Current Events > I've worked as an EMT and professional rescuer for 7 years AMA

(+) Yeah! (+)

AMA
---

What's the most non-emergency call you received? Like a 'they got too high on teh weed' or a 'they couldn't get the pickle jar open', type of situation?
---

PowerMang posted...

What's the most non-emergency call you received? Like a 'they got too high on teh weed' or a 'they couldn't get the pickle jar open', type of situation?

As a ski patroller, I get dispatched to a "hand injury". I've seen some mangled hands so I get it. This grown ass man says to me "I sprained my thumb. See?" so I took him down but I gave him the ride of terror

On the ambulance, there are "frequent fliers" who fake injuries for any number of reasons, some people are addicted to being cared for. So this lady fakes falling, we take her to the hospital, she gets discharged, "falls" getting into her taxi and calls 911 again. It was her seventh trip to the ER that week
---

How many babbies you deliver?
---

Colorahdo posted...

PowerMang posted...

What's the most non-emergency call you received? Like a 'they got too high on teh weed' or a 'they couldn't get the pickle jar open', type of situation?

As a ski patroller, I get dispatched to a "hand injury". I've seen some mangled hands so I get it. This grown ass man says to me "I sprained my thumb. See?" so I took him down but I gave him the ride of terror

On the ambulance, there are "frequent fliers" who fake injuries for any number of reasons, some people are addicted to being cared for. So this lady fakes falling, we take her to the hospital, she gets discharged, "falls" getting into her taxi and calls 911 again. It was her seventh trip to the ER that week

I'm worried this is what doctors think of me because of my anxiety. I've had ambulances out to my place and been to the ER quite a few times because I was convinced I was having a heart attack for real.
---

Worst violent case you've had
---

gnomefromnome posted...

How many babbies you deliver?

none, but I relearn how every 3 years
---

_Goggalor_ posted...

Colorahdo posted...

PowerMang posted...

What's the most non-emergency call you received? Like a 'they got too high on teh weed' or a 'they couldn't get the pickle jar open', type of situation?

As a ski patroller, I get dispatched to a "hand injury". I've seen some mangled hands so I get it. This grown ass man says to me "I sprained my thumb. See?" so I took him down but I gave him the ride of terror

On the ambulance, there are "frequent fliers" who fake injuries for any number of reasons, some people are addicted to being cared for. So this lady fakes falling, we take her to the hospital, she gets discharged, "falls" getting into her taxi and calls 911 again. It was her seventh trip to the ER that week

I'm worried this is what doctors think of me because of my anxiety. I've had ambulances out to my place and been to the ER quite a few times because I was convinced I was having a heart attack for real.

I see a lot of anxiety patients who think they're having heart attacks and asthma attacks, it's pretty easy for me to tell the difference but I get why you'd think you're dying. Though I can tell you a lot of medical providers will think you're a wuss, because we see people with ridiculous injuries who are incredibly brave, and then 30 minutes later we get called to mr "I CAN'T BREATHE! *Takes giant breath*"

If your lips and fingers are tingling, you're just freaking the fuck out.
---

nevershine posted...

Worst violent case you've had

Like criminal violence from another person? I live in a town in the Rockies so it's not too violent

Ski patrol: found some guys fist fighting in the woods, they saw me and ran away. People think patrol are cops but it's kind of like trying to be cool by hating the fire department. You basically just ran away from a firefighter.

Ambulance: Call for a suicidal woman. Woman was fine, but she had hanged her baby under the sink with a necktie.
---

Anyone ever vomit/pee/shit on you?

What's the scariest injury you've ever seen?
---

What was your pay?

Also why did you leave if you don't work as one anymore?
---

_Goggalor_ posted...

I'm worried this is what doctors think of me because of my anxiety. I've had ambulances out to my place and been to the ER quite a few times because I was convinced I was having a heart attack for real.

No, I'm very aware panic attacks literally feel like you are going to die. They're harmless of course, but doesn't change your experience of it.

Unless you're referring to any sort of chest discomfort as being convinced it's a heart attack. Then I'd maybe suggest talking to your primary care doc on some education on typical age range, associated symptoms, risk factors, etc.
---

sometimes I wonder what being a frequent flyer is like. I've only had to stay in the hospital once but aside from the terrible injury it wasn't too bad. being high and staying in bed and watching tv and sleeping all day is one of my favorite activities.
---

nevershine posted...

