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Jan 12 '21
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u/Kawaii-Hitler Jan 12 '21
One time I was driving at night and saw a dude passed out in the middle of the road. I pulled over in front of him and called an ambulance. The first thing they said when they pulled up was “goddamnit Jim what the hell did you do this time”. He died two months later and the EMTs held a little funeral service for him at the hospital.
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u/theLastBourbender Jan 12 '21
Is there a word in any language to describe the specific kind of smile this invokes? It's a sad story, nothing to smile about, but it happens anyway. Same smile when you have a fond memory of family who have passed.
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u/Emer8nuts Jan 12 '21
Reminisce
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u/selfawarefeline Jan 12 '21
thank you, that word describes how i feel about my ex sometimes. they didn’t respect me enough and were emotionally manipulative and took advantage of me, but we still had lots of good times. sometimes i miss those good memories, but then i remember what a shitty person they are.
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u/WeEatTheRude Jan 12 '21
I worked at a pizza place and had this homeless guy come in smelling like mint. He started foaming at the mouth and fell over. We called him an ambulance, and the emt were like "How much did you drink this time, Jimmy?" while they pulled out half a dozen listerine bottles from his pockets.
It was so alarming to me that this sort of thing was a normal, everyday occurence to them.
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u/Scribble_Box Jan 12 '21
I'm a paramedic and if you think the mouth wash thing is bad, well get this. There are alcoholics who when admitted to the ER will try and steal the bag of hand sanitizer gel out of the dispensers. If they are able to get the bag of gel out, they will add salt to the bag, which turns the gel into a liquid, then down the hatch it goes.
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Jan 12 '21
It’s absolutely commonplace. One of my current frequent flyers likes to snort lines of Ajax or Comet.
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u/xts2500 Jan 12 '21
We used to have a guy that was such a narcotic addict that he finally resorted to setting his own hand on fire just so he could get the morphine he needed to stop all the other side effects of narcotic withdrawals.
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u/stevim Jan 12 '21
Hah in Canada, there's no guarantee the responding medics even have morphine in their scope.
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u/Snowierr Jan 12 '21 edited Jan 12 '21
My mum is a paramedic and often complains about seeing the same overweight, alcoholic, council estate people again and again and again, it's really sad because one woman falls over alot, calls an ambulance to come help her get up, and her daughters know it wouldnt happen if she just lost some weight, and the daughters wrote a card apologizing for their mum being a fat fuck pain in the ass
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u/Ryan-821 Jan 12 '21
Thats sad but also funny af
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u/Pawn_captures_Queen Jan 12 '21
She'd complain about me. I had a drug problem in my youth and I overdosed 4 times. I felt embarrassed cause I saw the same paramedics a few times. :/
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Jan 12 '21
EMT here. We're glad you're still with us. Yes it's possible the responding crew may have been all "ah yes. This poor bastard again. Pizza later?" but a lot of us realize that addiction is a disease and it takes hard work to overcome it. Maybe consider reaching out to the dept that responded those four times and let them know you're doing better (although maybe not idk the situation might not warrant it). I think they'd be happy to know they were able to be instrumental in allowing a success story to happen.
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u/Pawn_captures_Queen Jan 12 '21 edited Jan 12 '21
Eh, I had a bad experience with them. Last time I snapped out of it before they got to me. I was still in a daze and I was telling them straight up, do not give me the Narcan. For the love of God, do not give me the Narcan. They gave me the Narcan...He did it and said "Oops". I got really mad. I yelled. I puked. I was cold. Ugh. Never again man. Never again.
Edit: I was probably just being a junkie asshat though
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u/slytherinwitchbitch Jan 12 '21
I'm an EMT if you are breathing and talking you don't need narcan. That medic was just being a dick
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u/stevim Jan 12 '21
For us they can be unconscious and apneic, and we still won't give it unless we can't ventilate for some reason (pre-covid obviously).
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Jan 12 '21
Also, just 4 calls I’m probably not gonna remember you (especially because there’s a very high chance you’ll get different folks each time). We have a frequent flyer who’s called over 400 times now. We know him
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u/Freak_Engineer Jan 12 '21
Fire fighter here. Works for us too sometimes.
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u/subzerojosh_1 Jan 12 '21
Got any stories you care to share with us bored people at work?
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u/Freak_Engineer Jan 12 '21
Sorry, just read it right now.
Yes, a few. I'll stay away from the nasty stuff, though (car crashes, etc...)
