Your First Call

And on the other end of the spectrum, My first call was SOB on one of the first 90 degree plus days of the year. Medics released to us and we transported uneventfully. However seemingly unexciting, It was a good way to become familiar with the way our crews operate.
 
My first call as an EMT-B student was a febrile seizure, which was sad (I hate running calls on kids), but it was a huge learning experience.

My first call as an EMT-P student was sepsis, but my second call was an attempted suicide. A physician took 76 vicodin pills and left a timed and dated suicide note. We found him in the bathroom with agonal resps. Pushed Narcan and he was puking everywhere and cursing us out by the time we got to the ER.
 
My first call was within 2 minutes of arrival on my first day, I had just gotten out of my car when the medic started waving me down. Jumped in and off we went. It was a 28yoM obviously on some sort of drugs and had a huge laceration to the top of his head. After bandaging him up and taking v/s he started telling us a story about how he was walking down the street (at 8 in the morning) and a car pulled over, 3 guys got out and beat him with a 2x4.

the craziest thing ive seen so far was a mva. 15yoF driving by herself, permit only. She somehow lost control of her car and manged to flip it, at least a couple times from what I could tell. Not a bump on her. No bleeding. No trauma. When we arrived she was walking around. After the call we later found out that she was sent home with nothing more then bruised knees. talk about lucky.
 
First call as an EMT student:
Got to my clinical site about 15 minutes before my shift. Call comes in 5 minutes later. MVA about 8 minutes out. Middle aged male was driving on a Farm to Market and fell asleep behind the wheel. His car ran off of the road and into a creek bed. Came to rest on top of some massive concrete chunks from when they demolished the old bridge. I got to crawl in the back seat and take c-spine. Had to wait for FD to get on scene to extricate. We had about 8 fire fighters lift up on the side of the car so we could open the door (the doors were jammed because of the concrete chunks.) Packaged pt and began transport. Within view of the hospital, our pt becomes unresponsive (for reasons unbeknownst to us.) The medic pulls out the ammonia capsules (I didn't know anybody still carried these) and the pt woke up freaking out. Pt said that he does that from time to time. It was pretty interesting.

First call as a practicing EMT:
Overdose. 35 y/o female sitting in car. Her family says that she called them and said that she had taken 30 Valium, and unknown amount of Soma, and a ton of other crap. She was unresponsive on our arrival. All I really remember is this was the first time I saw a 14 gauge catheter used, and I remember the MASSIVE hole it left when it was DC'ed. I don't remember much else about the call.
 
I just walked into the station for my first shift, a 12 hour noc shift as a basic, and no one was there. All the trucks were out on calls and the call crew was activated but hadn't arrived. Then the emt that was my preceptor arrived and a call comes over requesting a second ambulance for an MVA multiple pts and we have no medic and no one to respond so she tells me to get in the back up rig and drive. I had never driven an ambulance before but she told there was no time like the present to learn. Once on scene the on call medic arrived POV and our off duty supervisor showed up wreaking of ETOH saying "I will stand back here and watch cause I can't do anything right now cause I had a beer." More like a brewery... Anyway kind of a cluster but it was all good and here I am years later as a medic and still loving this job.
 
my first!!!

This is not an easy one to explain, it was my first day I think I was 14 as a third rider in explorer post 88. dispatched as a cardiac arrest, enroute it changed to DOA, upon arrival he was a workable code BUT he was 390 KILOS and was in a house with one entrance because the rest of the house was taken up with junk. I kid you not the wife was a yard sale queen junk staked waist high with a single trail going from the kithchen to the bathroom and back to where the patient "lived" the den. well also when the patient fell he went down on his 40 kilo wife, who in 4 hr we finally cleared enough for the coroner to get the patient out she said my arm hurts and she had obvious signs of a fracture. so we transported a possible fractured to ulna/radius. that was the beginning of my EMS career!!!!
 
Fairly standard nursing-home call for a 91 y/o F who fell. Turned out it was the fourth time in a month :rolleyes:, and she'd fractured a hip. Got her boarded and loaded up, and on the way to the hospital, she starts gurgling. The EMT who was teching (I was a ride-along, although just certified) freaked out, because she had a thing about vomit. Anyway, got the pt. off the stretcher, rolled the board over, and got her breakfast OJ into a basin without any further problems. Fun stuff.
 
First trauma call...one of our own...

FYI, I live in a very rural community of 1200 people, with a combined VFD/EMS. My first true trauma call was was just a couple of months ago while I was a trainee. Call came in as 4-wheeler accident. Further information revealed it was one of our volunteer firemen(86yr old active rancher). He had just finished fighting a wildfire and was headed home on his 4-wheeler(loaded with fencing supplies:roll of barbed wire, fence stretcher, the works). He hit a soft spot on the dirt road and rolled his 4-wheeler. Patient was found by fellow FF's returning to town in rigs. The 4-wheeler had landed upright and the Patient had managed to crawl back onto it. Some obvious lacerations, patient was initially responsive, kept saying he had to get home & trying to start the atv. KED Vest used, patient loaded & started on O2. Enroute(20 min drive) patient became more unresponsive with drop in BP. Patient had crepitation on left side. Patient was transported to larger hospital, diagnosed with TBI (among other injuries) and passed away the next day.

