The Burning Desire to Save

Chapter 3

When Ambulance 33 pulled up to a house a few blocks down from the fire station, Engine-Aerial 4 was parked out front, with three of its five crewmembers standing outside, including the officer on it, the captain of the station. When Kana walked up to the lieutenant, she asked him, "Do you need any more equipment from us? I'm an ELST, too."

"I know that already, Hoshizora-san," replied the captain of the paid crew with a smile, recognizing Kana. "We should be good with equipment. We really only need the stretcher from you guys. Let them know you'll take over patient care when we load her up on the ambulance since you're an ELST." The badge on his uniform read his rank and his name: Captain Naofumi Kato.

"Got it," replied Kana before she turned to her other two crewmembers and told them, "Get the stretcher ready and bring it in. I'll go in and assist the medic" Kana then walked up the front door of the downstairs apartment and headed in, finding two of the paid firefighters assessing an older woman who was sitting on a chair in the kitchen.

Her face was drooping significantly and she was drooling a small amount from the mouth, both of them clear indications of a stroke. One of the paid firefighters said to her, "I think you really should go to the hospital, ma'am."

"I mean," said the older woman with somewhat of a slur to her voice. "It happened yesterday, and it went away with no problems."

"And that's exactly why you should go now," replied the same firefighter as his partner was setting up a cardiac monitor and getting the electrodes in place. His tone of voice, though still calm and collected, gave off the impression that he was starting to get a bit frustrated. "Do me a favor and repeat this phrase, okay? 'The frogs jump, three jumps, together jump, six jumps.'

"Oh, uh, sure, uh... The frogs ju-... Jump, three ju-" The woman clearly had difficulty repeating the phrase, a tongue-twister in Japanese. Struggling to complete the phrase, she finally gave up and sighed, admitting, "Okay, yeah, maybe I can go."

"Good choice," replied the firefighter. He then turned to his partner and asked him, "Is the monitor set up yet?"

"Almost done," he replied as he put the last electrode on the woman's body and then put a blood pressure cuff on her right arm, the side unaffected by the stroke. As he did, he read a small pulse oximeter attached to a finger on her right hand and said, "Her O2 just dropped a bit. We should start her on oxygen."

"I can do that," then replied Kana as she walked over and reached into their medical bag to grab an oxygen tank and a non-rebreather mask. "Ma'am, do you prefer a mask or a nasal cannula?"

"Mask is fine," replied the woman.

"Got it," replied Kana before she carefully placed the non-rebreather over the woman's head and then over her mouth before hooking it up to the oxygen tank and turning it on, flowing twelve liters of oxygen per minute. She then asked the paid firefighter-paramedic, "Do you want me to take care of the radio?"

"Yeah," he replied before he handed the monitor to her. "Transmit the rhythm and call it in."

Kana pressed two buttons to begin transmitting the woman's heart rhythm to Yoshimatsu Medical Center, a large hospital located in the city that acted as a regional stroke, cardiac, burn, and trauma center, a one-stop shop of sorts that saw patients from both close to home and far away. Once the rhythm was transmitted, she grabbed her portable radio and tuned it to a frequency that would let her talk to the hospital. "Harukawa Fire Brigade Ambulance 33 to Yoshimatsu Medical Center."

"Go ahead," replied a doctor on the other end of the radio.

"We're transmitting a rhythm to you right now," she began as she read the vitals of the patient on the monitor. "We have a seventy-four year old female with strong evidence of a stroke. She has facial and arm droop and is slurring her words. Her vitals are 130 for her heart rate, twenty-six for her breathing rate, and a blood pressure of 150 over 100. We are requesting permission for IV access and administration of medications via IV."