I’m running a call with Joe again. A little old lady fell down.
Literally.
Fire is on scene. We all mosey into the house.
“Hey, guys. Whatchagot?”
“Hey, this is Maude*. She fell right here walking to the kitchen. She has a complete heart block.”
“Okay. Is she hurting anywhere?” to Maude, “Hi. Are you hurting anywhere-”
“Dude, she has a complete heart block.”
Joe and I both notice the leads are on Maude, but not the combo pads. That, along with the fact that Maude looks like she feels better than 50 percent of us on scene, don’t worry us too much.
“Yeah, I heard you. How about we get her on the stretcher and out to the truck?”
“Man, I don’t think you understand. She has a complete heart block.”
“Okay, okay. I get it. Let’s get her on the stretcher and move her to the ambulance.” Joe is good at hiding his annoyance. Very good. But someone has a point to make, apparently.
“Dude! Listen to me! You aren’t hearing me! She has a COMPLETE HEART BLOCK!”
Joe turns to the Captain on the engine, who, up to this point, has been expertly wielding the clipboard.
“Hey, man. Can y’all run out to the truck and grab the cath lab? We forgot to bring it in.”
“Dowhatnow?”
“The cath lab. I left it in the truck. Can someone run out there and get it for us? Oh, that’s right, we don’t have a cath lab in the truck. Maybe we should take her to one?”
*obviously I made that name up.