First responders

My wife just finished school to be a first responder with the volunteer rescue unit and had her first call today. Motorcycle hit a car that turned into it's path, driven by a little old lady. Sounds like everybody will heal up all right fortunately, they airlifted the passenger on the motorcycle to the hospital. I was kind worried when I heard the call as you don't want your first call to be too severe of a test. I know some of you on here are EMT's or firs responders, What was your first call?

My 1st call as volunteer firefighter/EMT was an injury accident,18 years ago! Tell your wife as long as she does the best she can do! So time it is out of her hand.She will have bad call and need a shoulder to cry on and sometime a hug too!

A good friend of mine (49 years old) passed away two days before Thanksgiving this past year. His oldest son, a new EMT was home the day his dad passed due to a brain hemmorage, he performed CPR on him to no avail. That would be tough to handle knowing you done all you could and still loose him.

20yrrs vol firedepartment only had two minor cases that was enough. Lots of fires though.Lots of good times. Been ret from it 25yrs now

congrats to your wife,28yr member of the local fd,an a retired member of the local squad,my hats are off to her.its nice that there are folks still takeing a active part inthere fellow members of the communites.good luck to her,an be a stong shoulder when she needs one. dan

It was thirty some odd years ago, and do not remember.

We old folks try to get the new ones off to the side and talk to them. Some are tough as heck, some you go home and eat supper.

In a small town, 90% will be someone you know.

A somewhat new guy had a 19 year old guy with a 12 guage shotgun suicide, the second call was a endloader with a 12 yard bucket that drove over a young lady. He had a tough time of it, but has turned out to be the best we could ask for.

There will always be the ones that kick you square in the heart. But then (like our call today), I think everything worked out ok. Those make the bad ones go away for a while, knowing your training was a life saver.

You are not alowed to know what goes down, but keep a close eye on her, and still try not to read to much into her reactions.

It was never a pretty job, so thank her from all us. You need to remind her, it went down before the 911 call, often you can not change the results.

As with the incident for her today, she need not beat herself up if things turn out bad. Often the drivers did not wear a helmet to help themselves, so why carry guilt not saving their lives.

There will be times she will just want to be left alone, and no words will need be spoken, those times a little hug may help her get over a bad ordeal.

And again tell her thanks.

My Dad got called out (1974?) when the first responder called for all available backup. There was a horrendous crash with multiple vehicles upside down in the valley below the road. It turned out a truck carrying flattened cars was the only vehicle involved and had lost its trailer. Fog, poor lighting, steep terrain, and apparent mass destruction all led to this mixup. Guy was embarrassed, but everyone was relieved that it wasn't real.

Aaron

I am a first responder through my job at work. I was fortunate to have my employer pay my fee to want to learn how to do CPR and learn the responder resposibilities. I have been a first responder around 10 years now or so. I am very glad I did this. I think people should at least know some basics, especially CPR. Being able to help someone or save a life is priceless to me. I have been very fortunate that I haven't had to use this skills in a dangerous situation yet. I work in a large generator manufacturing facility full time. So far so good. Oh sure there has been occasions I had to take people into the ER or the local clinic. But no life threatening issues so far (knock on wood). I train once a month for 1.5 hrs per session right at my job. We have an EMT train us each month on many gruesome situations. I am glad I did this especially being a father. I think it is a great oppurtunity to be able to at least administer help. I do tell people though, "I am not a doctor". I am only a first responder. Just my .02 worth.
Kow Farmer

One of my first calls was a two car 10-50 where a 9 months pregnant woman was thrust into the back seat as a result of the spin-out from the collision. Upon arrival and initial assesment of her (she was shaken not stirred) she stated she did not want to delvery the baby in the back seat of that car. I calmed her and assured her I did not want to deliver the baby there either but would do my best if necessary. She laughed and just asked me to stay close by, which I did. God-willing all went well.

I can't remember the very first call, but one of the first ones was an old farmer who was baling hay. For some reason he dismounted the tractor with the baler still going. The brake released on the tractor. He was in front of the baler and was run over. The baler hay pick up tines poked him full of holes. We tried CPR but his lungs had been pierced.

I have been a Fire Chief and a Asst. Chief for a total of 33 years and still counting, I have spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about a call from the day before.

As volunteere fire in Montana we were often called out for traffic as its so remote we all had to do what was needed. My first serious incident was 17 year old girl with broken neck in alcohlo related . My job was to hold her head and move it with her body while others got her out of wreck and on board and neck brace. She was consisus and knew if I screwed up she could never walk. We got her on board and literly duck taped her head stable. She recovered and after a year could move normally. I talked with her and apolized as possibly had I done a better job she would have recoverd better.We will never know if the severe brusing was the wreck or my handling. The year of her recovery botherd me, yet I did my best. What really got to me was one local person said if it botherd me what may have been I should not respond any more. That statment tested my people skills , I didn't just give them a piece of my mind. I let them have it all!!!!!

I am not an EMT, but rather a grateful client. I broke my left leg (doing a bad job of cutting a down tree) and crawled back to the house until my wife heard me. She called 911- in a few minutes a crew was there. They cut off my boot, immobilized my leg and had me loaded on a stretcher and on the way to the hospital in about the same time as it takes me to type this. EMT volunteers all deserve a lot more credit than they reeive.

