So it was my second last night shift being mentored back into the job. The crew Im with are fantastic, accommodating, helpful and good fun to work with.
I manage to get 2 Priority 1 drives in and my confindence has fully returned. While its still fun to drive P1 the thrill doesnt seem to be there anymore.
The night starts busy and keeps going. Nothing too exciting, a PFO, help an invalid off the floor, someone who is unwell and decides to wait until 11pm to do something about it. Some things dont change. A dehydrated patient that I manage to cannulate. It was a blind IV too - could feel the vein but not see it. Success!! Still have the midas touch :)
We get stood down for a meal break at 11pm. Luckily I had some dinner before the shift started but my colleagues are starving. They wolf down their food.
29 minutes into the break another P1. A polynesian who Cant breaf. (SOB). Nothing too serious but we take her in. She declines my offer to rehydrate her via a 16g IV.
Safely dropped off to an already overflowing ED we head to central station to complete the break. No sooner had we pulled in when we get my last and most exciting job.
Two very inebriated young men had run across a petrol station forecourt to the back of the property and jumped over a concrete wall into what they thought was a bushy domain. They clearly didnt realise that the dark void they jumped into was in fact a shear 7m drop from the petrol station down to the overgrown section below.
The SERT jeep gets responded first, we are second to get called and another vehicle also gets responded. Im thinking thats a bit of overkill but the dispatchers decision to send so many units, as it turns out, was a great decision. We need all the hands we can get.
Access to the overgown bush clad section is via a narrow walkway beside a house next to the petrol station. Its dark, muddy, slippery, steep and awkward. We all grab a bit of kit and pick our way gently over the rugged terrain to the torchlight of the SERT guys who have located the patients in a clearing directly under the wall.
Both patients appear intoxicated which may have been their saving grace. They seem incredibly lucky not to have sustained any serious injuries. One has a ?#tib/fib, the other no obvious injuries but very drowsy. The SERT guy gets Fire Rescue on their way.
I go back up to the road to greet the first arriving fire engine and ask them for 2 stokes baskets. Its the easiest, safest and most effective way to get these guys out. The Fire pump SO gets on his radio - "make rescue tenders 2". The City appliances are busy so Avondale and Takapuna ET's are sent. In the end we get Avondales ET and the Parnells aerial appliance which also has a stokes basket.
The Fire guys rig up some lighting so we can actually see what we are dealing with. They also cut down a section of fence which gives us better access. 2 stokes baskets appear and a bunch of willing fireman. These guys are worth their weight in gold.
Collared, packaged, cannulated we scoop our patients up into the stokes baskets and the fireman carry them up to our ambulances. You guys rock.
We load them onto our stretchers while a TV camera looks on. Into the ambulance the camera steals a final zoom in on our patient as I close the doors.
We are only about 1km from the hospital. After a quick R40 we arrive at ED and trundle our patient into Resus. The other ambulance is only just ahead of us.
The job has gone very smoothly. No panic. No fuss. Everyone pitched in and did their thing. A real team effort. Thank god it was the last job though Im covered I perspiration, mud and vegetation.
We return to station, restock, clean up, debrief and I head home. Tired but on a high.