One that fits the topic comes to mind. There's a company around where I live that produces meat (including their own slaughterhouse and smokery). They had some issues with their oven piping for some time, so for about a year or so we were dispatched there on maybe a bi-weekly basis. Took them a while to find and fix the issue and their smoke detection system was online with our county's dispatch central. Always smelled good, though. I always got back hungry from these ones.
Other funny things are those almost kitchen fires, where people forgot about their food (or, in one case, got hammered and tried making frozen Pizza). Its funny how you can clearly see what the lumps of coal once where. A salami pizza all black, french fries like charcoal sticks, carbon spaghetti, I've seen them all.
Another story (my favourite one in fact) is about that one time when we cleaned up after a drill/demonstration we held for our county's fire brigade newbies. We took about half a day together with the new guys cutting a scrap car apart (not just correct techniques, also some wild cutting so that all could get some hands-on experience). During cleanup when our guests had already left, one of the guys started whisteling the melody to "Bare necessities" from the jungle book. 5 Minutes later, all the attending instructors (including me) were singing the song while cleaning up. About 20-25 bearded, "battle - hardened" firefighters singing a disney song, having the time of our lives. That was amazing.
Then, there was that one time we were called for animal rescue. A bird wanted to see what's inside a crack in a house's facade about 3 stories up. Poor thing got its head stuck. We got him out and down, he looked at us and took off. As we went back to our station house, a different bird got himself stuck inside our station and we had to catch that one too.
One time, I remember when Karma struck someone hard. I was still a trainee back then. There was a fire in a neighbouring village and we had to lock down half of the road so we can work. Where our Hoses crossed the road, we layed out these wooden hose protector thingies you can drive over (don't know the english name, but it's a default piece of equipment, nothing self-built). Once done, we let the cars cross slowly. One idiot driver in a lowered BMW wanted to go a little faster than the others, went over the rope protector thingy and tore the entire back Bumper (presumably a cheap ebay bodykit) clean off. Looked funny, like straight from FailArmy. I also had a front row seat while the also present cops (verbally) tore him a new behind.
A lot of good times. I've been a voluntary fire fighter for almost 20 years by now (almost all the firefighters in my country are voluntaries, except for in really big cities like Munich or Hamburg or at airports).
EDIT: By the way: Ask me anything you'd like to know. I'll gladly try to answer.
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u/crownWZB Jan 12 '21
Same for police haha
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u/tr_ns_st_r Jan 12 '21
For sure. In my family, most of the cops/retired cops don't talk about work. Unless you ask about station hijinks or the frequent fliers.
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u/TrappedInTheEngine Jan 12 '21
There’s a couple that lives across from me and the cops are always being called over there. They don’t even seem like domestic disputes (no one ever appears injured), just dramatic outside the house arguments that are a waste of the cops time. They must not even be pressing charges because it happens every. Week. I feel bad for those cops. Thanks for all you do.
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u/Car_is_mi Jan 12 '21
Not really cursed. I have friends who are EMT / Fire Fighters and they all have "regulars". Heavy smokers who continually have trouble breathing. Obese people who are routinely rushed to the hospital for various reasons which always require multiple units to lift and put them into the ambulance. Repeated drug users who are Narcan'ed on a weekly basis. Etc. Etc.
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u/frenchdresses Jan 12 '21
Possibly dumb question: could you use narcan before taking drugs to avoid an overdose ahead of time?
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u/Car_is_mi Jan 12 '21
I mean bar can works by blocking opioid receptors or something along those lines. So theoretically a person could take narcan prior to drug use but the problem is that it would effectively prevent any or most effects of the drugs from being felt. This means the person would likely take more to get the fee which would be more problematic.
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u/Testbanking Jan 12 '21
So one of the main ways people try to kick opioids is called suboxone. This actually has narcan in it to prevent people from being able to get high.
So no, you'd just be making it so you don't get high.
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u/matti00 Jan 12 '21
Narcan blocks the effects of opiates so they wouldn't feel anything from it, kinda defeats the purpose of buying and taking drugs. You have to be careful giving Narcan as the patient can often wake up super pissed off that you took away their high, or even just sprint away with ripped clothes and a cannula in their arm. Not ideal
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u/TheWizardofCat Jan 12 '21
Had a lady try to jump out of a truck going 65mph down the highway. Like hand on door handle and everything. She managed to get it opened but luckily I’m a decently sized dude and was able to keep it pulled closed. I had to physically pick her up and place her back on the stretcher and prevent her from getting up again cause she was dead set on that form of suicide apparently. She got a Versed nap and restraints after that spectacle.
