A Ride Along to Remember

You guys (both of you) should know by now that I don’t talk about my time on the job too much. Not that I am keeping my location or my department a secret, I just don’t get into too much detail. On occasion I have a photo of a fire I was on and I will share it.

This post is different in two ways. I am posting about my job, and I don’t have any photos.

A couple of weeks ago, I told @medic61 (who lives near me) that if she wanted to ride along she was more than welcome. We set up a good day for both of us and I set it up.

I will refer to the ride along as Medic 61 because I am not sure if everyone is supposed to know her true identity.

The ride along was set for this past Sunday. I started my shift and rode the medic unit (I know it is hard to believe, but I volunteered to ride it….3rd time this year). Medic 61 and I would be riding with a Paramedic from my company. This was the first time that he and I would be on the medic unit together! Wahoo!

Medic 61 shows up right when we sat down to breakfast. We got her a plate and some orange juice and she met the crew.

Ride alongs usually go one of two ways…There is a black cloud over you the whole day or you don’t run any calls.

That Sunday would be a ride along to remember.

After breakfast, I showed her the station and the apparatus. Right when we started going over the medic unit, I remembered that she hadn’t filled out the release to ride along. I took her to the watch desk to fill it out. Before she could even put her name on it we got toned out for a house fire.

I know what you are thinking…Bullshit!

No, really. We caught a house fire. Albeit not a barn burner, it was a house fire nonetheless.

Before we cleared up, I had her finish filling out the release.

Next call… partial amputation of a toe. I took the pt. BLS in the back to the hospital. That’s right, my alter ego is the EMSCritic (don’t even think about it. I ordered the domain right after typing it!).

Next call… full medical code.

We ended up running a couple more calls while she was with us. The guys at the station weren’t sure if she was the black cloud or if I was since I don’t ride that often.

I assured them they wouldn’t have to worry about me being the black cloud. I got enough of the medic unit for the next year!

All in all, I had a blast. As for Medic 61, I am not sure she could have asked for much more!

You can follow Medic 61 on twitter @medic61 or on her blog here.

All that and I forgot to take one picture with her and I.