asilvertrinityknot

[asilvertrinityknot]

Description: An image of a pain scale titled 0 to 10 on a Scale of Pain Severity with text describing each category. Here is the text version starting with 0.

0. No Pain. I have no pain.

1.  Minimal. My pain is hardly noticeable

2. Mild. I have a low level of pain. I am aware of my pain only when I pay attention to it.

3. Uncomfortable. My pain bothers me, but I can ignore it more of the time.

4. Moderate. I am constantly aware of my pain, but I can continue most activities.

5. Distracting. I think about my pain most of the time. I cannot do some of the activities I need to do each day because of the pain.

6.  Distressing. I think about my pain all of the time. I give up many activities because of my pain.

7. Unmanageable. I am in pain all of the time. It keeps me from doing most activities.

8. Intense. My pain is so severe it’s hard to think of anything else. Talking and listening are difficult.

9 Severe. My pain is all I can think about. I can barely talk or move because of the pain.

10. Unable to Move. I am in bed and can’t move from my pain. I need someone to take me to the Emergency Room to get help for my pain.

[asilvertrinityknot]

I once had to call 911 for a loved one in another state and couldn’t find a 10 digit number to dispatch. Finally, I contacted a friend who lived in the next town over and asked them to call 911 and request to be transferred if needed. My friend called for me. Because the centers were so close, they had the number, but this is never a guarantee.

[asilvertrinityknot]

I’ve been thinking about posting this for a while. If anything ever deserved a signal boost (and if you can find an even better article or have a better breakdown by all means–just spread the word)…

It sounds like snoring.

Agonal breathing is not, as far as I can tell, a well known concept outside of healthcare and emergency services. But, it’s something that should be taught in schools because recognizing it is life and death.

It sounds like snoring. I cannot repeat this enough. It sounds like snoring which is not a sound likely to get your inner alarm bells ringing. It’s easy to mistake. From this article (which also includes some instructions to help you if you encounter it):

A person who is not medically trained may see agonal breathing and falsely think that the person’s heart must be beating if they’re still breathing. So, sadly, you might think they have time to wait for an emergency response. But that is not the case. Once agonal breathing begins, a person may have two to three minutes.

Edit: I’m going to be honest: personally, if I’m not able to tell if it’s agonal based on the advice the article gives, I would rather start CPR and have someone wake up and tell me to knock it off than the other way around.

[asilvertrinityknot]

When I say this job can be hard, what I mean is hearing the absolute heartbreak in someone’s voice when they lose someone they love and receiving that same news about someone you love the next day. It hasn’t been quite a year. I miss you every day.

[asilvertrinityknot]

What this blog is, and what it isn’t...

I started this blog because emergency services is something I love, something that is a big part of my life, and something that I would love to educate people more about.

I also started it as a catharsis, to some degree, though I will be sticking mostly to vague-posting and conceptualization when I talk about it. A lot happens during a shift, and for very good reason there will be limitations to what is shared. This includes a respect for privacy and an understanding that certain traumatic events, even loosely referenced, can call to mind terrible memories for those who have lived through such circumstances.

“Education” means I might occasionally post useful tidbits shared publicly by experts or highlight some of the stresses of being in one of these fields.

It does not mean sharing details related to something a real person and their loved ones have experienced. That’s not my place and even sticking within the bounds of what might be considered acceptable, I have too often seen overly-detailed accounts that would make it possible for someone who knew someone involved to piece it together. That is not fair. This is a personal blog and not a source for professional advice. It’s not meant to be representative of a single specific role in emergency services or any organization. You could say it’s an homage to a carefully crafted network of teams of people working together every day to bring about the best possible outcomes for others in their worst moments. Know that this blog is meant to be a safe place whatever your orientation, gender identity (if you assign one to yourself), race, or background. At its best, done right, Emergency Services is about the community. It’s possible that some aspect/s of this system, at some point in your life has/have failed you in a significant way. And for that, I am so sorry and I know that saying so is nowhere near enough. This blog does not exist to refute anyone’s lived experiences. It does not exist to pretend away the work that needs to be done in society to improve conditions and make it a more welcoming place for all members. This blog was made for everyone involved in ES whose focus and intention is on helping and serving their community as a whole.

[asilvertrinityknot]

I would love to know if this works, and if there are other steps that can be taken to assist. First and foremost, we want to help people.

So I’m going through some honestly great EMS training about how to respond to individuals with autism in a medical emergency or a fire.

I’m not autistic myself, so I can’t say for certain if this is 100% accurate, but it seems pretty good so far? Things like “this person might be overstimulated by a screeching fire alarm and seek shelter inside the house instead of leaving the building” and “ask the family if this person has any specific things that bother them so you can not do that” and “sirens might overstimulate this person so turn them off a block away” which are all things a lot of firefighters/medics don’t think about.

Anyway, to my fellow first responders, I highly recommend going through some autism awareness training. If nothing else, you’ll be more aware of how to adjust your patient care approach to make your patient more comfortable.

[asilvertrinityknot]

Someone I know who has worked in varying roles across Emergency Services for over a decade used the term “cold hearted” to describe himself to me, even as he was sitting there helping me process something terrible that had happened. He gave me a journal to write down my thoughts and help with the processing. The very first thing I wrote was a draft of this letter-poem, because I couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said:

Listen, listen, it’s not about being “cold hearted”--not when you’ve wrung your emotions dry so you could make a difference. Not when you see this every day. Or hear it. We don’t turn away from what isn’t there--and these feelings have a heavy presence. We’re like anyone else, we close our eyes in the dark to rest. And our darkness isn’t different. It is loss and grief and the things we know are universal. We’d never insult anyone by saying that tragedy is a thing that only happens to other people. Our darkness isn’t actually wider or more encompassing, but it touches the edges of others’ shadows. And we’re like anyone else. Sometimes we close our eyes in the dark to rest.

[asilvertrinityknot]

Credit: @ThinkAnneThink

[asilvertrinityknot]

Thank you

Whether you're driving the truck, answering the phones/radio, throwing yourself into the thick of it, pulling someone back from the brink (figuratively/literally), whether you’re on the street, on the road, in the PSAP, on the crisis hotlines, in the ER...Thank you...