Sidewalk Slumber

His thick black hair was neatly trimmed and he was dressed in casual clothes and sandals. I took a knee next to him, he was laying down with a peaceful expression on his face and even a bit of a subtle grin. The guy just wanted to sleep, the problem was he was covered in his own urine and had turned the public sidewalk into his private makeshift bed. He had roused a large crowd at this point, all standing in a circle around him staring and pointing. After checking his blood sugar, vital signs, medical history and his cognitive abilities, I was pretty sure my newly acquainted friend had simply had "a few to many". We decided to play detective and check his wallet, it was here we confirmed our suspicion after pulling out receipt for alcohol purchased just hours ago. He smelled of beer and was able to speak with us, but would not leave his comfy sidewalk, firmly standing his ground. "You can't sleep on the sidewalk" I said to him. He just rolled his chocolate brown eyes at me and smiled, refusing to budge. I admired his determination, and his impressive sleeping abilities on such an uncomfortable surface, but I couldn't just leave him there on the street. I gave my new friend a choice as we radioed for the police. He could simply get up, leave with a nearby friend in a taxi, and sleep in his bed at home, or he could go to jail. He decided on the latter unfortunately. The police finally showed up, the first officer was about to explode out of his uniform he was so big, he looked like a professional body builder. The cop's leg was probably bigger than the entire man, he just walked over and looked down over him. It was at this point that new my friend finally woke up, miraculously standing up with out assistance, the bystanders must have thought it was a miracle! He attempted to apologize, but it was to late. It was at this point his pants fell down in front of the crowd which included women and children. I helped pull them up and the cop escorted him to the back of his patrol car, at which time he began laughing, it was at this point the cop and I also started laughing. The whole situation may have annoyed some medics, but after all the terrible things you see on the job, its nice to just smile sometimes.

Zombie Apocalypse

Working in this industry, things do not go as planned more often than not. Orchestrating chaos on a road side traffic accident, in an ambulance, or in someones bathroom, is not exactly the same as working in a hospital. Resources in a well established EMS agency in a first world country are bad enough. However, resources in a foreign country for a new and developing EMS system are scarce or even unavailable at times. This can be frustrating to say the least, but all one can do is improvise and adapt to the circumstances as much as possible. These are normally after thoughts, when reflecting back on a memorable incident retrospectively, as in this case.

It was about 11pm at night and I was on my way responding to a car accident. We where miles outside of our coverage area, but the neighboring district had ran out of ambulances and we where the closest unit available. As we crossed over the bridge in the darkness of night, I looked out the passenger window down into black abyss of the sea below. Our red and blue lights danced on the dark waters surface, giving it a brief moment of life in an otherwise silent and black void. We had never crossed the bridge before, it was the boundary of our coverage area, where our responsibility ended and someone else began, but as our back wheels cleared the bridges edge, there was no turning back. It was about this time that our radio updated us on the situation, the police where reporting 1 person struck by a car, dead on scene.

A few minutes later I could see the police lights in the distance, soon we where close enough to see the police in there stylish yellow road safety vest directing us to a desirable area to park. As I exited the ambulance with our gear I began walking towards a figure laying on the road. I knew the routine for pronouncing someone dead all to well, and thought this would be a quick job. I was only a few meters away when I herd the screams and began to see the figure as man, a man screaming and flailing about on the pavement. This was either the beginning of a zombie apocalypse, or the radio update we received about the patient being dead was possibly incorrect. I took a knee next to the poor fella and began my rapid road side examination. He was a young man with a dark skin complexion and although he was probably in his 20's, he had a boyish like face with soft features. His dark brown eyes appeared confused and where filled with tears which complemented his loud whaling. It didn’t take long to see why he had introduced himself in such a way.

He had a grossly deformed left arm and right leg. The Tibia and Fibula bones in his lower leg where obviously broken and pressed against the skin in his leg, the slightest wrong move and they would pierce through the soft tissue and skin of his leg and liberate themselves to the outside world. This of course, is an extremely bad thing and a delicate situation. To make matters worse, he had injured his head, which had resulted in him being confused and combative. He kept trying to get up and walk, which was obviously impossible, so we began to immobilize him. We gave him what little pain relief medication we had for the evening, but it wasn’t enough. Regardless, we had to relocate his leg. We delicately repositioned his broken arm and leg in a position which we could splint, ensuring to take special care of the fracture sites. Despite our best efforts, on our way to the hospital he began kicking and screaming, unfortunately this violent and erratic movement resulted in those 2 broken bones in his leg shifting. They pierced through his dark brown skin like a hot knife through butter and emerged clearly visible. His bone was now exposed to open air and he seemed oblivious to the fact, either as a result of his head injury, or because this was indeed the Zombie Apocalypse. Regardless, the trauma team was waiting for him at the hospital as soon as we arrived and chemically sedated the poor guy, which he desperately needed. His injuries where promptly treated by a specialized team with the right resources.

