As I'm climbing off the medic after a call, we get toned out again and I see Drew and Eric headed to another unit.

"Come on Sam, let's go," Drew says grabbing my hand as I step off the medic, "dislocated hip."

I sit in the back of the medic envisioning a frail old man that slipped down the stairs, dislocating his hip. I envision his pie-baking wife dialing 911 and greeting us with, "thank you so much for coming; I know it's late." When we arrive, what I find is very different.

In… Continue

"Station 2, unresponsive patient."

The tones drop for another county, interrupting my dream. Frustrated, I roll over in the bed as I hear station 2 and central dispatch corresponding.

"Medic 2 is en route."

"10-4."

"Medic 2 has arrived on scene."

"10-4."

"Central, show that we have a working code."

"10-4."

In my dream, I wonder about how little central dispatch ever seems to say. I hear the door creak open as light streams in the room. Someone pushes my… Continue

"Sam, this is your call," says my favorite paramedic with a wink. "C-Spine," I say more to myself than anyone else as I wrap my hands around our patient's neck. It's my first call ever as a precepting EMT, and it has to be an unrestrained passenger in a two-car motor vehicle collision. Our driver slides a collar under my fingers and secures it in place. As we carefully backboard our patient, I ask him about his pain, run the gamut of SAMPLE questions, and once we have him in our medic, I start… Continue

I've grown restless of being an ambulance driver. I've run the gamut of precepting requirements and I'm now an official non-probationary medic driver. I should be excited, but I'm not; I long to be in the back.

Whenever we run a call, I get to help out a little bit. It's something like, "Sam, can you get a pulse-ox on him," or, "Could you get me a bp on her?" The little bit I get to do is thrilling.

I'm a doctor's daughter who wore kid-sized scrubs when dad would take me on rounds. I… Continue