tell me the address.
911 was new in West Palm Beach at the time. I dialed 911 and told them the best I could. I distinctly recall how relieved I felt when the operator told me they had help on the way. When the ALS unit arrived they began to care for my dad.
One of the most vivid memories I have of that day was of a paramedic putting his hand on my shoulder and telling me to call my mother. He told me to tell her they were taking my dad to St. Mary’s. Then he told me he was going to “take care” of my dad. I was really scared and those few words from that medic really made me feel as though he was really going to fix things. It wasn’t just the spoken words, it was the way he said it. For me personally, he fixed some fears that day.
It was after this incident I wanted to become a Paramedic to pay back the powers that be so to speak. I later became an EMT and worked for the very service that cared for my father so many years prior. In 1995 I finally became a police officer, but I never stopped being a paramedic.
Flash forward to December of 2010. I wake up on a Saturday morning at 0500 with abdominal pain. My wife was out of town and I had the boys at home. I went status quo all day with the cramping in my stomach. That night as I went to bed I got nervous thinking “What if it is my appendix and it ruptures in the middle of the night…..man I don’t want my boys to find me dead in the bed.” So I did what most men do…….. I lay in bed until I fell asleep.
Now with me having this abdominal pain I couldn’t help going back to 1994 when I was working in a rural ER one day when a 16 year old boy came in complaining of abdominal pain. My assessments of him lead me to believe he was having an appendicitis. Sure enough the MD and the tests confirmed it. The ER was relatively slow that night and I had spent a little time with him and his family. I would talk to him about him playing football at high school and such. When it came time for him to be taken to surgery, he and his family asked if I would go in with him. I was a bit taken back by the request but I did go. The next few minutes kinda gave me a phobia of the word “appendectomy”.
During the surgery, just as the surgeon made the incision, the kid’s appendix burst. That wouldn’t have been so bad but the some of the contents of the appendix, were under so much pressure, flew up and landed on the surgeons mask. Now I got to observe all of the contents of this kid’s abdominal cavity picked up, moved and cleansed prior to be closed back up. So that is my fond memory of what would happen if I ever had to have an appendectomy.
The next morning (Sunday) I woke up still in pain. I knew my wife was going to be coming home. I was a little worried because I was scheduled to work a parade detail for the PD. I knew better than to call in sick on any special detail. I went on into work and mentioned to a couple of other officers that my stomach was hurting and I would go to the ER when the detail was done. I wanted to let them know in case I dropped on the side of the road………they could at least let EMS know I had abdominal pain before I went unconscious.
So someone mentioned my situation to our patrol captain. When the captain asked me if I was going to the hospital after the detail and I confirmed it, he told me to “go on”, that they would cover my intersection.
I left the sally port at 4:00 PM. The ER was quiet and I was checked in by 4:19. M y wife had made it home and I let her know I was in the ER. She wanted to come down right away but I told her to wait until some tests were done. I knew it would be some time before blood work, UA and CT were finished.
I kept hoping everything was going to be negative for appendicitis, although the pain was now pretty much hanging out in the area of my right lower abdomen. I was starting to get a little nervous. The ER staff at Skaggs hospital could not have been more accommodating. They were prompt, polite and most of all they tried to have a calm demeanor.
When it came time for my CT Scan, the person preparing me for it asked if I was allergic to Iodine. I told her no. I had no medical allergies to my knowledge. We get into the CT Scan room and she injects the dye. She warned me I would feel a warming sensation, “but that is normal” she said. I could feel my heat pound. I began to work on breath control thinking it was just nervousness. As she began to remove me from the machine we talked for a moment and I noticed her expression change. She began to collect my IV bag to help me transfer beds, while trying to dial the phone. I could feel my face swelling. My eyes began to shut. My skin began to itch all over. Well, now I am scared, real scared.
All I thought was “crap…… I am going to have an anaphylactic reaction and friggin’ die alone in the ER.”
I remember being whisked down the hall back to my room where I was met almost immediately by my nurse, who again showed composure and calm. She explained that she was giving me medications (three of them) to combat the allergic reaction. Here it was again, another health care provider, just like that medic when my dad was electrocuted fixing my fear with body language and verbal skills.
A short time later the ER doc let me know he had contacted the surgeon that in fact it was my appendix, and the surgeon would be in to speak to me. “Oh, great” I thought to myself. A short time passed and the surgeon did come in. He did a physical exam and began to explain the surgical process. He told me he would call the team and they would be ready in about 20 minutes.
Of course now I am nervous. All of the tough guy stuff has left me. No gun, knife or empty hand skills could make me feel empowered at that point. I felt scared and pretty helpless. I know, I know…… you have seen hundreds of calls that turn out OK and all that jazz…….. but this was how I felt, at that moment in time.