Worst violent case you've had

I didn't see it but when I was in EMT school, one of the instructors showed us pictures of a house where a man tried to commit suicide with a shotgun. He set up a nest in his garage to sit and die and he put the shotgun in his mouth, but when he fired, the gun kicked to the side and blew his face apart. You could see the blood trail from his garage to every room in his house, leading to a mirror where you can imagine where he stood in front of his reflection staring at what was left of his face (apparently he only had one eye left)

Most brutal EMS story I've ever heard of. Though some domestic violence situations get pretty bad.
---

Any case that still shakes you to this day?
---

JonnySeifer posted...

Anyone ever vomit/pee/shit on you?

Not on me, but I've seen my share of pukers. Personally it's never really bothered me

SusanGreenEyes posted...

What's the scariest injury you've ever seen?

Gore: A guy skied into a tree with a broken branch and it punched a hole dead smack in the middle of his forehead into his brain, and his eyes were bulged out of their sockets (maybe from impact?). Dead, obviously.

Scary: Man burned to death when his brakes went out and hit a post, and his jeep caught on fire and he was just a crispy black outline of a body. Bystanders said they'd never forget his screams. He was going 40 in a 30. Speeding kills.

SwordMaster13X posted...

What was your pay?

Also why did you leave if you don't work as one anymore?

I still patrol and do search and rescue but I don't work on the ambulance anymore. I don't help people who don't want to be helped.

My pay is terrible, $13-17/hr. Their reasoning is "oh we're a great company because you can just work MORE to make more money! And it's a 'fun' job so no complaining now." so we work about 50 hours a week with the option to work a lot more. This is my last year, don't care how "fun" the work is, I don't want to work at all.

Also, some medics just burn out or get PTSD from seeing so many horrible things, but I think that's just a "how you view the world" thing. It doesn't bother me, the reason I like EMS is that everyone dies and everyone pretends that that's not happening all of the time all around you. I want to live in the real world. It's not sad to me that someone I never met and never would have met is now dead, and that doesn't make me callous or weird, I can't be sad for the 60,000 people that die in the world every day.
---

GiftedACIII posted...

Any case that still shakes you to this day?

To be honest, no. Sometimes I think back to patients but I don't get emotionally involved. I actually really dislike when people come back to thank me, it's just super awkward.

Sometimes I think back to the first person I saw die in front of me. He skied into a tree and tore his aorta. He told me his name was Carl, and then he got confused, and then he died with no visible injuries. And it changed my view of a lot of things, specifically because I didn't really feel anything for Carl, but more of like I KNEW he was dead when he died. I didn't need training. There's something deep within us that still connects with those parts of life. My only thought in the moment was "woah... he's dead...", like my animal instincts or something.
---

yeah that's kinda how I feel about death. I work in a nursing home so I've known hundreds of people that have died.
---

Godnorgosh posted...

Colorahdo posted...

My pay is terrible, $13-17/hr. Their reasoning is "oh we're a great company because you can just work MORE to make more money! And it's a 'fun' job so no complaining now." so we work about 50 hours a week with the option to work a lot more. This is my last year, don't care how "fun" the work is, I don't want to work at all.

Yeah, for whatever reason EMTs are notoriously underpaid for how critical their work actually is.

At the BLS level I can somewhat understand it in most places. Our job is mostly to maintain airway and stabilize anything critically life threatening until ALS medics can arrive and give some real interventions. I will never understand why paramedics make so little money. You'd think being able to jam a tube down into a person's lungs rather than their stomach while they are on death's door would be valued a little higher.
---

are you the same guy who read zoobooks as a kid and knows a lot about animals

if so, favorite breed of dog and why?
---

truly_FLCL posted...

are you the same guy who read zoobooks as a kid and knows a lot about animals

if so, favorite breed of dog and why?

haha yeah. I do also have a BS in Zoology

my favorite dogs are mutts, like really heavily mixed mutts. They are calm and loving. Physical traits are often linked with emotional traits so purebreds can have weird issues

I'm gonna get a dog this summer actually! I can't wait
---

How many times do you sniff womens feet on a weekly basis? Select an answer from below:

5-10
11-20
21-50
50+
---

DeanAuryn posted...

How many times do you sniff womens feet on a weekly basis? Select an answer from below:

5-10
11-20
21-50
50+

My first call ever was a guy dropped a pot of boiling water in his feet. They looked like skin socks
---

Vikings or Eagles?
---

gnomefromnome posted...

Vikings or Eagles?

Team sports aren't very popular where I'm from. I've never seen a full football game
---

Does ski patrol ever catch the girls that throw their bras on the chair wire? If so, whats the punishment?

Ever recover anyone from an avalanche? Whats that like? I'm always crazy nervous about them when in back country.
---