Things left behind.....

Was thanksgiving and incredibly slow day, so decided to go ahead and start the dinner. Partner went in to the store and I stayed with the truck while he did his shopping (was protocol for one of us to stay with truck to "babysit"). Anyhow, he had a cart full of stuff and we got dispatched out for a run. I had gone around to the side to check something as I kept hearing something rattle. Thinking the compartment that had the backboards was loose, I tried to shut it again. I didn't realize it was bad. I heard a clunk in the back and just attributed it to the cans of whatever he bought rolling around. On arrival to the scene dispatch called us to let us know that we had left our backboard at the grocery store. We called a second truck and returned to the store - turns out kids had confinscated the board and were using it as a sled down the hill nearby. We retrieved it, and happily went back in service with all laughing. Turns out the door latch was broken and hadn't shut all the way and when we pulled out, out the backboard came. All well - was funny.
 
Code from Hell

The area where I work is literally backwoods middle of nowhere - it's common for people to live on the sides of mountains - literally.

We got a call to an unknown person in an area known for it's difficulty to get to. This house was literally where they had carved out a section of a hill, built the house, and there it was. It was my first day with the service, so I was riding as a third along with a medic who'd been there for years and the worst driver I've been with yet (no longer there - medic is though). Partway to the call, dispatch comes back on the radio telling us the patient is no longer breathing. She goes into L/S tunnel mode and decides she's going to back up this very narrow driveway (that is solid mud and wet clay from the recent rain) to save time.

Anyhow, my partner and I decide to go ahead and grab the equipment and go in while she is backing up the truck and told her bring the stretcher. We manage to get the patient intubated and things (was still breathing but barely) and were looking for the stretcher - which should have been in there long before that point. All of a sudden we hear a loud scraping sound and huge thump. About 5 min later, a VERY nasty looking driver comes walking in the house with stretcher. I asked what happened and she said - I called for another truck...ummm okay. Get the patient packaged and moving out - I look out the window and the only words I could manage were WTF ! :o Evidently, she had misjudged backing up and slid off the side of the mountain, running over a small tree, and landing the back wheels in a ditch. GREAT <_<

Dispatch comes back over to tell us that all other units are either out of county and over an hour away, or on other calls so none available. No help, no other way to go, so embarrassed, we had to ask this patient's family to PUSH the truck out of the ditch so we could get out (fortunately landed on a spot where we could manage to get out provided we got out of the ditch). Managed to get the patient to the hospital, but he passed away (nothing we did would have made any difference, had multiple massive head bleeds).

We were on our way back to the station when we realized that we had left our intubation kit on scene - so as if it was not bad enough that we had DESTROYED these people's front yard, their loved one was dead, and they had to push us out of a ditch, we'd left equipment there. We refused to go retrieve it and our supervisor did later in the county tahoe....Talk about a bad day !
 
Jeffrey_169 said:
I would hate to explain that one to the boss...lmao
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Yeah - it wasn't fun. Had a student ride with us to a multi car MVA - we saw the student with the other truck that had the more critical patient (granted I told the student stay right by me for good reason) but the other truck pulled away with their patient, and we couldn't find our student, nobody seemed to know where they were, so we assumed (remember don't assume 'cause you know why !) they had gone with the other truck. We packed up our patient who had pretty minor injuries and off we went to the hospital (other crew went to a different hospital).

Was sitting in the EMS room writing up my report, when one of the troopers walked in and tapped me on the shoulder asking "you forget something?" I figured I'd left equipment or something on scene (our troopers are great about bringing it to us when they come to get statements at the hospital if we do). I turned around to look and there sat my student in the cruiser ! Woops !
Trooper started laughing and told me, "we saw it standing there looking like a little lost puppy, but it had tags so we brought it here rather than the pound" I thanked him, promptly retrieved my student and gave them a stern lecture about not leaving me again or they would be left at the station the next time !
 
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A neighboring squad once left one of their crewmates and we had to give them a ride back to their station...
Guess they were a vital part of the crew lol
 
ffemt8978 said:
Generally, the only thing I've ever left at the hospital was the patient...:P
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Thats about the only thing I have not left somewhere.
 
My LT left his litter, including monitor and o2 on the back of it.
 
well I'm perfect

While I am perfect and have never left anything behind.............

I have had a

lifepak 10

2 hand helds

narcotics

left in my bls rig by medics



heard a story about a crew leaving a gurney at a hospital once

(somethign I could see myself doing )

I still put the rig key son the hand held antenna so I don't loose that.
 
mattulance said:
While I am perfect and have never left anything behind.............

I have had a

lifepak 10

2 hand helds

narcotics

left in my bls rig by medics



heard a story about a crew leaving a gurney at a hospital once

(somethign I could see myself doing )

I still put the rig key son the hand held antenna so I don't loose that.
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My keys stay on my belt.
 
