Uh oh, the boys in blue found someone in need. It has been stormy here, much like the rest of the nation, and little old ladies are being knocked over by the wind.
THE EMERGENCY
An elderly woman has fallen down in the rain.
THE ACTION
Lights and sirens to the college housing which is now mixed college and elderly housing. Fitting in a way when you stop to think about it.
Our patient is in the lobby, jacket soaking wet and she speaks zero english. A college student is translating for us and its hard not to notice the giant bruises on our patient's face. She looks like she went 3 rounds with Chuck Liddell and held her own.
Turns out she fell yesterday, onto the right side of her face and tonight, wouldn't you know it, she fell on the left side.
She's repeating a certain phrase the translator keeps smiling at. As we're trying to assess our patient she's getting up to walk away shaking her hands at us and smiling.
I'm not one to chase old women and kidnap them to the hospital so I ask if PD can give a call to her home and see if someone can come and get her.
I snuck in a few palpations and it looks superficial, everything else we can trick her into comes back normal.
PD says there's no answer, but the woman says her son will be home soon and they'll keep an eye out for her.
Way to go fellas. They really did the right thing for this woman. That and there were college co-eds all over the place.
And the phrase the patient kept saying, the one the translator was smiling at? "I don't want my son to find out I fell again."
Unless he's blind, he'll know.
Comments
Capt. Tom
My husband certified as an EMT, but never worked as one. On the ride alongs he said that they went to a lot of calls to help old people. He dealt with a lot of urine and stair lifters or whatever you call those things to help people up stairs. Poor old people, but poor you guys too. I can hardly handle dealing with my kids' poo and pee everyday, so thanks for all you do!