A little prequel...
I've been working for Guardian Flight since December of 2017, starting out at the Lander ground EMS station (I'm now in Riverton). I've come to know the crew members and have become accustomed to...well, basically...life in an ambulance station. It ranges from very quiet (when they're asleep, or out on calls) to very busy, with pagers going off, the dispatch radio in the background, crew members collaborating on incident reports...in the kitchen, cooking or circling around the coffee pot...
In preparation for this article, I did a few actual ride-alongs with a crew, and I have to say...those were what affected me the most. It's one thing to listen to their stories...it's another to actually be there and witness them in action (which, quite frankly, blew me away). Then, there's the "sleep factor". I tried to stay awake for an entire shift, but by the time 2AM rolled around, I just couldn't do it...and I don't know how they do it. A day in the life of an EMT is, what can I say? A very, very long day.
I submitted this article to the Riverton Ranger and County 10 and I thank them for publishing. There is so much more to say about these every day heroes, but...without further ado, here is the original article:
National EMS Week: Lights and Sirens
By Carol Harper
When
you see the lights and hear the sirens, you know that something has happened and
it’s not good. It could be a car accident, a heart attack or stroke, a crime
scene. It could be a disaster or hazardous situation. It could be a standby for
fire or law enforcement, in case things go terribly wrong. In any event, someone
has dialed 911, and an ambulance is on its way.
May
20-26 is National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week, and in honor of those
who often run sleepless night shifts, never know what they’ll see on-scene, on
any given day – here is some insight on the life of an EMT that the public may
not know, and often doesn’t see.
Fremont
County EMTs and paramedics are scheduled, part or full time, for 48 hours in 12-hour
shifts from 08:00 to 20:00. The first thing that’s done in the morning is
called a rig check, where the crew members go through each ambulance and make
sure everything is stocked with supplies and the equipment is working. The vehicles
are maintained by a fleet program that keeps track of mileage, fuel, repairs
and scheduled maintenance.
The
station is like a second home to the EMT, and there’s always something to do
when not on a call. Crew members clean, mop the floors, wash the rigs. There
are sleeping quarters, a kitchen and laundry room. There is a code-accessed
office area where they input their reports to the Wyoming Ambulance Trip
Reporting System (WATRS). There are training rooms where they attend classes, hold
skills assessments and continued training to keep their certifications current.
“Station
life is like living in a shared home with lots of roommates,” said EMT Jarrett
Vargas. “Everyone gets together and keeps the place running like clockwork.
It’s a good environment to come back to after a call.”
“It
can be difficult, at times, when you want to be home with your family or
friends,” said EMT Seth Agee. “However, it’s usually a family environment at
the station, and you become great friends with your co-workers. I know at the
end of the day, they will have my back, and I would do the same for them.”
There
are three ground ambulance stations in Fremont County: Riverton, Lander and
Dubois. 911 calls are allocated by location, and communication is key between
dispatch, ambulance and hospital. For example, if you call 911 in Riverton, the
call for EMS services will go to county dispatch, who then puts the call through
their system, and that’s when the EMTs’ pagers at the Riverton station will
sound. The rigs are assigned as first, second and third call, so if one
ambulance and crew is out and another call comes in, the second will go out,
and so forth. EMTs will communicate with the hospitals with patient
information, vitals and ETAs. Ground EMS services also do patient transfers and
work together with the flight crews.
How
does an EMT prepare themselves to handle what they might see on a scene? “My
partner and I always communicate while driving to the scene and talk about what
we may need to do or what equipment to use,” Seth said. “I’ve found this works very
well and sets a game plan with my partner on how we want to proceed, once
getting on scene.”
“You
never know what you will see on a scene, so it’s hard to prepare for that,
exactly,” Jarrett said. “I believe I handle most things I see on a call pretty
well. There are a few, though, that I need to talk about with co-workers at the
end of the call or shift, in order to wrap my head around it.”
“We
see people on their worst days, not their best,” said EMT Cody Woodward. “It’s
often a thankless job. We’re not invited to the birthdays, the holiday parties
and barbecues. We’re the ones that show up on the bad days…be the ones to try
to explain to the wife why the husband isn’t breathing…keep a patient’s family
calm in the chaos.”
“One
thing I do is discuss a plan of action for the best and worst-case scenario,
based on the information we receive about the call,” said EMT Payton Seck.
“This method has helped, especially in cardiac arrest calls and vehicle
accidents that require extraction of a severely injured patient. I have found
that my response to shocking scenes is to do my job to the help the patient get
the care they need.”
There
are very few breaks for Emergency Services, and the call volume varies as much
as the nature of the emergencies. “The most challenging aspect of being an EMT
is dealing with the frustration that arises when I feel that someone is abusing
the service,” Payton said. “The ambulance service and response times suffer
when we get called to a remote location, and the injuries don’t appear to be
life-threatening, or we spend a lot of time looking for houses that don’t have
address numbers posted. Meanwhile, another call rings out across the county
where someone has suffered traumatic, life-threatening injuries. Response time
is critical in emergency medicine. We just try to hustle so we’re available
whenever the call rings out.”
Paramedic
Mike De Atley says the most difficult part of the job is “the sacrifice. To my
family. My off time isn’t necessary my ‘off time’, because I’ve got to study,
there are classes, a lot continuing education that has to be done. Then, if
we’re up and it’s busy…48 hours on your shift, on your rig…you’re burning the
candle at both ends before it starts burning down the middle. And you’ve got to
sleep. So my family loses out a lot.”
Diane
Lane, Interim Director of Guardian EMS, gives some insight and tips for the
public: “Call 911 in an emergency,
when it’s a matter of life or death. When you hear the lights and sirens, pull
over and let us through. Make sure your address numbers are visible. When we
arrive, have your pathways and hallways clear for us to get through. Have a
list of medications ready. If you have a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order, have
it accessible.”
“Most
of all, understand that our response time depends on many factors,” Lane
continues. “Rural locations, weather, road conditions. For example, there’s a
lot of road construction happening on Federal Blvd. in Riverton right now,
which means we have to take detours and side roads, and know that we also don’t
want to put the public at risk when we’re en route. So, as it might feel like a
long time before we get there, know that we are
on the way, and doing our very best to make it to you promptly and as safe as
possible.”
For
more information on National Emergency Services Week, visit at: www.emsstrong.org, click on “EMS
Week”.
Photos by Carol Harper
Photos by Carol Harper
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| Emily Ayers and Kayleigh Majewski do the morning rig check. |
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| L-R: Emily Ayers, Tracy Sessions, Whitney Christmann, Seth Agee, Ethan Curtis, Kayleigh Majewski at the Lander station. |
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| Josh Poff and Jarrett Vargas pose in front of their rig at the Dubois station. |
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| Julia Miller preps for the next call at SageWest Hospital in Riverton. |
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| Mike De Atley and Julia Miller, on scene at a car vs. motorcycle accident. |
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| Seth Agee and Ethan Curtin washing up a rig in Lander. |
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| We always hope we never have to see the inside of one of these...but if we do, this is what it looks like. |
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| Josh Chavarria and Chris Anglin gave a Q&A presentation for a church group at my parents' home. |
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| Josh Poff, Emily Ayers and Kirsten Larson-Derrick in the training room at the Riverton station. |
© Carol Harper. Contact: carol@coffeepong.com
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