I've ran off and left my 5.11 Tactical EMT Pants on the floor at the station....once :blush:



oneluv79:blush:
 
I left a scoop stretcher on scene once, it was the last call of the day... The next morning we went back there and sure enough, it was right where we left it!
 
oneluv79 said:
I've ran off and left my 5.11 Tactical EMT Pants on the floor at the station....once :blush:



oneluv79:blush:
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Those pants are freakin awesome!

We ran a mva. I left my EMS jacket at the station and was on scene freezing so a firefighter lent me his jacket. I left his jacket at the hospital but luckily I was off shift after that call so I was able to return it to him.

Things left on scene...
02 Tank w/ regulator
Pulse Ox
Trauma bag w/ bls and als drugs

Things left in Rig from patients..

Prosthetic Leg
vomit, blood, feces and urine.
 
Kendall said:
I left a scoop stretcher on scene once, it was the last call of the day... The next morning we went back there and sure enough, it was right where we left it!
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Who would want the thing anyway? ;)

J/k. Personally, I think the scoop is a great and under-utilized tool in the right situations. But the culture in my Squad is such that, like the KED, it seldom leaves it's home next to the backboards.
 
my locker in the FD sits right next to the engine so in a hurry i laid my keys on the side jumped in and took off..... about 6 months later the post office found them and realized who's they were... dumb luck
 
this is a new one for me........not sure for anyone else....went to assist another crew on a cardiac arrest. my partner and i without even thinking when we were all ready to go told the driver to "light 'em up and go" and she did. and she did an excellent job at that. got the pt to the hospital and then it hit me we left our truck (which was still in service mind you) at the scene. i called our dispatch to quickly take us out of service and they could barely speak from all the laughter. thank goodness for the FD they followed us to the hospital and returned our ambulance. :P
 
emt_angel25 said:
this is a new one for me........not sure for anyone else....went to assist another crew on a cardiac arrest. my partner and i without even thinking when we were all ready to go told the driver to "light 'em up and go" and she did. and she did an excellent job at that. got the pt to the hospital and then it hit me we left our truck (which was still in service mind you) at the scene. i called our dispatch to quickly take us out of service and they could barely speak from all the laughter. thank goodness for the FD they followed us to the hospital and returned our ambulance. :P
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hahahahaha! all i can say is NICE
 
Most recently, I had a situation where our BLS bag was left on the scene of a MVA by my partner at the start of a snowstorm... I'd told him to put it back in the truck before he re-positioned it to load our patient... he assumed he knew better than me and left it sitting under the guardrail. I assumed (there's that word again) that it was in the truck and never gave it a second thought.

Next day, my boss asks where we lost the bag... I thought back, and we went back and looked though 6" of snow for it... no luck. A week later, one of the local cops wanders into the station and hands back the bag, saying it was sitting in his trunk. Way we figure it, one of the cops saw it onscene and threw it in his trunk to give back, only he forgot about it.


Never left a stretcher at the ED - but I've SEEN it happen. I can't understand how that happens.

I've left bags and O2 tanks in residences... It happens.

I was left at the grocery store by a crew as a student. I thought I was within sight of them... guess not.

And then there is always the pile of trash left strewn about a scene after a serious trauma or arrest.
 
Jon said:
Most recently, I had a situation where our BLS bag was left on the scene of a MVA by my partner at the start of a snowstorm... I'd told him to put it back in the truck before he re-positioned it to load our patient... he assumed he knew better than me and left it sitting under the guardrail. I assumed (there's that word again) that it was in the truck and never gave it a second thought.

Next day, my boss asks where we lost the bag... I thought back, and we went back and looked though 6" of snow for it... no luck. A week later, one of the local cops wanders into the station and hands back the bag, saying it was sitting in his trunk. Way we figure it, one of the cops saw it onscene and threw it in his trunk to give back, only he forgot about it.


Never left a stretcher at the ED - but I've SEEN it happen. I can't understand how that happens.

I've left bags and O2 tanks in residences... It happens.

I was left at the grocery store by a crew as a student. I thought I was within sight of them... guess not.

And then there is always the pile of trash left strewn about a scene after a serious trauma or arrest.
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hahahaha. thats quite hilarious, sucks for you though.
 
My partner once left our entire jump bag at a scene. The funny thing is that one of our friends was at the scene, and once we left, she kept calling him over and over and over, he was getting annoyed since we had a patient in the back and he didn't want to answer the phone in case the patient thought it would be rude, but our friend was just calling to tell us we left the bag!

Luckily she picked it up and dropped it off at the station, so it was right there when we got back from dropping the patient at the hospital...
 
Jon said:
...And then there is always the pile of trash left strewn about a scene after a serious trauma or arrest.
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Part of our customer service commitment is to ALWAYS pick up the "code trash". We always have enough people on scene and after a code a firefighter will always tidy up. Last thing a family member needs to see, after the death of a loved one, is the remains of the futile attempt to save a life strewn all over their living room floor. Clean up that code trash.
 
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