On The Road Again...

Shift: 0700-1700

My Day.

0640: HOLY FRICKIN' LORD it's cold outside. I pull into the parking lot and make my way to the station.

0642: I find my crew for the day. First impressions... Cool guys. One medic, one basic.

0645: The basic disappears to do rig check. I follow him out there. He's shocked that I want to follow along while he does his thing. Hey, I gotta learn where things are somehow, right?

0655: Dispatch is calling. Wooo, first run of the day!

0720: Pull into ED entrance, see my old squad parked already. Great. Yes, yes, it's Epi, yes, I'm wearing the rival companies uniform. Nice to see you all. I retreat to my squad for the day with my coffee.

0800: Partners of the day are in the process of dozing off. I walk outside to stand in the brisk winter morning air (12 degrees... windchill... zero)... COLD COLD COLD! Run back inside, wide awake now!

0900: Both partners are sleeping. One is snoring. Eyes are getting droopy... drooopy... closing... zzzzZZZZZzzzzzzzzz *SNORE* Okay I'm up I'm up I'm up. The medic eyes me suspiciously. I laugh at myself and sit up a little straighter. At least I wasn't drooling on myself or talking in my sleep.

0920: Dispatch is calling. Another run. I take patient care. He goes back to the ECF smiling... My work is done. I struggle with the new run reports (Medicare changes and basically not knowing where ANYTHING is located on the report means it takes me twice as long to complete it.) Thank goodness the medic is very patient and helpful. We can't even call ourself back in service before they're sending us on another run.

The rest of the day consisted of three wild goose chases and three more runs.

I did learn a few things.

I still hate staring out of the back of an ambulance for hours on end.

Every Ambulance service has a Satan-like dispatcher who is completely unprofessional on the radio and in general thinks he/she is God's answer to EMS (I wish I could go into this more specifically, maybe a little further down the road).

I still love this job. Yes, even the transfers.

More tomorrow, I'm exhausted.