A Probie's First Callout- Part 2

"Jason, you have your pack ready?"
"Yes maam"
"Good, follow Kenny, you're chief medical, don't fuck up"

You
Have
Got
to be
Kidding
Me

That was, word for word, what went through my head. I shoved the trauma kit and an extra pig rig into my pack as it was thrown at me (memo to self, bring a bigger pack next time), an extra liter of water, and resisted the urge to piss and vomit.

We started up the "trail" in two teams that quickly caught each other. Trail is really a loose term for a deer path up some quasi scree. After a wrong turn, Kenny and I found ourselves at the front of the group and were able to stretch our legs out a little.

I would like to digress for a second into one of the reasons I really liked this rescue (and hopefully rescues in the future). I've always had an aptitude for endurance sports. I was an elite cyclist, I ran in high school, I've always been able to hump the heavy pack really fast for a long time. This was, however, the first time that it actually meant something. Whatever genetics I was born with or hard work I've put into my heart, legs, and lungs finally was able to do something other than just cross a white line in the middle of nowhere....

Because there was no helicopter in the air it was hard for us to know exactly where our patient (victim?) was. We had a general idea from the team members in the helicopter who had dropped a survival bag to him but the perspective from the air and from the ground are vastly different. The survival bag contained glow sticks but they were all but worthless in the deep scrub oak we were fighting.

Kenny and I found ourselves in deeper vegetation and on a steep side hill fighting the branches that obstructed our way, and periodically yelling but never getting a response. In the 45min it took us to hike the 1800 vertical feet in there were a lot of thoughts in my head. Was our patient still conscious? Still alive? Are we in the right draw? Did we pass him? I had no frame of reference with which to base anything on and we kept pushing.

Bright yellow green is not a color that belongs in the woods, but visualizing the glow sticks from the survival bag made my bag feel lighter and upped our pace. Kenny had not been able to find them but trusted me and we plowed oh so ungracefully through the woods towards it, cliffing ourselves out twice, and finally descending to the patient.

I approached from the uphill side and the patient's head- usually not a good idea (I don't want to startle him nor make him crane his neck) but dictated by the terrain. He looked good, in the survival bag and yelling at us. I could see about 25feet of scree that had been disrupted when he fell- the MOI for a spinal compromise was certainly there.

"Hi, my name is Jason, I'm an EMT with ________ county search and rescue, what hurts?"

"My leg.... where's the helicopter?"

"Dude (yes, I called a patient dude...oops), there's no helicopter tonight, we're carrying you out."

"Oh shit"

Oh shit is right....

Ahhhh, I'm an idiot

There will be a few posts popping up in a second. I had been saving them as drafts and not posting them. Please, no one tell the admissions committees that I'm an idiot.

A Probie's First Callout- Part 1

We had just finished a ropes rescue training session, it was 9 O'clock, dark, and slightly drizzling. There had been the usual SAR team bullshit arguing about our team standards, whether or not we should have attendance requirements, what our medical certification level should be, etc. Not surprisingly that all disappeared as everyone unconciously reached for their hip as the multitude of beeper tones and vibrations began.

The five probationary officers of my incoming class looked at each other. I'm sure it was a look akin to a combination of a deer in the headlights and a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. We'd been on the team for two weeks, had three training sessions of training under our belt and were very, very green. Hell, we barely knew how to call in 10-8 (on duty) to the dispatcher, all of just listened to radio traffic for a few minutes once we were in our cars.

The trailhead was only 15minutes away, it probably should have been twenty but most of us drove a little to fast. Of course, it didn't matter. In typical SAR fashion we stood around in the parking lot for 30min just waiting. One of the more experiences members of the team knowingly stopped and grabbed a burrito on the way over- I envied him for most of the next 10 hours.

Not much longer we had a National Parks Service helo on scene and the old, ex vietnam era military era, pilot to go with it (I say this with all due respect, it was the only helicopter we could get at night, in a slight rain). We also had the patient on a dieing cell phone but he didn't know where he was. The bird went up, the Haste team went up the trail and the search began in earest. All while the newbies sat on the bumpers of their cars.

I packed, repacked, and packed again my backpack. Then I drank a liter of gatorade, a liter of water, pissed a lot, and waited. All the while I wished I had packed more food than the package of oreos I scavenged from the floor of my car (the proverbial shit show that it is) and a cliff bar from a cycling jersey on said shit show. It didn't matter, I reasoned, there was no way I was going to be put "on the hill".

Word came back that they found the hiker and he was much farther south of where we were at. The whole shebang of private SAR cars, our mobile incident command center (a large motorhome), fire trucks, ambulances, and the rest picked up shop and moved to a closer location. I hesitate to call it a trailhead because, well, there was no trail. Again, everyone who knew how to do something did it and the probies waited. I made sure I had my pack on and clothes ready to go so I wouldn't have to strip off any layers if I got to go up...