When the anesthesiologist came in and told me they would put me under and intubate me I was OK with that. (Mainly because I asked him to put me out quick) He was kind and calm and let me know he would take care of me. Again, another seemingly caring person, who attempted to fix my fear.
They took me to surgery and sure enough, I had just enough time to ask one of the guys in the room if he was the CRNA. He said “Yes” and that’s all I remember. Well………. That’s all I can write about. My wife told me some stories about what I was doing and saying in the recovery room that are funny but not appropriate for print. It seems I loved everyone and didn’t care that I had no clothing under the blanket. My time spent in the hospital was better than I could have expected post surgery. My nurses, aides and techs that cared for me did a great job at our little local hospital.
In my 20 years of EMS and now that I am starting my 16 year in law enforcement; I just started to realize how much time I have spent on “the other side of fear” and the “other side of the stretcher”. I never truly understood how much of an impact we can have if we just take the time to try and fix a patient’s fear.
I can only hope that there were times when I fixed the fear of either a patient or a family member of a patient during my EMS career. I hope that I made the victim of a crime feel as though I was going to take care of them in their time of need.
Since I can’t be sure I tried to behave this on every call in the past, it is my goal to try and fix fears from now on. Just like when I was that teenager, when my dad was electrocuted, and the medic took the time to fix my fear, I want to do that for others. I never really knew what it was like to be on the stretcher so to speak.
A tough guy can be reduced to that of a fear-filled child but may not show it because it is not manly. Well, I can tell you, I was truly scared and it meant the world to me for people to take that extra moment to fix my fear the best way they could.
When was the last time you tried to fix a patients fear?
It’s what the good ones do…..
Kip Teitsort
From the time I was in kindergarten I knew I wanted to be a policeman. I can recall during that time a police officer visited our school and I knew then what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I would ride my bicycle down the block I would jump it off a curb while humming the theme to C.H.iP.S. I would watch every cop show like Adam 12 and dream of taking the bad guy to jail. Then of course I wanted to be just like the cops on Miami Vice………
Everything changed one South Florida, sunny, summer day. I was with my Dad while he was on an air-conditioning service call. I was out in the van cooling a fan motor using the air conditioner of the van. I was sent out by my dad to cool it off so he could handle it to re-install it.
I was doing what any 14 year old kid would do in the driveway with a running vehicle…….. I would put it in reverse and move a few feet then go forward. All of a sudden, the front door of the residence opened and I knew I was busted. My dad appeared to peek out, but he didn’t come out and the door closed.
A few moments later I saw my dad stumble out of the door. He was clutching his right arm against his chest and he fell to his knees. I dropped the fan motor and ran to see what was going on. He told me he had been “shocked”. I was scared to death…… I had no idea of the address of where we were. My dad was losing consciousness and was confused. He was unable to tell me the address.
911 was new in West Palm Beach at the time. I dialed 911 and told them the best I could. I distinctly recall how relieved I felt when the operator told me they had help on the way. When the ALS unit arrived they began to care for my dad.
One of the most vivid memories I have of that day was of a paramedic putting his hand on my shoulder and telling me to call my mother. He told me to tell her they were taking my dad to St. Mary’s. Then he told me he was going to “take care” of my dad. I was really scared and those few words from that medic really made me feel as though he was really going to fix things. It wasn’t just the spoken words, it was the way he said it. For me personally, he fixed some fears that day.
It was after this incident I wanted to become a Paramedic to pay back the powers that be so to speak. I later became an EMT and worked for the very service that cared for my father so many years prior. In 1995 I finally became a police officer, but I never stopped being a paramedic.
Flash forward to December of 2010. I wake up on a Saturday morning at 0500 with abdominal pain. My wife was out of town and I had the boys at home. I went status quo all day with the cramping in my stomach. That night as I went to bed I got nervous thinking “What if it is my appendix and it ruptures in the middle of the night…..man I don’t want my boys to find me dead in the bed.” So I did what most men do…….. I lay in bed until I fell asleep.
Now with me having this abdominal pain I couldn’t help going back to 1994 when I was working in a rural ER one day when a 16 year old boy came in complaining of abdominal pain. My assessments of him lead me to believe he was having an appendicitis. Sure enough the MD and the tests confirmed it. The ER was relatively slow that night and I had spent a little time with him and his family. I would talk to him about him playing football at high school and such. When it came time for him to be taken to surgery, he and his family asked if I would go in with him. I was a bit taken back by the request but I did go. The next few minutes kinda gave me a phobia of the word “appendectomy”.
