The Guard Can take the floor for ....EMT TO THE FRONT FOR CHEST PAIN!!!

One of the "services" provided by the volunteers within our jurisdiction's fire and rescue department is EMT and Firefighter Standby. We take a unit or vehicle to a scene and become roving EMT's who can treat patients on scene and if neccessary radio into dispatch for more qualified units.

I volunteered to pick up a shift as a standby for the local high school's winter color guard adjudication. Didn't think we'd see much action so it was some good operational hours and a chance to catch up on some homework questions for EMT class.

Well, at least i thought it would be. I guess murphy's law kicked into effect when i sat back and started to doze off a little, that little angel on my shoulder kicks me in the head and I decide it might be a good idea to walk the halls. One of the guard members comes up to me and tells me about a kid sitting in the corner "unresponsive". GREAT WONDERFUL WOW!!!! I grab the bags, and my partner and head off to check on the kid. As soon as he sees black boots and uniform pants he perks right up, answered all our questions. He was just looking for attention, i had walked past him and seen people talking to him and he wasnt answering. Just goes to show you when you're a whiney attention seeker you don't always get the attention you're looking for, sometimes you have the shit scared out of you.

Ok, a little while later i decide to walk the halls again, i come across the auxiliary gym where some of the teams are practicing, there is a mom in the corner huddled over a girl who's holding her head and shes looking a little diaphoretic. Again, call for my partner and the bags. Shes complaining of a headache, N/V, and a sweaty feverish feeling. I take her temp, tempanically its 99.5, not too high, but that means her core is about 101, enough that I suggest my OIC do a workup on her and get some paperwork. Stick her on some O2 and get a cool pack on her neck. The oxygen brings her resp rate down, her pulse slows down a bit, her BP drops and the temp comes down. I think she was just ahving a wee bit of a panic attack and a big case of the nerves. I fealt kinda bad for her, she wound up missing her performance because we had her on a NRB with an icepack on her neck. Oh well, c'est la vie, there will always be other events.

A couple band-aids here, a skinned knee there and the night is almost over so i trot on over to the aux gym trolling for trauma, waiting for one of these girl's to drop a rifle or a sword on their head/foot/neck/face/friend's head/etc. Not paying off too well, but then over the scene radio i get an urgent call to the intake area. No details just EMT to the intake area, door 11, no door 8, no door 6 , finally they make up their mind, its door 5. I haul ass through the gym across theperformance floor and into the lobby. One of the performers is sitting there, classic tripod position, complaining of chest pain. Now mind you this isnt a waifish little dancer girl, shes a bit shall we say 'girthy'. I look at my OIC and he's got that "yup, i know what you're gonna ask for" look in his eyes. He gets on the radio and rolls a medic unit. Nothing to joke about when you have a patient complaining of chest pain x3 days, difficulty breathing and crushing pain in her chest. Get her on O2 and begin a workup, one guy on vitals, another guy on SAMPLE/OPQRST, and the OIC on the radio getting an ALS unit on scene.

Before the medic's get there she says shes caught her breath and this and that and doesnt want her mom to have to drive up from 4 hours away, she also tells us her extremities are tingling (telltale signs of a panic attack). We keep her and let the medic's get a look at her, by the time they get there shes got a normal sinus but shes a bit tachy. And they get on the phone with her mom and advise her that because of the nature of the complaint and the fact that its not an isolated incident that she should probably go to the hospital. The mom authorizes an AMA refusal over the phone and says they'll go to the doctor soon.

Not much we can do to counter that, the medic's tried their best. But AMA is AMA.

A good night all in all, save the part where i forgot to switch off the CAD in the utility and the battery died.

Learned a lot of good lessons, ran a tight ship, and learned a couple people i don'tknow if i'l work with again.

Odie OUT!