I rode in an ambulance for the first
time a few weeks ago.
It was my clinical
ride-along for the EMT class I’m taking, and it was amazing. A lot of the details can’t be shared
on a blog, not unless I want to get sued. A lot of my feelings don’t belong on
a public blog, not when I’ve fought hard to keep from teenage-angst-ifying it.
Suffice it to say, it’s been a rough few months since the Peace Corps sent me
home, and I’ve spent a lot of that time feeling pretty lost. This ambulance
shift wasn’t a magic cure by any means, but it was a pretty incredible (if very
LONG) night.
Perhaps the best moment came at
about 3 pm. It’d been a slow afternoon, which is odd for a Saturday in Reno.
I’d had plenty of time to study, and our calls had been rather few and far
between.
Then dispatch hailed us. Priority 1
patient, we were told. Which means Hurry.
So we did. Lights and siren and all.
Racing down the highway, cars pulling out of our way, people staring as we
passed.
That part was pretty cool. But you
know what was cooler? The fact that someone called us because she needed
medical care, and we could go. Just like that. Minutes after her call, we were
on scene, with oxygen and IVs and heart monitors and a vehicle that could
transport her to the hospital if she needed.
I’ve never really thought before
about how amazing that is.
Then, a week ago, I had to get my
appendix out. It was pretty strange, one of those moments you never think will
happen to you. And after stalling an embarrassingly long period of time
because, well, I’m me, I went to the ER. Five minutes later, a nurse was
examining me. Fifteen minutes later, they were scanning me, and first thing the
next morning, I was in surgery. It’s pretty astounding, especially when I think
that I was sent home from Morocco a few months ago partially because I lived
too far from medical care.
There are a lot of things wrong with
the US health care system, but you gotta admit, lights and sirens and available
ERs and immediate surgery… it’s really cool. And amidst all my groaning about
bed rest (ugh!) and the bills that I’m sure are coming, it’s good to remember
that. Every time bending over makes me wince, I remember, and I’m thankful.