During the surgery, just as the surgeon made the incision, the kid’s appendix burst. That wouldn’t have been so bad but the some of the contents of the appendix, were under so much pressure, flew up and landed on the surgeons mask. Now I got to observe all of the contents of this kid’s abdominal cavity picked up, moved and cleansed prior to be closed back up. So that is my fond memory of what would happen if I ever had to have an appendectomy.
The next morning (Sunday) I woke up still in pain. I knew my wife was going to be coming home. I was a little worried because I was scheduled to work a parade detail for the PD. I knew better than to call in sick on any special detail. I went on into work and mentioned to a couple of other officers that my stomach was hurting and I would go to the ER when the detail was done. I wanted to let them know in case I dropped on the side of the road………they could at least let EMS know I had abdominal pain before I went unconscious.
So someone mentioned my situation to our patrol captain. When the captain asked me if I was going to the hospital after the detail and I confirmed it, he told me to “go on”, that they would cover my intersection.
I left the sally port at 4:00 PM. The ER was quiet and I was checked in by 4:19. M y wife had made it home and I let her know I was in the ER. She wanted to come down right away but I told her to wait until some tests were done. I knew it would be some time before blood work, UA and CT were finished.
I kept hoping everything was going to be negative for appendicitis, although the pain was now pretty much hanging out in the area of my right lower abdomen. I was starting to get a little nervous. The ER staff at Skaggs hospital could not have been more accommodating. They were prompt, polite and most of all they tried to have a calm demeanor.
When it came time for my CT Scan, the person preparing me for it asked if I was allergic to Iodine. I told her no. I had no medical allergies to my knowledge. We get into the CT Scan room and she injects the dye. She warned me I would feel a warming sensation, “but that is normal” she said. I could feel my heat pound. I began to work on breath control thinking it was just nervousness. As she began to remove me from the machine we talked for a moment and I noticed her expression change. She began to collect my IV bag to help me transfer beds, while trying to dial the phone. I could feel my face swelling. My eyes began to shut. My skin began to itch all over. Well, now I am scared, real scared.
All I thought was “crap…… I am going to have an anaphylactic reaction and friggin’ die alone in the ER.”
I remember being whisked down the hall back to my room where I was met almost immediately by my nurse, who again showed composure and calm. She explained that she was giving me medications (three of them) to combat the allergic reaction. Here it was again, another health care provider, just like that medic when my dad was electrocuted fixing my fear with body language and verbal skills.
A short time later the ER doc let me know he had contacted the surgeon that in fact it was my appendix, and the surgeon would be in to speak to me. “Oh, great” I thought to myself. A short time passed and the surgeon did come in. He did a physical exam and began to explain the surgical process. He told me he would call the team and they would be ready in about 20 minutes.
Of course now I am nervous. All of the tough guy stuff has left me. No gun, knife or empty hand skills could make me feel empowered at that point. I felt scared and pretty helpless. I know, I know…… you have seen hundreds of calls that turn out OK and all that jazz…….. but this was how I felt, at that moment in time.
When the anesthesiologist came in and told me they would put me under and intubate me I was OK with that. (Mainly because I asked him to put me out quick) He was kind and calm and let me know he would take care of me. Again, another seemingly caring person, who attempted to fix my fear.
They took me to surgery and sure enough, I had just enough time to ask one of the guys in the room if he was the CRNA. He said “Yes” and that’s all I remember. Well………. That’s all I can write about. My wife told me some stories about what I was doing and saying in the recovery room that are funny but not appropriate for print. It seems I loved everyone and didn’t care that I had no clothing under the blanket. My time spent in the hospital was better than I could have expected post surgery. My nurses, aides and techs that cared for me did a great job at our little local hospital.
In my 20 years of EMS and now that I am starting my 16 year in law enforcement; I just started to realize how much time I have spent on “the other side of fear” and the “other side of the stretcher”. I never truly understood how much of an impact we can have if we just take the time to try and fix a patient’s fear.
I can only hope that there were times when I fixed the fear of either a patient or a family member of a patient during my EMS career. I hope that I made the victim of a crime feel as though I was going to take care of them in their time of need.
Since I can’t be sure I tried to behave this on every call in the past, it is my goal to try and fix fears from now on. Just like when I was that teenager, when my dad was electrocuted, and the medic took the time to fix my fear, I want to do that for others. I never really knew what it was like to be on the stretcher so to speak.
A tough guy can be reduced to that of a fear-filled child but may not show it because it is not manly. Well, I can tell you, I was truly scared and it meant the world to me for people to take that extra moment to fix my fear the best way they could.
When was the last time you tried to fix a patients fear?