"What about Jason, he teaches Wilderness EMT classes, let him go up" I have good ears and a curious mind and I couldn't help but overhear one of the training officers talking to a COG (crusty old guy- again, a term of incredible indeerment).
"Nah" A simple anwer accompanied by a head shake that seemed final. My hopes, what little were there, were killed.
Yet, another training officer began speaking to the COG and after 5min he nodded, very subtley, and walked away. I wouldn't let myself believe it, I had to be making things up.
"Jason, you have your pack ready?"
"Yes maam"
"Good, follow Kenny, you're chief medical, don't fuck up"

To be continued.....

And So It Begins...

Alright, as of 5:00pm yesterday I'm part of the Search and Rescue team and officially on call.

• Pager? Check

• Radio? Check

• Radio chest harness? Check

• Backpack dutifully packed, in my car, and ready to go? Check?

• New Box of climbing goodies? Check

• Training? Ummmm, we're working on that.

Each new member received our basic first aid kits and a small amount of high angle rescue gear, plus our electronic leashes (pagers) that will define our lives for a while to come. I'm kind of a geek so I ripped into the first aid kit right away. We were told that we can add whatever we want, but we have to have at least this as a minimum:

-Trauma sheers

-BVM

-Sam Splint X1

-NiTride gloves

-Small bio bag

-1 large roll Kerlix

-4 4X4 Gauze

-1 Combine dressing 8X 10

-2 triangle bandages

-Tape

-Emergency blanket

-Mole Skin 4X3”

-3 antimicrobacterial wipes

-2 triple antibiotic

-2 Ibu (Cedaprin)

-2 Diphen

-Bandaids

-1 Bug X towelette

-1 Sunscreen

-1 sting relief

I added:

1. Two more SAM splints
2. Acetaminophen (in case someone is allergic to both aspirin and Ibuprofen)
3. Small mag light
   
4. Maxi pads (don't laugh, they're the best wound control I can find other than a quick clot bandage)
5. Tongue depressors (I'm super nervous about putting my fingers in patient's mouths)
6. Smaller gloves for bystanders, bigger gloves to fit over my thin pair of liners.
   

I'll be in a probationary period for the next 9 months. That means I have to be at all the training sessions an 67% of the call outs. The probability of me getting called out before all of my basic training is complete is pretty high because of our call volume (2-3 per week on avg.). I just hope that they'll use me as a pack mule and not much else. Its not that I'm not comfortable with my high angle rescue skills or my medical knowledge (I teach that stuff...) its that having never worked with anyone on this team before I have no idea what to expect, I have no idea how THEY do things, and I sure as hell don't want to piss anyone else off.

One....More....Month

Looks like in a month I'll begin training with the Search and Rescue team. I wish I had something more exciting to report. A Sheriff's Deputy dropped by my house to look around today and talk with me, then interviewed my neighbors, and yesterday called all of my former bosses and everyone I've ever lived with. They're taking this rather seriously I guess.

I'm excited...
I'm excited to be on call
I'm excited to hump it up a trail and help someone (i.e. 90% of rescues...)
I'm excited to pull people off rocks
I'm excited to learn how to pull people our of rivers
I'm excited to challenge myself and to be a part of the team

I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise that it won't be boring!

Pre-Employment Physical

After being poked, prodded, tested, and felt up I'm one step closer to actually starting on the Search and Rescue team. All that stands in my way now is my yet-to-be-completed FBI background check (because our SAR team is Law Enforcement based its required, we also assist in fugitive recovery and child abduction response).

Surprise, I passed my physical. I guess devoting the last ten years of my life to attempting to become a professional cyclist has some perks. My 12 lead EKG actually came back as Sinus Bradycardia... my resting heart rate was about 39. The rest of the physical was unremarkable. Except that I HATE FRIGGIN NEEDLES. I'm terrified of them. Hence, the blood draw was not fun, nor were the immunizations, nor was the TB test. All I have to do now is get XRayed and hope my background check passes!

The Basic Amentities...

Sorry its been a while. I've been working... a lot... between 4 jobs and about 83 hours a week average. The funny thing is that I enjoy all of my jobs enough that it doesn't seem to bad. Sure, not hanging out with the girl of the moment and driving all the time sucks. But, what can ya do?

Interestingly enough we've had some issues at our house too. I say house, but in reality its a cabin... in the woods...at 6500 feet or so. For instance, our septic tank overflowed. So, no toilets for a while until that got fixed (the work bathroom sure saw a lot of use). Now, our well is having issues and hence no water. Its actually quite a challenge to live without running water. We cart up 25 gallon jugs of water from the valley but still no *running* water. No showers, no toilets, and its hard to wash the dishes. Forget laundry or washing the bikes!

In the back country there isn't indoor plumbing either, obviously, but I'm also not having to show up for work, be close to customers, and teach classes. Its not good for me to stink! So, I'm at a loss for what to do until all of this is taken care of.

Also, I've been debating which direction I want this blog to go. It began as a semi-anonymous chronicle of my journey to get into medical school and then hopefully points beyond through the medical education system. But, during the summer there isn't much of that going on. Sure, I think everything I do helps me in one way or another but not really directly. Plus, if I begin to get to specific I loose what little anonymity I have (example: I teach wilderness medicine classes... but if I said any more than that a lot of people would know exactly who I work for). We'll see in the future where it goes. I like writing though, when I have the time. Its calming and allows me to organize my thoughts.

Until then, cheers! And thanks for reading!