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Bad Call
Yesterday while on duty i ran a call on a 11 year old girl that had hung herself from a tree. Did everything i could to try and revive her but she was in the tree to long. What upset me the most was i cant understand why a 11 year old would want to do something like that. No to mention that i could not save her.i have never had a call affect me, and i have run on some really bad ones, but that one did. Would appericiate if you guys could say a prayer for the girl and her family.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Roy Walker on
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I'm hoping you have a stress debriefing team available to you. Don't be afraid to use these services, gone are the days when we were scorned for seeking help. We all operate in a tough environment and getting counselling is as important to your mental health as are universal precautions which we all use. My prayers are with you but don't go it alone brother
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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When I was a paramedic, there was no such thing as Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. Now there is. Read it, adopt it and get you and your personnel appropriate assistance to put this incident behind you so you can get on with your life, with minimal baggage.
TCSS,
CBz
Caught off guard and "numb" from the impact of a critical incident, individuals and communities are often ill-equipped to handle the chaos of such a catastrophic situation. Consequently, survivors often struggle to regain control of their lives as friends, family, and loved ones may be unaccounted for or are found critically injured, lay dying or are already dead. Additionally, the countless others who have been traumatized by the critical event may eventually need professional attention and care for weeks, months and possibly years to come. The final extent of any traumatic situation may never be known or realistically estimated in terms of trauma, loss and grief. In the aftermath of any critical incident, psychological reactions are quite common and are fairly predictable. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) can be a valuable tool following a traumatic event. Full Story
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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We'll say a prayer for them and then for you as well. You did what you could. You'll always remember that day, but we hope you'll never feel guilty.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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"we don`t "save" people. We are trained to help them thru their emergency."
That's a great way to put it Ralph. So often we get caught up in the "event" that it can become personal to us, when in fact it's not our emergency.
Stay safe!
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Permalink Reply by Aaron Mannan on
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Roy, i dont think i could have suggested anything better. in NM we are blessed to have that service available to our departments. Blake, take Roy's advice and go with the CISD if you have it in your state. i will make sure that a good word gets put in to God for all the families included, including yours. best of luck amigo.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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I had a good friend whose son hung himself as a HS freshman. When I found out I was with a PD LT. His city, about 4X the size of yours, has about 1 teen suicide a month. A far too often event if you ask me. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I wish I could say that this is going to be the worse call you will ever experience in you career but I'd be lying to you. Get the help YOU need so that you will be there again when you are NEEDED.
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Permalink Reply by brian cox on
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You Know 27 years ago when I got into the fire service you were looked down on so to speak if you let calls like that bother you. But I can look back on those bad calls where you go home and cry and hold your child tight and not want to let go. I can also look back at some of the firemen that took there own lives because of those bad calls. Now at my department we dont give a firefighter the choice to talk to someone if we have a bad call. We call a team in to help out. One thing I have learned over the years is that we feel pain just like everyone. dont try and forget about the bad calls dont ask why, we will have the answer in time and then we might understand why some of this stuff happens. And if you cant find anyone to talk to my phone is always on.
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Blake it seems like I always have a story to relate to these threads,guess maybe I've been around too long myself. In our case we deal with a lot of the LEO'S often enough that we get to know some of the regulars, On this call we had a car pull out in front of a tractor trailer at a stop sign. I stood beside an officer from the motorcycle division as he took the statement from the truck driver , the woman in the car was a lone occupant pronounced at the scene. The driver swore the woman looked directly into his eyes then slowly pulled away from the stop sign deliberately into his path. The investigators believed it was suicide. Two hours later we heard that the officer left the scene went directly back to his locker room and shot himself. We all tried to figure if we had missed something that might have prevented the officer's death but we will never be sure. That is why you don't try to push on with these bad feelings deal with them now before they are more than you can handle
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Permalink Reply by Blake Sexton on
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ya we dont have a cisd team, i work in one of the most poverty stricken areas in the country. but as far as the call goes i will not loose any sleep over it. I have run way worse calls than that one just not with kids well had a 2 year old hit by an ak47 round but she survived . Being a FF you always want to bring someone back and i was really hoping that she would be the one. One thing that pissed me off was i rode in with the medic and continued cpr he never started a line or intubated her ,he just used the bvm. So when we got to the hospital they had to waste valuable time doing this, but she was brought back for a minute or so, but she just couldnt hold on. I might think about it a day or two afterwards, pondering what could have been done different, but other than that it dont affect me.
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Please be careful sometimes it does affect you more than you know,as for not having a team , talk to some of the others that were on the call with you , that can help. Don't be afraid to talk to some of the people on this site they are a wealth of information and help.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Voges on
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I was always told that we are there because there is a problem that takes the skills that we have. We did not create the problem, and we are not there to add to it, but to do what we can to help the people that need use. I haven't worked a code that the person live after we got the to the hospital, but that is how it goes some times. Keep your head up and talk to someone about it. God bless and we will keep you in our prayers.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Powers on
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Blake, I know medics are trained in intubation and there are some really good ones that have a good hand on this art. There are also risks involved with intubation. Intubating the esophagus, permanent damage to the vocal cords, exacerbation of upper airway inflammation are all serious risks that must be considered. If the medic was using the BVM and was moving adequate air, he was giving proper pt. care. The current thought on resuscitation is moving further away from airway and more toward continued compressions. Even a quick tube will take 30 seconds away from compressions. In these types of incidents people tend to look for the scape goat. Don't look down on this medic because he did not do what you think he should have done. If you are curious, talk to him and ask tactful questions about the ordeal. The medics I have studied under during my clinical rotations have always told me to ask them questions. If they could not appropriately explain themselves, then they should not have done what they were doing.
I am sorry to hear that you do not have a CISD team. But here is how you work around that, if you talk to the medic about the situation then guess what, you are doing a debriefing that will be beneficial to both of you. Just don't make it into a blame game. Everyone on the call should be able to talk to the others to express their grief. I have seen on a couple of occasions when the dinner table at the ambulance house turned into a CISD session. It might be informal, but it can still accomplish the same goal.
Stay safe and good luck with this situation.
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