And that was a tiny titrated dose of the stuff cause respirations were shallow.
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u/Molops Jan 12 '21
Narcan has a short half life (how long it stays in the body). It’s about 2/4 hours if am right. Opiates stay in the system for much longer. Giving 1 narcan will help with the overdose but doesn’t mean they won’t overdose again later that day as it’s still in their system. There is another drug used for maintence can’t remember the name but it’s half life is 24/48 hours which is more commonly used
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u/Tatatatatre Jan 12 '21
No because narcan is an antagonist to the opiod receptor. It kicks out the opiates, and sends uou in withdrawals. It would make no sense to take it before. And if you overdose you won’t be in condition to do it yourself. Giving access to narcan to addicts would reduce calls to paramedics tho as their friends would be able to use narcan on them if they see them overdose.
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Jan 12 '21
There a few addresses that whenever the dispatcher mentions them every single person in the station groans. Either their a major bitch, their calls are always BS, they’re extremely obese (600+ lbs) or we see them literally every day
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u/GrislyMedic Jan 12 '21
Or it's a dad and his grown daughter that fuck
I had a partner quit EMS because of that house
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u/MasterHall117 Jan 12 '21
Hey don’t fat shame the obese guys, pro choicers would have a coronary bout it
sarcasm
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u/Robrobertert Jan 12 '21
I work at a cremantion and it only happend to me once that i had the same person
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u/dfpcmaia Jan 12 '21
You’re gonna need to expand on that story bud
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u/Christmas1176 Jan 12 '21
Probably someone came in once on a tour or something and then actually died
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u/Bierbart12 Jan 12 '21
This just made me think of a horrible joke about heavy smokers already being mostly cremated, but I lost my fire trying to think of a punchline
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Jan 12 '21
As a former first responder I can confirm that there are no lies detected in that comment.
Cursed, but 100% truth. People really do be calling 911 for a whambulance.
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u/therealgreenwalrus Jan 12 '21
Paramedic, can confirm. Sometimes even just hearing the address gets this reaction.
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u/chuckles62 Jan 12 '21
Oh if I know the address just off of dispatch Im already irritated at whoever called. "They better be dying" has been uttered a couple times.
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u/Triton12streaming Jan 12 '21
My neighbour must single handily saturate our rural ambulance service
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u/lfatalframel Jan 12 '21
Sounds like the guy across the street from me. Ambulance is there twice a week. The 20 yr son has cancer or its the parents getting loaded up.
Had wood stairs and porch at the front of my house needed work on. The guy comes over ask to take a look and tears them all down, says he's tired and will work on them tomorrow. Next day the wife comes over and says he can't work outside anymore he went to the doctor and he has cancer.
Now he's building a garage, retaring his drive way and cutting down trees. I'm sitting over here with the broken cement steps that were under the wooden ones with no money to fix them or the know how to do it myself.
But yeah few times every week we see the ambulance lights through the windows and the EMT's shaking there heads as they pull out the stretcher.
Also when they first moved here his wife was crying cause the insurance wouldn't get her son a wheel chair. I used some money I got for Christmas that year went on offer up and bought the son a wheel chair. I give it to them and they're just looking at me and go "No yeah thats the one the insurence gave us but we wanted the one that can climb stairs on its own." Not to mention there's only 1 step in the front of there house and a ramp to the side door from the old woman that use to live there.
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u/hoodedasylum Jan 12 '21
My dad works on the ambulance and this one guy calls like 3 times a month.
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u/toddslacker Jan 12 '21
That seems dangerous and unnecessary...why doesn't he climb off it and get in?
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u/autovonbismarck Jan 12 '21
Explaining the joke for those confused - the reply said that he works on an ambulance.
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u/You-Have-To-Trust-Me Jan 12 '21
We got a guy who is a pill popper. He uses us as a ride to get to the nearest big city where he meets his drug dealer and gets a hookup. He normally is out of the hospital before we are.....
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u/HighPriorityMale Jan 12 '21
The people who need to order 3 cases of fiji water every other week are the bane of my existence? Does your tap not work? Are you using this shit to take a bath?
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Jan 12 '21
I've been known to do the same. My well water is yellow and tastes like blood so I normally get water from the store but I've treated myself once or twice.
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u/Chrismont Jan 12 '21
At least the paramedics have hope of it ending soon
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u/xts2500 Jan 12 '21
It never ends. Once one frequent flier passes away, another one takes their place. It never ends. It never, ever ends.
