More riding about the old neighborhoods
by rider on Jun.02, 2009, under General
Up in the morning to another nice day, and headed out for breakfast and some general riding in the greater Gaithersburg / Germantown area.
Our travels brought us through an intersection where, in 2003, I performed what was essentially the last direct patient care of my EMS career. The return of the memories of that day was very intense. I was off-duty, driving in my own car, when a call went out for a serious automobile collision a very short ways away from where I was. When I arrived on the scene, there were two police officers performing rescue breathing on a patient in the middle of the road. That has the makings of a bad day. She was four. That makes for a really bad day. I walked up and identified myself as a medic, which made for two very happy law enforcement officers, who were more than happy to have this particular problem in professional hands other than their own. I had them continue what they were doing as I began to cut clothing and assess her injuries. Her heart was still beating, but far too slowly. I began chest compressions, in the hope of supporting her failing vitals until the fire/rescue units arrived.
The engine company and ambulance from my station arrived a short while (and also an eternity) later. The Captain on the engine was doing his overall scene assessment and walked around the side of the scene where the three of us were working on the little girl in the middle of the road. I told him I needed some equipment brought to me immediately, but it didn’t seem to register on him what was going on. He continued to survey the scene, and I interrupted his routine with a stout “Hey, Captain, forget the <expletive> circle check - I need an airway bag over here right <expletive> now!”. Annoyed, he looked over - and registered what was happening. He ran back and practically dragged the paramedic off the engine over to where we were working. Suffice it to say I now had his full attention.
Despite our best efforts, she never regained spontaneous breathing, and she passed away after being flown to the pediatric trauma center.
Not the highlight of my career. It was a valiant effort from everyone involved, but her injuries were just not compatible with life.
Two days later, I found that the “flu” I had was actually a series of blood clots in my lungs. I was hospitalized a couple days later, and never really returned to the street.
After riding through the intersection, we stopped a short ways away at a 7-11. I needed to get off the bike, and get back into the proper head-space for riding. I was actually quite surprised that riding through there put me off my game as much as it did.
After a short break, and some mental re-adjustment, we headed out along the back roads towards Rockville, and a lunch appointment with a good friend of mine from the old days at Station 8, Chris.
Chris has been a career firefighter for several years now, after being hired by Montgomery County from the department where we both volunteered at the time. Chris is a damn fine medic, and and even better friend, and it was very good to see him again. Unfortunately, he’s been off the street for several months with a back injury, and things are not looking good. At least the county is taking pretty good care of him, and he’s in good spirits.
After lunch, Sean and I rode around a bit and then headed to the theater to catch a movie. We both needed a bit of down-time.
