EMT Paramedic Stories

Every EMT can recall a number of runs where their skills and experience made the difference between life and death. This is a story of one of those times.

My partner and I were one of two ambulances dispatched to a car vs. semi on a highway about 7 miles outside of town. When we arrive on the scene we see a semi with obvious damages to the front end and a small car that has severe damage and has its passenger side pinned up against a wooden rail fence. The semi driver meets us and states he is fine but that the ladies in the car need help.

We couldn’t get access to the passenger side of the vehicle so we approached the driver side of the car. The driver was awake but in pain from hitting the steering wheel. We looked from her to the passenger in her vehicle and noticed that the passenger was unconscious and was displaying agonal respirations (very few breaths per minute, usually indicative of a patient being near death). We radioed for LifeLine helicopter to come to the scene for transport to a level one trauma center.

We had the crew from the other truck take care of the driver and my partner and I jumped the fence to get to the passenger side of the vehicle. We proceeded to kick the fence and with the jaws of life had not on yet arrived on scene. We had a few other bystanders assist us and finally managed to get the mangled door pulled open.

As soon as we got the door open it became apparent why the woman was so near death. Her right leg had an arterial bleed and blood was spraying into the floorboard of the car. The floorboard held at least an inch of bright red blood that had pooled in the large area. We did our best to maintain spinal alignment but knew that we had to get her out quickly or she would die where she sat.

Once we had her out of the vehicle and on the ground we asked the first responders to assist us. We applied pressure to the arterial bleed in the leg, hooked up the cardiac monitor (which showed only about 30 beats per minute) and had someone else maintaining the airway and using the bag valve mask to assist her breathing. My partner started 2 large bore IV’s in an attempt to increase her blood pressure.

My partner began to intubate the patient when her breathing began to pick up pace and her heart rate increased. Soon after, she was breathing normally on her own again and her heart rate was nearly back to normal. By the time that LifeLine landed on the scene, the patient was alert and speaking with us.

The teamwork from everyone involved that day saved this woman’s life. If we had taken even one more minute to get to her, she would have bleed to death from a small cut on her leg.

So, how did the accident happen? The two women saw a yard sale sign as they passed it. They decided to turn around and go back….so they did a U-turn in the roadway directly in front of the semi. There were no turn offs and the road was a two lane highway, the truck driver had no warning and no where to go. Thanks to the efforts of a few good people, it was not a fatal mistake.

In the state that I worked as a Paramedic, the state written and hands on exam is conducted by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. It is a fairly complex exam, and is enough to make any Paramedic student very nervous.

Towards the end of my Paramedic course, a group of us from class found out where a testing site was going to be, and decided we should go and observe it. We figured it would give us some great insight into what we were about to face and might help us prepare for the upcoming test for our class.

I was designated as the driver, since I owned a full size conversion van complete with VCR and enough seating for the whole group. The site was about 3 hours drive for us, so they guys brought along some old Johnny and Roy tapes to watch for fun.

One of the classmates that was going to the testing site with us was not able to ride in our vehicle. He had other plans after the test and decided to drive himself. That would be his undoing for the day, as you will soon find out.

About half way to the site, we managed to get pulled over by the police for speeding. Lucky for us, my front seat passenger, Mike, happened to be a local police officer and was able to do some talking and get me out of a hefty ticket fine. However, it did not go so well for the guy following behind us. Unfortunately for him, the officer riding with us also had a sense of humor.

Mike asked the officer to do us a favor. He asked if he would go back to our buddy following us, and give him a little trouble. So, being the good officer that he was, he complied. He went back with his hand on his gun and ordered our friend out of his car. Granted the officer did not take his gun out, it was still enough to put some fear into our pal and he did exactly as he was told. The officer then had him lay on the ground and proceeded to interrogate him. At the end of his interrogation, he told our friend that we had reported him as a maniac driver threatening us with a gun, and that is why we were driving so fast. After some stuttering and an attempt to plea his innocents, our friend noticed us all rolling around in the van laughing and caught on to the joke. He made a couple of gestures at us, and got into his car. The officer was laughing and waved good day to us, then walked back to his car. However, as he turned to get into his car, he noticed the expired license plates on our friend’s car, and made a quick turn around. Ten minutes later, our friend not only had egg on his face, he also had a nice warning to take him with him.

The story does not end there. After a couple of hours at the test site, the guy that had been following us there decided he wanted to go out to the van and catch up on a show while he took a short nap. He knew he would be up all night at the local river boat, so he wanted to get a just an hour or two of sleep before he left.

About an hour went by, when we all noticed a little bit of excitement going on outside. There seem to be a bit of an argument involving our friend and one of the people taking the test. As we when outside and interjected ourselves into the argument, we soon found out what was happening. It seem that following along behind us for 3 hours was not enough time to give our friend a clear view of what my van looked like. That poor sap had gone outside and gotten into the wrong van then fell asleep. Did I also mention it was only about 60 degrees that day? Guess what, the person taking the test had also left her keys in the ignition and our friend did not hesitate to start the van and turn on the heat. Now you might be thinking that this would have been all we needed to laugh at our friend for the rest of his life. It might have been, but more was coming.

While everyone was standing around to sort things out in the parking lot, the van that our friend had gotten in and started began to overheat. It had been running idle for over an hour and now steam was blowing out of the hood and water pouring onto the ground. Needless to say, a whole class full of Paramedic wannabes hit the ground laughing. All except our friend, who could do nothing but shake his head and stare at his upcoming financial debt.