Knife To Meet You

The police where scattered about like ants on a sugar cube. I gazed through the window of the ambulance as we slowly crawled into what looked like a murder scene. As I stepped out of the ambulance and into the thick of it, I noticed the first policemen who caught my eye. His face looked as if it was painted green and sweat was perspiring out of his pores generously. I didn't understand exactly why I was called to this location, but I could tell from the policeman's face he had seen something disturbing. I asked him if it was safe to continue further into the chaos, he just nodded his head. I continued walking past him and eventually encountered several other police officers who kept ushering me through halls until I reached a room next to a kitchen. It was here I caught my first glimpse of the problem I was called for. Upon entering the room I found a young lady with a knife impaled into her abdomen. The shiny stainless steel blade glimmered in the fluorescent tube lighting above our heads. The knife was a professional kitchen blade. The handle was dark polymer and sturdy, it continued for a few inches before it abruptly transitioned into the cold blue steel cutting edge, which continued on for a couple inches and disappeared deep into the girls stomach area. Dark red blood was slowly oozing from around the blade as it stuck in her body like a harpoon. I wasn't exactly sure how long the blade was and how much damage it had done. We placed 1 large bandage on each side of the blade, then wrapped some gauze around her stomach, stabilizing it securely in place. We carefully moved the girl and transported her to the hospital.Upon entering the doors of the emergency department we were greeted by  a crowed of shocked and astounded nurses who seemed quite displeased with the present we had brought them. The on duty doctor did an ultrasound (fast exam) and found that luckily the girl had missed any major vessels and had no major bleeding internally. She did however, need some surgery to repair minor damage but should make a good recovery.

Death of a Child

I gazed into his lifeless eyes as everyone in the room stood there staring at me, waiting for me to do something. He couldn't have been older than 12 years of age, just laying there peacefully in his bed. As I checked for a pulse and looked for signs of life, I confirmed the obvious, he was dead. My partner and I begin CPR as the family begins to cry and scream. While doing chest compression's I ask when the last time anyone saw the boy alive was, someone shouted out "15 minutes ago." This seemed to match the presentation of the boy, as body heat was still radiating off him. While doing CPR we connect him to our cardiac monitor and pause for a moment, I nervously turn my eyes towards the display on the cardiac monitor and my worst fears are confirmed, it shows flat line (asystole). This heart rhythm can not be shocked and in 10 years, Iv'e never brought anyone back from it. Despite the odd's, I do my job and go through the motions while trying to show the family we are doing everything we can. His mom is hysterical, crying and screaming as another family member escorts her out of the room while we begin using different equipment on her son, attempting to bring him back. Were only 5 minutes from the hospital and I make the decision to transport him to the emergency department. We put him on our stretcher and continue CPR but he lives on the 5th floor, the elevator is to small for our stretcher. In a incredibly nerve racking version of the game twister, we manage to squeeze him in the elevator while continuing chest compression's and ventilation's. He's loaded into the ambulance and our driver peels out. Its a challenge to continue working on the boy as the ambulance hits break neck speeds, running red lights and burning rubber with every turn, but we make it. We bring him in and hand the boy over to the doctor, the hospital team takes over and after giving our report I step outside to get some fresh air and wash up. The family eventually arrive and wait outside the room. I know the boy's not coming back, and I know they will remember this moment, and me, for the rest of their lives. I go up to them and thank them for calling us, and tell them the hospitals going to do everything they can, I wish them goodluck and I get ready to go back in service for my next call and finish my report. However, before I leave the emergency room I step into the boy's room just to check on the situation, to my complete disbelief, the doctor got a pulse back on the boy. Its the first time in my career I have ever seen it happen in this situation. There's no saying if the boy will make a full recovery or not, but it made me feel good to see they at least got a pulse back.

Breaking the silence

Its been a while... Rest assure I am still alive and well, I was assigned to some special duties and administrative work, which is not very exciting to write about. However, I am back on the streets now and looking forward to sharing some great stories very soon.

Searing Summers Day

The powder blue sky met with the distant desert horizon, interlocking to form what must have been the cusp of hell itself. There was the sun burning bright overhead; the sun knew only one thing, to relentlessly cast itself upon on all those foolish enough to wonder about this time of day. Nuclear fusion at its finest, the fiery gaseous sphere was the celebrity guest of mother nature for the summer.  It seemingly floated there, scorning down on everything and everyone. It was the holy month of Ramadan, a sacred time of year for the indigenous people, along with Muslims all over the world. During this time, it is forbidden to drink water or eat food during the day. This, as you can imagine can prove to be a formidable task  given the outside climate. Regardless,One foot in front of the other, I carried on. On my way to a somewhat unimportant detestation, a simple 20-30 minute stroll. Minute by minute the sweat seeped from my pores like the morning dew collects on a majestic field in the morning. It wasn't long before dizziness, followed by bewilderment, began to slowly overtake my mind. As my brain set helplessly, cooking like a stew under the hot summer sun, I carried on. Finally, after about 30 minutes my journey had to come to end. Perplexed and exhausted, I had arrived at my detestation. I was suffering from heat exhaustion and could not violate the taboo of drinking water in public, but even more challenging, finding water to drink.

Back in Black

As I stepped off the plane I was quickly reminded that coming to UAE in the summer time is like visiting hell for a holiday. Being non-acclimatized, mother nature was swift in delivering her sweltering hot wake up call. The feeling was quite similar to walking directly into a glass wall, or at least that's what it felt like stepping off the plane. It was about 107 degrees (42 Celsius) and close to %100 humidity. To put this in perspective, when I left home to get on the plane, it was about 65 degrees(19 Celsius). The next morning I went on a brisk 15 minute walk along the water front, along the way my skin quickly turned from pale white to somewhat of a dark coconut husk tone. I have been paired with some British paramedics for processing and have a lot of training to undergo the next 2 weeks. However, I will do my best to keep this updated until I hit the road with more tales of others misfortune and real world reminders of why its important to wear a safety belt.
PS: please bare with me, some of my blogs section are still incomplete, I am slightly behind schedule due to the rigorous orientation upon my arrival.