Doing What Heroes Do...

I'd like to order one ambulance with nothing on it...
8:29 Responded to an auto-pedestrian accident. A yellow Mustang was driving down a narrow street and hit a construction worker, who was working on the side of the road. The Mustang did not stop. The pt. was a 50 y/o HM, CO severe back pain and some minor cuts and scrapes. Pt. also says he was knocked unconscious (a very bad sign of possible head injury). We immobilized the pt.'s spine with a backboard/c-collar and transported him to a level 1 trauma center. While enroute, the pt. took off his c-collar and got off the backboard...he said he didn't need it, it hurt him, and it caused him to have nasal congestion. He said he needed to sit upright (like you would in a regular ol' car). I guess that makes me wonder...what was the purpose of calling an ambulance?

It was the fault of the car in front of me...it just stopped...
10:44 Responded to an MVA on the freeway. It was a one-car accident. The driver of the one car said, in an angry and accusatory way, "the car in front of me just stopped for no reason...what was I supposed to do?" Lately, it seems like a lot of people are being victimized by drivers slowing down or stopping in front of them. They may want to look into learning what a safe following distance is. She avoided the car but didn't avoid the wall. Her passenger CO shoulder pain, and she was transported to the hospital.

Prescription drug refill...
13:44 Responded to the home of 51 y/o BF, CO of a headache and high BP. She lived about 2 miles from the hospital of her choice. We responded from about 15 miles away (due to heavy call volumes in the city at the time). It took us about 15-20 minutes to get there. The pt. says she was out of her prescription meds and she needed a refill. The pt. walked out to the ambulance, passing by the car of one of the 5 occupants of the house, and we transported her to the county hospital. When we arrived, she was escorted to the waiting room.

Wrong Location for No Patients...
15:15 A responsible citizen named Monica called 911 for a car accident. She may have given us the wrong location, but at least she didn't stop and check to see if anyone needed an ambulance. We drove all over trying to find the location. We called Monica to find out where it was...she didn't really know because she wasn't on location, nor did she ever stop her car. When we finally found it, the occupants of the cars were walking around the accident scene with absolutely no injuries to report.

One city service abusing another...city service on city service crime...
17:16 Responded to a Metro Bus incident on the side of a road. A 55 y/o WF was exiting the bus on her scooter, she turned too sharp at the bottom of the ramp, and she toppled over. She said she wasn't hurt, and she didn't want or need an ambulance. I asked her if she told the bus driver that she didn't want an ambulance, and she said "yes." The bus driver responded by saying that, even though the lady didn't want an ambulance, she had to call one anyway...company policy.

She wanted to take her free health care business elsewhere...
17:51 Responded to a 22 y/o HF, CO severe bleed from the vagina. Pt. was 5 1/2 weeks pregnant, and she had started spotting two days prior. She went to the hospital on the first and second days of the bleed (today would be the third hospital visit in 3 days). She complained that the hospital didn't hardly do anything to help her (of course she did not have insurance or a doctor...she was asking for free health care). We found her in a car, in a parking lot, about 2 miles from her house. Her friend was driving her to the hospital, but not to the same hospital to which she had gone for the past two days, because she didn't like the FREE care she was getting. She was going to the county hospital, downtown, which was about 10 miles away. On the way to the county hospital, she passed right by the other hospital. They stopped at the shop where her husband works and decided to call an ambulance to get her the rest of the way to the hospital, since she was bleeding so badly. We arrived and transported her, without treatment (there's nothing we can do for this problem), to the hospital which had already seen her (twice) for this same problem...the hospital she drove passed. It was less than one mile away. She was not very pleased, saying "I don't like this hospital; they don't ever do anything to help me." Again, she does not have insurance or a doctor; she was complaining about the free care that a private hospital was giving her.

Bug hunting incident...
20:49 Responded to the home of a 30 y/o AF, CO a bleed on her head. She was standing on the sink, trying to catch a bug, and she fell to the ground and hit her head. The bleeding had stopped when we arrived, and she said she felt OK. She decided that she would have her boyfriend come and drive her to the hospital.