A few weeks ago I rode with the Grand Junction Fire Department. On part of my tour I was in an ambulance.

While transporting a tiny elderly woman to Saint Mary’s in the ambulance I watched as the paramedic inserted a needle into her incredibly tiny vein on the first attempt while we were lumbering along. He drew five specialized blood samples, got her on oxygen, took and analyzed her EKG, listened to her heart, monitored her breathing, all the while asking her various questions and completing her medical file for the hand over.

When we pulled into the emergency room he had all the above information ready for the doctors and he had her prepped for further IVs the doctors might need.

This was one of many calls we went on that day and the huge majority were like this example, without lights and siren emergency authorization; just firefighters helping the many invisible people in our city. I am not new to emergency incidents but I am in awe at how professional these people are.

Now when I see a fire Department ambulance heading to Saint Mary’s even if no siren or lights are used, I cut them slack on the street because I now know there is someone in that ambulance that needs help.

JIM SHULTS
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.