A NEW DAY IN A NEW PLACE..

So I drive into the place... it's deserted, in a deserted town... not the middle of nowhere.. but I can see it from here...  What will today hold? 

One of the things I love about being a baggy arsed ambo... is the variety of work I do.  Day in, day out.. each day is different.  An adventure.  Today I am in the 50's... this place is MADMEN territory.  Even before I open the door to the old brick joint, I can feel the asbestos busting to break free.  I am not disappointed when the wave of stale cigarette smoke hits me... it is the perfect accompaniment to the cliche of this joint.  There is an old 'OFFICE' sign above the door..  what was this place before it became an ambo station???  A motel???  I shudder to think of the travellers that once called the house 'home'. 

Before I can find the truck, the drugs, the radios.. the phone rings.  A voice barks at me, "Why haven't you logged on yet?  I've got a job waiting for you... Get the drugs and get out of there".  

'Good morning to you too', I think... I start to explain that the drugs are MIA and the truck is unchecked... but the voice of todays 'God'... booms, 'Just get out there!!!'.

I set my personal GPS to the address of the patient, log on and find the truck.  Pretty soon I am on my way to the 'real' middle-of-nowhere... backing a couple of underpaid and overworked community officers.  I push 140kms/hour, trying to beat the estimated travel time of 57mins according to my battery operated companion... I hesitate for just a second at the 'Dry road Only' sign... and pull up, brakes smoking with just 3mins to spare.  

My patient is old... not old by a teenagers standards.. old by an 'ambo's' standards.  He has the features of a person not long for this town and that smell.... but I digress.  He is well enough to wiggle a line into, pop up some fluid, and keep him alive until our arrival at a large regional hospital.  

I always chuckle to myself when I roll a patient into an emergency department and the staff say, 'We weren't expecting you'.  I never really know what they are expecting me to say to that... 'Really, well we'll go somewhere else then?'  or 'Didn't my staff let your staff know we were on the way? or "I'm sorry, but I DID see an EMERGENCY sign out the front didn't I???  Or is this just one of those non-treating hospitals???'  

Patient unloaded, urine voided, paperwork printed, and on my way again.

I finally get to check the truck and it's ancient contents.  No SPO2 monitor for these folk... They do things the 'old fashioned way'... if it's gasping/blue/ACS, put oxygen on it, otherwise... leave it til it IS gasping/blue/ACS.  Only 5 different drugs out of date in need of replacing (the worst being the 14 months past due date aspirin- but that's not an important one anyway).. I empty the heaving bins, replace some gloves and take my community officer back to her branch.

Finally back at 'Motel 6' I get to restock properly.. have some brekky and chill til the next 'BIG ONE'..