Another Day, Another Taxpayer Wasted Dollar; Monday 2/4/08

I Want to Go Only if the Wait is Short Enough at the Hospital
6:33 Responded to the apartment of an 18 YO HF CO a stomach ache for the past week. I asked if she lived alone in her apartment, at which time, her husband, who was snug in his bed, rolled over in his bed so I could see him around the corner and said, "No, I'm here." Then he rolled back over, out of sight. The patient wanted us to call all the local hospitals and find out what the wait time would be, because she wanted to go to the one with the shortest wait and didn't want to go to the hospital if she had to wait a long time. We told her that was not in our scope of practice to check hospital wait time. She still thought she needed the ambulance to get to the hospital so she walked down the stairs and out to the ambulance in the parking lot (near her husband's car), and we drove her to the hospital where she was put in the waiting room.

Possibly a Real Heart Attack...Good Thing We Had a Medical Professional on Location
8:15 Responded to the same apartment complex as the last run for a 42 YO WF, sitting on the steps of the apartment complex CO potential heart attack. Pt. had pain in her left, posterior, subclavicular area, which radiated to her left arm. She had the pain for one day, and it was getting worse. It's the same pain she had two years ago when she had a heart attack (finally a legitimate complaint). The best part of this run was when we walked up to the lady, who was accompanied by an apartment maintenance man, and the apartment maintenance man started calling the shots..."I tink chew shud geev her sumdat air"...to which I replied, "good idea, what else should we do"..."I tink chew shud do her blad praysure"..."good idea, we're already doing that, what else do you think we should do"..."I tink chew shud tek her to dee hospeedal." So, we took her to the hospital, as we were directed.

Police Wanted Us to "Check Everyone Out"
14:05 We were called to a Lowe's parking lot by a police officer, the relocation site of a car accident which occurred approximately 3/4 mile away. The police officer wanted us to "check everyone out." I explained that we're not doctors, and we can't really check people out and tell them they're ok or not ok; the only "checking" we can do is asking the questions...Do you feel like you need to go to the hospital?...and...Do you need the ambulance to get there?...questions which HE could have asked. As it turns out, nobody wanted our services.

Ran into Telephone Pole to Avoid Crazy, Irresponsible Stopped Person in Front of Her
14:32 After leaving the previous incident, we saw another car accident, which occurred before we arrived at the previous incident (we saw it on the way to the previous incident; it occurred before 14:05). We decided to stop off at the car accident and see if anyone needed our services. The answer was a resounding "No," but I did get to hear a bystander explain to me that someone just slammed on the brakes in front of her, she couldn't stop in time, so she hit a telephone pole, and then the person responsible for her hitting the pole (the person who applied his brakes in front of her) just took off. So...when we got about a mile away from the accident, we were dispatched back to the accident. Apparently, someone who was driving by decided that they needed an ambulance. We returned to the scene, and they still did not need our services.

Drove Her Car Home So She Could Call 911
17:07 Responded to the home of a 45 YO HF, who had just arrived from work in her car, CO feeling generally sick. We took her blood pressure, checked her pulse, checked breath sounds, and checked blood sugar; but we didn't find anything (imagine that). We explained to her that we did not know if she was ok or not ok (we're not doctors, and we don't know much), and we don't have any medicines to give her for this, but we would be glad to drive her to the hospital in the luxury of a beat-up, germ-infested ambulance, if she wanted (I didn't actually tell her it was beat-up and germ-infested...I'd just figure everyone would already know that). She wisely decided she didn't need our services.

30 Minute Wait for 2 Minute Ride
18:49 Responded to the home of an 85 YO HF CO a COPD flare-up (emphysema). She's on O2 at home, and she has a portable O2 machine. She felt like she was having more trouble breathing than usual. My partner says he just picked her up the other day for the same reason. They lived 1/2 mile from the hospital, but they decided to call 911, wait 10 for us to arrive and wait 15-20 minutes for us to assess her, so she could walk out to the ambulance, and we could drive her 1/2 mile away (2 minute drive), while her sons followed us in their car.

Scared to Be Alone, and a Little Gastric Reflux
20:11 Responded to the Senior Citizens' apartment home of a 76 YO WF CO a little abdominal pain and difficulty breathing. It turns out she has gastric reflux, and she often has abdominal pain, and her breathing difficulty was related to the pain from the gastric reflux (more psychological than physiological). The paramedics were on scene, and they ran an EKG and checked everything they could check. Everything seemed ok, but we don't really know, because we're not doctors. The patient had just moved in to her apartment two nights prior. She was scared last night and had her son stay with her. Tonight she was scared again, her son couldn't come, so she called a friend in the building, complained of breathing problems, and the friend called 911 for her. The Pt. did not want to go to the hospital because she did not like needles. The paramedics talked her into going, even though she didn't want to go (it took 15 minutes to talk her into going), and then they took off and left her with us. On the way, she explained to me that she's not scared to die, which begs the question...

21:30 to 6:30 the next Morning...Good news for me; bad news for you, the taxpayer, who is forced by tyrannical, non-consensual government force, at the point of a gun, to pay for the 911 ambulance service...I got to sleep from 21:30 until 6:30 the next morning while being paid about $21 an hour (including extra pay for speaking spanish to people who want government services but can't speak english).