Overdose Weekend

Here is how my weekend went:

("Drug" here includes but is not limited to alcohol...)

Accidental Drug overdoses: 2
(the consumption was no accident, just the overdose part...)

Purposful Drug overdoses: 1

Severe chest pain with Cardiac hx: 1

Seziures with seziure hx: 1

Ankle injury: 1


The call I felt best about was the cardiac. Nothing heroic, it just felt good. Fast IV start on firt shot, good treatment outcome (O2, ASA and nitro x 2; pain from 8 on 10 to 3 on 10), and proper hospital selection (which meant a 40 min ambulance trip to a Cath lab). This call epitomized why I wanted to be a medic in the first place. The call was a way out of town, and the local rescue got out with firefighters with no EMS certs (they were basically holding her hand when I got there, as they couldn't even give her O2). I was the only medic free in the area, and without me, this patient would have had BLS only care for a trip to our local hospital, which would have had to do a full work up only to transfer her to the hospital up the road for definitive treatment. When I was a basic these calls bugged me because they should be handeld ALS (advanced life support), and many times a call like this would result in a medic being asked for two or three times, to no avail. There are still gaps in our ALS coverage, but I am proud I can provide ALS to my community, and on this call I may well have made a difference in this patient's long-term prognosis. THAT is why I wanted to do this volunteer medic "thing". I'm glad I did.