Everybody needs a break during normal job hours. Even the emergency services. Here is the best response I’ve heard/read so far:
““Not paid for what we do, sir. Paid for being ready to do it.””
Cheers to Kal at Trauma Queen#mce_temp_url#
Uni exams are looming…another 5 weeks. And stupid me signed up to do two shifts a week at work for this month of May…
So, I will have to fit study, work, party and being lazy in to 7 weekdays….tricky.
But fear not, there will always be time for procrastination.
Bikebus - a group of people that ride (commute) a certain route each morning, and ‘pick up’ people along the way.
Friggin great ida if you ask me, shame it hasn’t started here yet. You never know though!
Yes, on our lovely Mandurah line there is a train station with the name that is pronounced COburn, but spelled COCKburn.
Just like in this sketch 
“Whoah” you say.
“Bit of a change going on here…”
Yep. This blog will now be my ‘private’ blog. For anything except the ambulance side of things.
If you want to check my ambulancing stuff, go “the elmbulance”: http://theelmbulance.wordpress.com
Cheers!
elm
As you may know, I was thrilled to bits about being accepted in to the paramedic course. Still am . And am really getting in to it.
One of the downsides is that I am now constantly relating everything to my newly acquired knowledge:
—
We had a Paramedic Party last night. I am very happy with our year of students, we get on well. This was one of the first times We got to socialise en masse off campus, whoch was great, because alcohol shows you so much of a persons personality (By the way, I am always the bearer of a great personality, drunk or not 
)
We are a pretty varied bunch: Ages range from not yet 21 to nearly 50, men and women, boys and girls. Homes from al over the city; north, south, east, west, central. All of us with different interests and backgrounds. And one thing majorly in common: that we all got accepted in to the same group. And we’re all totally stoked about it.
I’m sure there will be a lot more.
—
On a personal side note, a tip for relaxation: Fill your bath up with hot water, order a pizza online (with garlic bread of course!). Lie back and do a game of Sudoku. Wait until water gets cold, then shower.
rocks.
A gas explosion in a warehouse last Friday caused a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) for Emergency Services.
That’s what we were playing anyway, as it was an exercise in Disaster Management for the current 2nd year paramedic student (where I wile hopefully end up in 12 months time!). I volunteered to be a victim, and got the appropriate make-up ( -> have a look at my Flickr page)
Due to the large group of Students, the day was broken up in to two exercises, morning and afternoon. I the morning I played the driver of the car that had been hurled against a tree by the explosion, and had ran two people over in the process. I was unconscious, my capillary refill rate 5 seconds, blood pressure 90 and heart rate 120. Big trouble for me!
The fire brigade arrived as i lay there unconscious, trying to play semid-dead, eyes closed and not moving at all. Yeah right. There was so much interesting stuff going on that I just had to peak. My passenger in the back was screaming her head off, wailing that I was dead. The water fairies (fire brigade) seemed to be happy with this professional diagnostic advice, and assumed I was deceased (It would be another 30 minutes until someone realised that I was alive and needed help).
Our car basically looked like a sardine tin that had been the first choice soccer ball replacement for the street championships in Rio. There was no way we were going to get out of this tin on one bit without peeling the lid backwards.
Enter the Jaws of Life
It was time to close my eyes and imagine this was a real emergency:
There is not much room to move around. The roof has a massive dent in it, there is about five cm of space between me and the eyebrow mutilating mix of broken windshield combined with mangled metal. My arms are constricted too; they are both on my lap, gripping my thighs as I await the unknown. To the right of me is the drivers door that invades my personal space bubble - where the door normally should run is a straight from A-the hinge to B-the middle pillar of the car. This former straight line now runs from A to B along C-the massive tree trunk.
My left arm could move freely to the left, but chances are I’d whack my passengers open wound and further push down the glass that has already in there. And I shouldn’t let my hand dangle around the gearbox or the handbrake either, for there lies a pool of razor sharp broken glass. I’m strapped. Claustrophobic Sting
Sounds everywhere. Sirens wailing, voices shouting, unknown noises. Burning smells, incomprehensible yells, screams in panic. Chaos.
Somewhere in the background a generator fires up, while one of the firemen explains we will have to be cut out. I open my eyes…this is going to be interesting.
First of all all our side windows get smashed. They hold a plexiglass board is held behind the window, whilst it endures a decent hammering. Tremendous clash accompanied by a massive shattering of glass everywhere.
“Hold tight mate, we’re gonna cut you out, no worries”. A massive set of jaws poke through to the roof column in front of me, I actually get a little jerk of surprise (which would have been fear in a real accident) together with a flashback of ‘Jurassic Park’. It seemed for a second that the fire brigade had their own little Velociraptors that would eat away a the pillars to se me free.
Chomp Chomp, Cut Cut, Peel. Umpteen hands grab hold of me and heave me on the a stretcher, to be carried to the triage section of the incident.
There I am superficially assessed, put on (real) oxygen and rolled in to the recovery position.
conclusion:
It was a great experience and provided invaluable insight of what a patient has to go through in a similar situation. This will definitely help me understand what patients have gone through, and will aid my future work when I hit the road.
I can highly recommend it to anyone (not only those who work in the medical industry) - a great insight.
Stay safe out there!
|
Your Superhero Profile |
 Your Superhero Name is The Lieutenant Savage Your Superpower is Extra-terrestrial Your Weakness is Water Your Weapon is Your Light Rifle Your Mode of Transportation is Giraffe |
Quite precise, I must admit.
the Anxious Academics.
During the day I usually feel I’m going alright, and I know this is a fact. I can usually explain what is going on at uni, have a reasonably good grasp at it.
Oncec I lay my head to rest, it all starts to swirl. I’ve got three and a half assignments coming up, the past 7 weeks have just sped past me like diehard coffee abstinence guy with Red Bull in his i.V.
Must. Organize. Life.
—
On a side note: My navigational skill have massively improved. Now all I need is local knowledge. You put the effort in, you get the results you (usually) want.
Still anxious to, and noone can take that away from me! It’s mine! Mine! MINE!!!!
Something interesting from todays studies: Heating an egg makes the egg white go white and hard. This process is called denaturing and changes the tertiary and quaternary structure of the proteins in the eggwhite.
If your body heat rises over 43 degrees Celsius, the Proteins begin to denature. You cook. Left long enough in this temperature extreme, don’t be surprised if your local funeral director cooks up some bacon and asks your relatives if they would like the remains fried, scrambles, or poached.
Bon appetit!
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