Saving Lives

The Lawnmower

"561 Radio" Raichelle smacked her teeth and tried to scarf down the rest of her spinach breakfast wrap. Patrick chuckled as he pressed the button on the small transmitter attached to the loop on his shoulder. "561 go ahead" He responded and popped another hashbrown in his mouth. "561 I need you to go hot in the charlie zone. 702 Fairgrow rd, 702 Fairgrow rd, for the man with his foot caught in a lawnmower. Uncontrolled bleeding, near syncope." Rai and Patrick looked at each other and laughed. "Copy" Pat said attempting to hold in his laugh while he transmitted. "I'll show you in route, the time is now 8:42." Dispatch responded. "What the hell?!" Raichelle asked as she put the rest of the wrap inside the container and they made thier way to the truck. Rai hopped in the passenger seat and put her lunch bag back into her bookbag on the hook located between the seats just above the headrest. She put her seatbelt on and grabbed the toughbook to get a headstart on her paperwork. She filled in all the general information like what truck they were on, who was driving, who would be caring for the patient, if they went hot(lights and sirens) or cold and what the call was dispatched as. Patrick was busy navigating through morning traffic. They were both anxious to get on scene to find out if the man's foot was actually caught in the lawnmower or if the call  was embellished just to get an ambulance there quicker. "What you think? Trauma or bullshit?" Patrick asked as he carefully went through the red light using his airborne to warn oncoming traffic that needed the right of way. "Mmm....I don't know....it depends if it's a push mower or a riding mower. Those things can be dangerous when people get careless. Trust me I've taken my share of traumatic calls behind that." She told him absentmindedly. She had been quiet today, because she had a lot on her mind. Her and Patrick would normally laugh and talk most of the shift, but today she couldn't stop thinking about the news she got from the Dr yesterday. "You sure you're alright?" He asked glancing at her and trying to look out for traffic at the same time. " I'm fine Pat. I just got a lot on my mind that I don't feel like discussing. And you should really be paying more attention to the traffic then me right now, your doing 60 in a 30 buddy boy.!" Patrick looked down quickly at the speedometer and let his foot off the gas pedal some. "Damn, I didn't even realize." Raichelle raised her eyebrows and nodded her head. "Yeah..and if that damn dash camera goes off for any reason your in big shit, cause you already got a write up for speeding through a school zone with no lights and sirens." Pat huffed loudly. "I'll be glad when you sort whatever out that's bugging you cause your ...." He didn't finish his statement, he just blew out a calming breath. "What? Acting like a bitch?" She chuckled "Well thanks for not saying so." They were quiet for the rest of the ride other than occasionally Rai would mumble that he was clear to cross over an intersection from time to time.
They could see the fire trucks, police cars and crowd before they even made it on scene."561 out with the squad(PD and fire)" Patrick quickly transmitted over radio before heading to the back to get the stretcher out. As soon as the truck came to a stop a fire fighter and police man were waiting for Raichelle to open her door to give report. She grabbed her stethoscope, pulsox and made sure her radio was turned on the right channel and adjusted the volume. "Good morning...what do you have for us?" She asked greeting them politely as she stepped down off the truck and closed the door. "Elderly man in his late 50s doing his normal Saturday morning routine. He said he felt a lightheaded and some how slipped off the steps of the riding lawnmower and his foot got caught and twisted in the blade." She scrunched up her face as she walked to the back of the ambulance to make sure her partner grabbed all the equipment she knew she needed. "Ouch." She responded, thinking about the amount of pain he must have felt. "Ouch indeed." The police officer said. "The wife reported she was watching him from time to time out the window and saw him go down. She just assumed he got down to pick something up that would've gotten caught in the blades as usual, but when he took too long getting back up she came out the house to see what was going on." He grabbed her bag filled with the supplies she might need to try and stop the bleeding and wrap his foot up. "Thank you." She responded quickly. He simply nodded his head as they began walking towards the injured man. "Luckily for him, he's wearing a timberland steeltoe boot, so it kinda cushioned the blow a bit, but his foot is lodged in those blades pretty good. We may have to cut him free." She nodded her head in understanding and waited patiently while the officer cleared the crowd for her to gain access to the patient. "Good morning she addressed the other emergency personnel on the scene once she got through, how's he doing?" She addressed her question to the firefighter that was knelt next to the patient assessing his injury. Although he's stating at 97% on room air his blood pressure is low and his heart rate is down. He's been in and out consciousness, I assume from the pain and loss of blood, but his pulse is strong and when he comes to he's fully aware of the situation alert and oriented. The problem I assume is the pain is too much for him so he keeps passing out." Raichelle shook her head and took a deep breath getting down on her knees to be on the patients level. "Name?" She asked discreetly. "Jack, Jack Lawrence. Here's a report with his date of birth, social, medical history and list of meds. He is on a blood thinner and has a cardiac history. The wife went inside to grab some personal effects and get his ID and insurance cards." She took the report and quickly glanced over it making a mental note of the important things she knew she had to write in her report and tell the nurses.  "Thanks." She turned to the patient who was laying on his side and rubbing his leg. His face was twisted up and she could tell he was in a lot of pain. "Hey Jack, my name is Raichelle and this is my partner Patrick" She introduced herself looking in the crowd of people to assure she was able to see Pat. Once she laid eyes on him and saw he was speaking to a police officer and an elderly woman she assumed to be the patients wife she turned her attention back to Jack. "With the help of the fire department, we're gonna get your foot out of this lawnmower and get you going to the er." She explained grabbing his hand gently. "Oh gosh, please! It hurts so bad, I don't know how much of this pain I can take." He said. She used her other hand and pushed firmly on his wrist to feel his pulse. Although it was steady it was weak and that concerned her. "So have the fire fighters talked to you about the plan yet?" She asked as she counted the amount of times his chest rose and fell and paid attention to see if his eyes were focusing on her. "What's your name?" She asked him. She didn't forget what fire said his name was, but she had to run him through a series of questions to check out his mental status. "Jackson Lawrence." He said. "What's your date of birth?" She asked. All the questions she asked him she looked down at the report to verify his answers with what his wife told the fire fighter. "Ok Jack, I see my friend has brought his tool. We're gonna go ahead and cut the blades to release your foot ok?!" She asked him looking into his eyes to make sure he was focusing on her. He nodded his head. She put her thumbs up giving the fireman the green light to start cutting the blade. As that was being done Pat brought over her bag and she opened it pulling out the blood pressure cuff and put the pulsox on his finger. She took his vitals while they worked to free him of the lawnmower. Then she motioned to the other firefighters and police officers on scene to come near her. She explained her plan to quickly stop the bleeding, bandage his wound and put his foot in an immobilizer. Then she instructed Pat to grab a megamover (a large tarp that they use to carry people that can't walk). Once his foot was free Rai, Pat and two of the firefighters rushed to Jack's foot. His boot was cut into by the blades and we're large chunks of his flesh that was swollen and bleeding sticking out from the boot. Without taking his shoe off they bandaged and wrapped the areas that were bleeding. The patient passed out while they were doing this. Once the bleeding was controlled and the immobilizer was secure from his mid calf down the rolled him onto the megamover and lifted him on the stretcher. Raichelle didn't wanna do anything more, because of the crowd watching until they got him into the ambulance. Once she told the fire fighters and police they could leave the scene she got in the back of the ambulance with the patient and his wife was instructed to get in front. Raichelle gave Jack a sterno rub (brushing her knuckles across his chest) to wake him up. Once he was back alert she took his vitals again and they were off to the emergency room.