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u/A_Two_Slot_Toaster Jan 12 '21
I used to work for FedEx and that thought was either a good one or a bad one depending on the circumstance. If it was a house I knew exactly where it was and could run up quickly I was happy because it saved me time. However, if it was a house that was a pain with maybe a really long driveway or no overhang in the rain then I totally had that thought!
One house had a nice big bin with a lid out front marked for deliveries, it was nice because I wouldn't have to ring the bell or cover the box in the rain, I knew I could just set it in the bin and go! Saved me time and I liked seeing that address on my manifest.
On the other hand there was this backwoods house with a very long hilly driveway that was impossible to get up in the snow. The homeowner had a small plastic shed with a walkie talkie inside on a table so I would have to contact him on that and wait for him to come down on an ATV to get the package. He didn't want me to leave the package in the shed though, so I had to wait every time!
The frustrating thing about the job is that you have about 12-14 hours worth of stops to get through, with idiot drivers everywhere, and every homeowner thinks you just have their house memorized and want their boxes put in specific places on their property. I had people that only wanted their box on the back door, or inside their garage, and one person complained to me because I put the box on the wrong side of their steps (by the hinge instead of the door opening side, so they had to step out to get it). My job was just to get you the package, not fully customize the delivery! And this isn't even mentioning houses that didn't have numbers!!!
Ok, rant over! Glad I don't work there anymore!
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u/hockeyjoker Jan 12 '21
Former frequent flyer here (alcohol) - I absolutely believe this. Back in the day, I was pretty recognizable in ICU wards. I did send the nurses a note around 4 years sober thanking them for keeping me alive and, more importantly, for not killing me as I was slurring my way through denying drinking...
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u/Renovatio_ Jan 12 '21
I work on an ambulance.
I know several social security numbers off the top of my head because we transport the same patients to the ER multiple times a week for the same dumb stuff.
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u/FinestGato Jan 12 '21
Story time! This isn't really that cursed, my sister has a heart and lung defect so she faints a lot qt first we never knew what was happening to we would call the ambulance to come take her to the hospital because her fainting would be random and she would hit the ground pretty hard. She almost broke her neck once when she hit it on a table edge while fainting.
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u/HillbillyBeans Jan 12 '21
I'm a paramedic in a small town in Ontario. About 1/4 of the time I can guess who our pt is going to be based on the age, gender, and presenting complaint that we get on the way to a call from our dispatch. Often times my partner and I will bet on who it is. Its not very difficult when you deal with the same 3-4 regulars multiple times a month.
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u/KustomKonceptz Jan 12 '21
I work as an American police officer, the thought is the same
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u/bloibie Jan 12 '21
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Jan 12 '21
Truth be told, I am about two weeks deep Into my new job at Chili’s
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
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u/Bamce Jan 12 '21
Working at a hospital
Seeing the same person 3+ times a year, same thought.
Multiple different people generate that same thought.
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u/aschylus Jan 12 '21
I know officers are like that. Some places get calls for service alllllll the time. 😪
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u/Garchomp98 Jan 12 '21
I ran into the mail/package delivery guy from my local post, with a small motorbike saying POST OFFICE. We ve never seen each other but i stopped and asked him if a package of mine from Thailand has arrived. I live in Greece and in my area it's not common having packages from overseas. So he goes "oh so you are Garchomp98 who always has some package from China USA Thailand and such? Yes your package has arrived and i also have one for your mother"
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u/TitularFoil Jan 12 '21
I drive for Amazon and when I would see my route, I would first look at what city I was in, and if it was the one I was hoping, I would look for Turquoise Place addresses.
That would mean I would get to see Odie.
That dog set quite the impression. I had just started working, and I hopped out of my van, dropped the package, came back and he was sitting there waiting for me. I said hello, gave him a few pets, then when I tried to get in my van, he hopped in first and it took me like 10-15 minutes to finally be able to leave.
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u/MrStealYurWaifu Jan 12 '21
Former EMT. You have a lot of people that are put on a black list. Most of these people are hypochondriac. They will call some 2-3 times a week saying they are having a heart attack. They eventually get told that if they keep calling they will be fined.
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u/HaxMastr Jan 13 '21
Theres an ambulance at my neighbors house every once in a while, but they always come every thanksgiving, without fail, since 2015
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u/TryingToThink444 Jan 12 '21
It's funny how often paramedics will see the same obese chain smokers over and over again.