Memorable Work Story

Created On: 05/27/2018
Edited By Jonblair On: 05/27/18

My Time As An Emergency Medical Technician:

Somehow I found the time to squeeze in a short stint as an EMT during a period I resided in Northern California in the early 1980's. After attending EMT School at a local Community College, followed by qualification exams and licensing, I interned for a short period at a local Ambulance Company, and was later hired following the successful internship. When an emergency happens, it can be scary, chaotic, and sometimes dangerous; every once in a while, even humorous.

My partner and I responded to a middle-aged female who called 911 in the middle of the night (it's always in the middle of the night) for an unknown problem. We knocked on her door, only to see her open it a crack, peer out, and ask in a suspicious tone, "Are you the good guys, or are you with those bad guys in the trees?" Since we were the only two people there, we were pretty confident in our good-guy status and were granted entry.

She was hallucinating terribly… she literally thought there were a bunch of bad guys out to get her in her front yard, and she refused to leave her house. She would not get in our ambulance. She kept peering out the window and telling us about the guys with guns.

At the end of the day, our job was to get people the help they needed, and she refused to listen to our pleas that there were no bad guys outside. So my partner and I role-played -- I told her she would be safe with us, because we were tactically trained in urban assault EMS techniques. Oddly enough, that calmed her down.

My partner ran out on the porch, looked left, looked right, and ran as fast as he could to open the back of the ambulance door. I stayed with the patient and told her we would protect her at all costs. My partner yelled from the back of the ambulance, "Sector 5 is clear! Move, move, move!" I told my patient it was now or never: "Let's roll! Go, go, go!" We both did a duck-and-cover as we took a flying leap into the back of the ambulance. I barked orders to my partner, "Get up front, let's roll! Make sure we're not followed!" He promptly complied and, lights blazing and siren blaring, took the 'safe route' to the emergency room. I kept looking out the back windows and reassured my patient that we were not being followed. Our role-playing was certainly silly, but it worked as my patient felt 100% safe in the back of the ambulance with me, and she received the help she needed at the hospital.

My partner went on to attend Paramedic School. I chose to leave the emergency medical profession to begin a new career in the Insurance Industry, continuing my affiliation with the US Navy as a selected reservist (the first category of reservists to be re-called to active duty) until I retired.