Started the morning off at about 9:00a when we responded to a medical emergency involving a possible stroke. The male pt was found by his wife and had obvious left side involvement. He was transported to the ER for further care. Remember the early warning signs of a stroke: 1) weakness on one side, 2) difficulty talking, and/or 3) an unsteady walk.

Then at about 1:00p we responded to a female complaining of chest pain. This turned out to be one of our "frequent flyers." Her chest pain was, and is always, caused by gas which was relieved in the ER with medications. It's now a little after 3p and we're back at our station. It's time to rest and prepare for the evening calls. It's a Saturday night and things are sure to get fired up.

Yup, it hit the fan as expected. At 9:50p we were dispatched to a medical emergency at one of the local care centers. We had a female patient that was not feeling well. Once we got there we discovered her blood pressure was well below acceptable levels. She was transported to the local ER and at last check was doing better. They admitted her to the hospital for further care.

We cleared the hospital from the previous call at 11:00p and recieved our next call at 11:17p. Dispatch sent us to a vehicle wreck out in the county. When we pulled up on scene we found a small car had rolled over several times and ejected all four of it's occupants. (NOTE: SEAT BELTS PEOPLE!) We ended up transporting all four patients. All 15 year old kids. We took two in our rig and the second out ambulance took the other two. One boy and three girls. Now why was four 15 year old's driving at this time of night? The injuries included: two bruised ribs and a broken back for the boy, a broken shoulder bone and broken rib for one girl, a broken shoulder bone for another girl, and a broken eye socket for the last girl. All in all they were very lucky!

As a side bar here: Seat belts DO work! In my years of EMS I have picked up seveal dead bodies from the roads, ditches and sidewalks. I've even cut some bodies from the car itself. But, I have NEVER cut a dead body from a seat belt! Get the hint?

We cleared the hospital from the wreck at 2:49 am. We were able to crawl into our beds at just about 3:30 in the morning ready for a few hours sleep. But not so, at 4:44 am we recieved a call to go to the hospital and take a patient back to one of the local care facilities. Not because she needed an ambulance to get there, simply because the staff didn't want to get out in the cold and go pick her up! We cleared this call at 5:30 in the morning and crawled back into the rack at just about 6:00. Just in time to get our morning wake up call at 7:00 so that we could finish the shift at 8:00.

I'm now at another station in our jurisdication working the first half of the shift. When I finish this shift I will have worked 36 hours straight. Here's hoping for an uneventful shift.

I'm at home now. The extra shift went well. We responded to only call at just before noon. A male in a local nursing home had low blood pressure and needed transported to the ER. We started IV fluids on him and transported.

Until next time - be safe and be happy!