I've been 3 years a volunteer firefighter for our municipal dept. We also deal with vehicle mishaps etc. and while we see a few every year, so far I have not had to deal with a fatality. There have been a number of bad ones over the years including an accident involving a full school bus. Probably 20 years ago now. Something bounced off a transport truck and came through the front windshield of the bus, (can't remember the details) one girl was decapitated and a few others had injuries that affect them to this day. I'm sure the guys that responded that day think about it often.

There are people who can deal with these things and people that can't. Hats off to all those that serve in a job that nobody wants to do but has to be done.

Been a volunteer firfighter for 17 years and a first responder for 10. One of my first major calls as a first responder was actually for a good friends dad havin a heart attack. Friends and family and children are the worst calls but in this field its not if its when the call is for a loved one. Here where I live first responders are primarily for our medical calls. Accidents and things like that are takin care of by the firefihgters and Ems. and the police there to be in the way.I cant remember what my first call as a firefighter was but still remember my first auto accident and it was a bad one with two fatalities. Took a while to get it out of my head they had grief counselors come in and talk to all of us and help deal with what we had seen. You dont really think much about it at the seen you do your job and go home. Its when you get home things get hard.You learn to deal with it but never get use to it.

Hard to remember 20+ years- but some things stick with you...2 new paramedics responding to a SIDS baby Christmas Eve morning. 20 years (@ 10,000 runs per year) later- we still talk about it. But, you pick yourself up, mentally and emotionally and go on to the next run, remembering that people never call us when they're having a good day and they are asking us to make things better.

I'm not a first or even a 2nd responder.

I am very glad that some are.

Giving credit where it's due......Traffic accident death rates went way down long before seat belts became mandatory. Why? Fisrt responders/EMTs. When I first started driving these jobs were just starting. And then only in larger city areas. The year I started driving we were told by our instructor that close to 58.000 people had been killed in auto accidents the prior year. By the time my state mad seat belts mandatory with enforcable laws that death rate was below 40,000. Case back in the day all an ambulance crew could do was stop the bleeding and transport. Think about it. Way mosr drivers today than back then! Then tanks any first responder/EMT you know!

Rick

To provide a little different perspective on the subject, I'm a 911 dispatcher. I've taken calls for everything from the minor fender bender, to the wife that came home and found her child not breathing. I've had to talk small kids through the procedure of checking their parent for a pulse and to see if they were breathing.

Your wife's job isn't going to be an easy one, but tell her to hang in there. The rewards of helping save lives is immeasurable!

Was a First Responder/Fire Fighter, Career and Volunteer for 20 yrs. My first FR call was a cardiac arrest, older gentleman I had known all my life. I have preformed CPR on numerous friends and family. It"s tough but at least I know all was done for them that could be done. When it"s your time to go theres nothing any of us here on earth can do to change it. You do have the satisfaction of knowing that you did make a difference in those who you were able to help. One of the hardest I had to cope with was one of our own volunteers having an asthama attack and dying with me on his front porch. There was nothing much I could do for him but wait on the ambulance and pray. Those tmes will come, but the times you do help will outweigh the times you can"t. Anyway, sorry so long. Tell her to enjoy and keep on keeping on. She is needed.

Been First Responder, firefighter, and sheriff reserve deputy in the past 30+ years. Now I'm just asst chief on the fire dept and mostly I coach the new guys (like my son just starting last year). We've had a pretty bad year so far, several fatalities of local folks. I ask the guys, if you'd been standing right there when it happened could you have changed anything? Usually the answer is no. Did you do everything you could with the training and equipment you had? We've got a good crew and the answer is always yes. Did you learn anything that will help next time? Many do. We talk as long as they want. Then I tell then call me anytime they want and we'll talk more until they have it out of thier system. That's the only way I know how to do it. We are also lucky to have a real nice lady preacher here that does a good job with them too.

My first call was a shotgun suicide. I'd been sworn in on a Tuesday and this was the following Saturday night and I was the only one out. Grows you up pretty quick.

My first call was on a fire engine going with the Emergency Squad (Basic Life Support Ambulance) for a guy who cut his leg with a chainsaw. Lot of blood but just a nasty gash that was gonna take a while to heal. The first time I did CPR, it was on a guy who had a motorcycle accident with no helmet. His head was kinda like a jack-o-lantern that has been sitting on your porch for a couple of weeks and just starting to sag. I used to remember all the cardiac and trauma arrests that I'd had in the first years, but there's been so many I've forgotten most of them.

Tell your wife to make sure she has her simple mask to do cpr. You haven"t lived until a victim has puked in your mouth during cpr. Long ago first responder.

BTDT! Apparently I didn't get the airway just right and filled the victims stomach with air, rather than his lungs, so the stomach contents came out, and he had been drinking milk earlier. I will never eat cottage cheese again, for that reason...and I didn't get a save, either. When the ambulance guys got there, they said they weren't totally sure who the patient was, the guy on the floor, or me! I had done CPR alone for about 20 to 30 minutes with body armor on, and was pretty well spent. I was OK after a few minutes rest and a can of CocaCola, just soaking wet from sweat for the rest of the shift.

But you have to try. If you don't do anything, the person needing CPR will die. If you are the victim's only chance of living, you better do the best job you can.

I did get a save one time, although the little old lady had a bad stroke and died in the hospital the next day. I did my part to try to save her, and still feel good about it. She might have ended up OK.

Long retired, would I try again if the need to do so came up? You better believe it! And would I worry about the gross aspects of CPR afterwards? Probably, but I would try. A mask might be a good idea, but I really don't know anyone who actually carries one all the time. When the need arises, you use what you have with you.

But I will never have anything to do with cottage cheese again...YUCK!!!