Talk about a somber call, made worse by the fact that eight fellow FF's had witnessed the accident scene. Two of the EMT's in the rig (with me and another trainee)were also FF's that had just returned from that fire. I will NEVER forget that day or the outcome. I realize it is part of the job, but in small communities like I live in where everyone knows everyone, those critical calls can be hard.

BUT...if I can help save ONE patient, my volunteer time is worth all the money in the world.
 
My first call on my own (me and a partner) was just an interfacility transport. Later that day, we were called to a nursing home to take a 83 y/o male with an hx of stroke, left arm paraylsis to the ED for a possible blood clot in the arm. We got there and his left arm was maybe 3 or 4 times the size of his right arm. So we took him code 3 to the ED. Not that exciting but my first "real" call! I am working for a private ambulance company.
 
The first pt I actually worked on was in my hospital rotation during EMT school clinicals. The call came for a code, the rescue was bringing in a pt from a nursing home with a hx of CHF, COPD, diabetes, hypertension, and at the time pneumonia. Being the eager student that I was, I volunteered to jump in wherever I could (there were two other EMT students and a paramedic student there at the same time). When they rolled her in, I realized that she was about 150 kg and I think my jaw literally dropped. That was the first time I did chest compressions on a real person, and I couldn't find any landmarks to go off of. Fortunately the charge nurse helped me correct my positioning a little. The ER doc called her after a couple minutes of CPR and pushing more drugs. After I had dinner, I had to go back to help bag her and transfer her to another gurney for transport to the morgue.

My first call as an EMT was for an infant code, wound up being SIDS. I'm an EMT with the Crisis Response Unit, which is mainly to help provide resources and counseling for family members, so although I didn't work on the pt it was still a tough call. Watching my EMT mentor's partner break the news to the mother that medical control had authorized termination on scene was probably the worst part. However, it was good experience. About two hours into the call (we have to stay on scene until PD leaves, which means detectives, CSIs, and Medical Examiners. This call was 4 hours total) the mother starting complaining of chest pain, dyspnea, and tingling in her fingertips. We figured it was just stressed, but called ALS back just to be safe. I got some practice doing basic EMT stuff, like taking vitals, getting a hx and starting O2 on her. Overall, a tough call emotionally but good for experience.
 
My first call was during a corps meeting and happened to be in the house next door. I had just completed basic first aid and was the third member of the crew. This was in 1974 and all crew members were only trained to the standards of BFA.

The call came in as 70 y/o with fractured hip after fall out of bed. We walked over while the bus was pulled around. What we found...a man sitting in a wooden chair speaking on the phone to his sister (as we later learned). The bed he fell out of was in the next room and about 15 feet away. We asked him what happened and he replied "Well back in 1929 I fell from a telephone pole and broke my hip. I laid there untill someone found me. Then in 19..." He gave us a year by year discription of every injury he ever had and by the time he finished we pulled into the ER, a 25 minute ride.

We were met there by his sister who asked the ER Doc to have him commited. After asking the pt. "What happened?" He agreed with the sister and we were asked to transport pt. to the MHU nearby. We arrived at the intake unit of the facility and were told we would have to wait until a doctor came to admit him. I was waiting outside on the steps when an older gentleman wearing plaid shorts, a red tank top, yellow socks and white sneakers walked by me and entered the building. I figured he was just another pt. until I heard my crewmate yell "The doctor is here". We still talk about that call.

To bad not all of the calls are that simple or that funny.
 
My first call

My first call after I got out of the service , was when I was a call firefighter . I was new to the dept. and we were out training when the call came in for a backhoe rollover at a construction site . When we arrived on scene , we found a single pt. about halfway up a mountain where they were installing a microwave tower and large water tank . the pt. was in trendelenburg , on a piece of plywood , with a blanket on him . When the tractor rolled , he jumped clear , landing on his feet , then went down again in excrutiating pain . He was 26 y/o , about 250 lbs . with extreme lower lumbar pain and tingling in the lower extremities . Vitals were good no LOC or other c/o pain . Some numbness and tingling noted in the lower extremities . pain rated 10 on 1 - 10 scale . Since we were so far up the mt. on a road that had only recently been cut , the decision was to call for Lifeflight and transport him to the top , where the chopper would then load . We did the 1/2 mph crawl all the way up with him very well strapped and an entire engine crew helping to keep him from moving also . They didn't have spiderstraps back then , we sure could've used them . We thought we had a good plan until we got to the top and found we couldn't land the chopper due to the amount of equipment stored there , though the construction crew had told us there was plenty of room . That was so frustrating that we had to turn around and take him back down . We even requested a military chopper to hoist him out but couldn't get one . On the way back down , I was checking his loc when he suddenly started crying . I asked him what was wrong and he said he couldn't feel his legs . On checking his neuros , we discovered paralysis . I've got to admit , I felt like crying right alongside him , though I didn't let him know it . When we finally got to the bottom , the chopper crew flew him to UCSD medical center . I never did hear how he turned out . It was really frustrating that we did all we could and he still had paralysis .

CERTGUY
 
Got the worst call out of the way before I actually started, but after I knew a little. My daughter was hit and killed by our bulldozer 4 weeks ago. I have enough knowledge to know what to do, the injuries were too severe to have saved her though. I damn sure tried though.

My first "real" call will be in about 2 1/2 weeks when I go on my first ride along. I'm really excited and can't wait to tell yall about it.
 
I am so sorry for your loss. Good luck on your first ride along.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top