Our sorta frequent flyer

I

Iowaemtb

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The area we take care of includes three truckstops. We pretty much get everything at the truckstops, dead bodies, diabetics, beat up driver from a fight, heart attacks. Yesterday we were called to a 58 year old with chest pains. He is waiting for us at the door, I get out and he gets right in. We have hauled him twice before, same complaint. He has had surgery, numerous surgeries, as proof by the numerous incisions. He never bathes and still has the sticky from all the electrodes from various three and twelve leads from past Dr. or ambulance visits. He claims he is a truck driver from an extreme southern state, although we never see him drive, we see him hitchhiking. You got my point here, well yesterday was one of you will never know it does happen, he was truly suffering chest pains and having some sort of heart problems as shown on the strip we ran.

So I guess the point I am making, we may haul these urban outdoorsman numerous times for whatever reason, but there is a time when the chief complaint is real and we have to remember that not always are they wanting a free ride to a warm bed and meal.
 
Those "urban outdoorsman" we frequently pick up often happen to be far more ill than the a good majority of patients who call for an ambulance.

Many of them have major liver problems, diabetes, alcohol/drug dependancy and often have hep C/HIV. It may not be glamorous but our duty is not to care about the kind of person the patient is it is to care about how we can make it better.

Do you have a picture of the strip? Always nice to post it.
 
I was unable to get my hands on the strip. Yes it would have been nice.
 
Iowaemtb said:
I was unable to get my hands on the strip. Yes it would have been nice.
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Did the ALS crew mention to you what their presumptive diagnosis was? I would imagine some form of infarction.
 
Your frequent flyers are also quite often mentally ill.
 
Who cares if they want a ride and a hot meal. Like others said, they usually are really sick.
 
When I can get in contact with the medic who was there I will ask what the strip showed. It may be in the next couple days before I can get in contact with him.

I know that many of these homeless (urban outdoorsman) have many medical problems and mental illness. I do know some EMS personnell who think it below them to haul these folks and tend to downplay the fact they can have real medical problems. Those guys tend to piss me off.
 
I nearly blew off a frequent liar to go to lunch, and instead he died under my hands (masssive MI with EMD, or whatever it's called now). We're not paid to take a pass.
 
Anjel1030 said:
Who cares if they want a ride and a hot meal. Like others said, they usually are really sick.
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You obviously haven't met some of ours.

I 100% agree but my opinion changes as I'm verbally berated all the way to the hospital...
 
NVRob said:
You obviously haven't met some of ours.

I 100% agree but my opinion changes as I'm verbally berated all the way to the hospital...
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No I agree with that. The ones who drink until they pass out every day wear on me. But I pick them up every shift and take them in.

They are never mean though.
 
Some of them are not pleasant people. Some of them are not people we like, they may not share our morals, etc. But they're all people.

Personally, were I ever to find myself drunk, homeless, and with everyone I'd ever loved disconnected permanently from me, I'd be bitter too. But I'd hope a few people who are being paid anyway would take me to the air conditioning/heat, at the very least. In exchange, I won't take off my shoes.
 
mycrofft said:
I nearly blew off a frequent liar to go to lunch, and instead he died under my hands (masssive MI with EMD, or whatever it's called now). We're not paid to take a pass.
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Wow! Sounds like it was just his time, but you at least avoided a law suit.
Btw-
Emd (electro mechanical dysfunction) = pea (pulseless electrical activity)
 
Rocketmedic40 said:
Some of them are not pleasant people. Some of them are not people we like, they may not share our morals, etc. But they're all people.

Personally, were I ever to find myself drunk, homeless, and with everyone I'd ever loved disconnected permanently from me, I'd be bitter too. But I'd hope a few people who are being paid anyway would take me to the air conditioning/heat, at the very least. In exchange, I won't take off my shoes.
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This.

They are people too. I don't care how they got where they are. I'm still gonna be respectful and give proper care.

Even if I'm berated verbally. They probably have a mental illness and can't help it.
 
shfd739 said:
This.

They are people too. I don't care how they got where they are. I'm still gonna be respectful and give proper care.

Even if I'm berated verbally. They probably have a mental illness and can't help it.
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I will respectfully disagree with the last part of this post.

While often it's true, plenty of the time they are just being a drunken douche.

I treat these people and acknowledge their complaints the same way as any other patient, unlike some medics, but I'm not gonna blow sunshine up someone's *** who doesn't deserve it.

Plenty of these guys put themselves in the situation they are in with their own poor choices, not all of it is being dealt a :censored::censored::censored::censored:ty hand...
 
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NVRob said:
I will respectfully disagree with the last part of this post.

While often it's true, plenty of the time they are just being a drunken douche.

I treat these people and acknowledge their complaints the same way as any other patient, unlike some medics, but I'm not gonna blow sunshine up someone's *** who doesn't deserve it.

Plenty of these guys put themselves in the situation they are in with their own poor choices, not all of it is being dealt a :censored::censored::censored::censored:ty hand...
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If they wanna be a drunken douche so what? Doesnt bother me.
 
MagicTyler said:
Wow! Sounds like it was just his time, but you at least avoided a law suit.
Btw-
Emd (electro mechanical dysfunction) = pea (pulseless electrical activity)
Click to expand...

A suit didn't and doesn't bother me as much as that poor guy dying in a cell full of other inmates and no one able to even try to help him properly.

A great part of what prehospital EMS does is provide us with the feeling we have someone who will rescue us when we go off the deep end; almost no one really wants to die alone, either.
 
shfd739 said:
If they wanna be a drunken douche so what? Doesnt bother me.
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Roger that. I used to tell myself at three o'clock, I go home, you stay here (or are stuck living with yourself), I win.
 
shfd739 said:
If they wanna be a drunken douche so what? Doesnt bother me.
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I'll agree to disagree.

I've been told by multiple people that I'm one of the few medics that actually treats these guys and gals appropriately for their complaints and I'm not an *** to them either.

With that said doesn't mean that I have to like doing it.
 
The patient was A-fib, that is all I know. Since it's a small community hospital they were sending him to a cardiac center about 50 miles away.
 
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