The nice things a patient will do.

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jefftherealmccoy

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We all have stories and love to hear stories about the ridiculous things our patients do and say. Today I came into work and was greeted by a giant basket of goodies, a gallon of ice cream, and a 2 liter of rootbeer from the family of a patient we responded to last week.

The guy had low BP following a total knee replacement and his family stuck him in the basement for some unknown reason. He weighed about 350 and we had to pull him up a flight of about 30 stairs.

So let's break off from the normal venting about how terrible our patients can be. What's the nicest thing a patient or their family have done for you, either after or during a call?
 
Had a patient whose family showed up with a full turkey dinner with all the fixing's.
 
One of the best I had was a witnessed arrest, pulse-less and apneic, and a lovely shade of purple on our arrival, V-Fib on the monitor, etc, etc.
2 weeks later her and her husband are bringing a load of cupcakes to the station.
Calls like that, no matter how rare they are, is why I love this job.
 
A lady tried to fix me up with her daughter.
 
Besides a thank you in the paper or a card to the garage , most of what I get is my hand being held and being told thank you for being so caring etc.
 
We recieve food a lot, as well as cards, candy, letters, cookies and posters.
We're a township FD.
 
Had a ton of people try and give us tips when I used to work IFT and did hospital discharges. Lots of very Stubborn old Hispanic men who didn't wanna feel helpless, have to walk away from them or they try and stick the money in your pockets. xD

Working 911 so far I've only had a pt's wife try and thank us for transporting her husband who was having a stemi.
 
I think the best food that we ever had sent to the fire house was after a cardiac arrest. Even though the patient didn't survive, the family was so thankful that they stopped by one day to find out when our crew was working again. Our next shift, they showed up that morning with a fresh salad from their garden, homemade bread, two huge pans of homemade lasagna, and two homemade pies. I swear, it was one of the best meals I have ever had!
 
We had a call at a home less than a block away from our base. After the call, the family would frequently bring us trays of food - they seemed to always have lots of people over.

A few weeks ago, a pt's family member gave my crew and PD water bottles.
 
mycrofft said:
A lady tried to fix me up with her daughter.
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I had that happen once... which was awkward because the daughter was about 10 years older than I was, was riding along with us, and was already married.

Hunter said:
Had a ton of people try and give us tips when I used to work IFT and did hospital discharges. Lots of very Stubborn old Hispanic men who didn't wanna feel helpless, have to walk away from them or they try and stick the money in your pockets. xD
Click to expand...

My rule is I refuse 3 times and then humbly accept the tip without looking at the amount. There comes a point when refusing becomes an insult. However, a tip was never expected out of anyone.
 
jefftherealmccoy said:
We all have stories and love to hear stories about the ridiculous things our patients do and say. Today I came into work and was greeted by a giant basket of goodies, a gallon of ice cream, and a 2 liter of rootbeer from the family of a patient we responded to last week.

The guy had low BP following a total knee replacement and his family stuck him in the basement for some unknown reason. He weighed about 350 and we had to pull him up a flight of about 30 stairs.

So let's break off from the normal venting about how terrible our patients can be. What's the nicest thing a patient or their family have done for you, either after or during a call?
Click to expand...

Sounds like Southern Idaho, Jeff. :lol:

We had a bakery bring us in fresh cinnamon rolls for a building my dept. fought that burned across the street. I like cinnamon rolls.
 
JPINFV said:
I had that happen once... which was awkward because the daughter was about 10 years older than I was, was riding along with us, and was already married.



My rule is I refuse 3 times and then humbly accept the tip without looking at the amount. There comes a point when refusing becomes an insult. However, a tip was never expected out of anyone.
Click to expand...

If it became a matter of honor, I always got a good response to ask them to donate it to the collection at their church the next tie they attended services.
 
I would LOVE FOOD but best I have gotten (and happy with it) is a kiss from the roommate from a 91 y/o f brought back to a SNF with an unmagangable T8 compression fx. I could not help her pain, so I held her hand the whole trip of 31.7 miles. (why so far, I don't know). Neither spoke English. I totally appreciated they appreciated my compassion. Sometimes caring is all we can do.
 
Milestones

Twice in twelve years people actually sought me out and tracked me down to personally thank me for the work I did. No tips, just hugs.

One was a woman who backed over (by accident of course) her two year olds' head with her pickup truck (kid did fine -- the trickiest part of it was getting him out of her hands!) and the other was a Military man (20's) who missed the deer with his motorcycle but hit the guardrail and a telephone pole, splitting his liver.

And I was invited to a Thanksgiving dinner of armadillo and fixings by a dirt poor black family whose eldest member me and my partners used to give free rides to the hospital when he needed treatment for a cancerous tumor.

Now that I'm thinking, a woman asked me and partners to be pallbearers for her husband who had outlived all his friends and relatives besides her. \

I consider one thank you every three years as a stellar career for the times.
 
Transported a lady's mother to a bigger hospital. The mother passed away 2 days later. She came up to me and Thanked me and gave me a hug. Nicest gift I could expect.
 
My own experience I had a cardiac arrest with family performing CPR. witnessed as she was walking to the door.

We arrived tried our best and she passed at the ED. Later we were at a special event and the daughter recognized me immediately came walking over I didn't know what to expect since I didn't see her since I left the residence. She says Hey you worked on my mom. I said yes I did. She turns around gives me a big hug and says Thank you you guys tried as hard as you did and I never knew your names to do anything. A week later a card shows up and dinner with all the fixing for the crew. I don't do it for the thank yous cause I know not to expect them

OTOH a few weeks ago, my son needed transport to a pediatric trauma center for surgery the contracted service came to get him as he had a Saline Lock and the doc wouldn't let me just take him by car I rode with them and did not identify myself in anyway as a EMS provider or healthcare provider for that matter. It wasn't till my son spilled the beans about my job at the destination hospital about me. They were the most professional and courteous crew I have ever ran into. Needless to say being on the same side of the street my son wanted to send them a thank you card for being cool with him and doing their job. I included 2 gift cards for 25 bucks a piece for a local eating establishment since Im most certainly not the best cook.
 
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