Heat Waves (And Other Fun Things)

If the temperature outside is 103 degrees Fahrenheit, I do not want to stair chair you into your home. Stay in the hospital. They have better air conditioning.

Especially since I threw out my back last week on another stair chair job and am now wearing a ThermaCare heat wrap to deal with the pain. (Days off are for the weak. And for people with air-conditioned houses to relax in all day.)

I also do not want to go wandering around the worst (un-air-conditioned) housing projects in the city with a police escort looking for my patient. (Although I don't mind helping an old lady carry her new air conditioners to her apartment after we give up searching.)

I do, however, want to go to Brothers Police and Security Store. SO. MANY. UTILITY. POUCHES.

Sometimes...

...these things just happen. Ladies and gentlemen, your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated.

Ambulance Crashes Into Tree In Woodbury

MOLST (pt. 1)

Dear Healthcare Proxy (child over age 18),

When I'm transporting your parent for a dislodged PEG tube for the third time this month, I want you to know that this is not normal. I want you to sit down and discuss things with your parent. Deciding to set up a MOLST form (the NY State version of DNR/DNI) is not an easy conversation.

I am aware that your parent has expressive aphasia and hemiparesis from the stroke. But I want you to know that your parent is completely alert and oriented, and that we have very pleasant discussions (even if I do most of the talking and they make faces and squeeze my hand in reply).

I know you may not want to hear this. The MOLST form probably wasn't set up earlier because you had no reason to expect the stroke.

But I also know that transporting your parent to and from the hospital nearly every week is not a fun experience for anyone. Your parent is perfectly aware of their actions. Your parent is perfectly aware of their quality of life in a nursing home. And your parent has taken the situation into their own hands.

You can't change that reality by upping their dosage of anti-depressants.

Put on your grown-up pants and do your parent the biggest favor they'll ever ask from you.

Updates:

I made the blog a little purtier. Still loving the basic layout, it matches my EMT patch. :)

My house is full of strange couch surfers. Again.

I have an awesome sunburn. Note to self: apply sunscreen prior to ingesting alcohol. Also, still loving the Cyclone, but this new Luna Park has nothing on Astroland. And fun fact for you NYC EMS (and potential tourists): Bring your license to the Coney Island freak show and you get a discount.

More to come...

Lifting

Lifting is one of those basics we all learned in EMT class or at our first job in EMS. Squat, get a firm grip, and lift up with the legs.




We get lectured and lectured and lectured. Body mechanics, and injury prevention, and asking for lift assists when needed. You never ever bend your back to lift, and it's all because of the discs between the vertebrae in your spine. They cushion the weight across their full surface so long as your back is straight. When you bend your back, you're putting pressure on just a small portion or edge of the disc. Add a bunch of extra weight to a spine that isn't cushioning properly and your back isn't going to work the way you want it too.

These are discs. Be nice to them, because they can herniate, too. And no one likes hernias.



We all do stupid things. Particularly when it comes to putting our patients before our own safety. Because when you've got a bariatric patient in severe respiratory distress, sometimes you lift wrong to get the job done. As in, when your legs can't compensate for the additional weight and you have to throw your back and arms into it.

And then... you will be sore. You will be very, very sore, and you will have to take a sick day.

For those quiet times when you can consider things, like your sanity, here's some reading:

Lifting and Moving - hopperinsitute.com

Watch Your Back - emsresponder.com

Bariatric Lifting and Moving - emsresponder.com

Also, can I get one of these? As an early birthday present? Pretty please?

At some point in time I might separate my EMS related posts from my rest-of-my-life related posts. But as of right now, they're the sum of a whole. :)

And I should be less cranky now that school looks slightly realistic again.

And I can't drive for 3 weeks because I scratched the side of my ambulance pulling out of an ER bay.

Oops.