Fresh Eyes

My feet are sore, my muscles are aching and I'm exhausted....but I wouldn't trade it for the world. The festival today was a lot of fun, I had great partners, great calls and great food, not to mention very cute cops. I've really moved into a teaching role lately, mentoring the new members like John did for me is very rewarding, although sometimes very hard work.

One new recruit is my particular favourite, a spirited and lively girl that we shall call Katie. She is all excited over benign calls, she loves to jump on the radio first - just so she can use it, and she is incredibly eager to learn, taking instruction and criticism very well. She reminds me of how I was a few years ago, she's a lot of fun. One of my favourite new members, although a seasoned responder, is Carlos. He is excellent with patient care, one of the best in the division, and always kind and sweet with a ready smile and quick joke. Working with the two of them is a dream.

After sending two patients out with ems, one super drunk/altered LOC and one drunk/seizure and were wandering around the beer area. Carlos, Frank and Katie went to check out Joe, who was drinking but saying he shouldn't be because of his heart meds. I was watching them work, flirting with talking to the cops, when I heard Carlos raise his voice, "Joe! Joe! Joe, open your eyes!" I glance over and see the man slump in his chair, his body beginning to jerk and convulse. Carlos grabs his top, Frank grabs his bottom and I remove the chair as we lower him to the ground.

I stand back and watch as they treat, hooking up oxygen, grabbing the suction, writing down vitals, all the necessary but extra stuff, and let my responders work. Carlos is excellent, Frank and Katie are learning fast and are very eager, Joe is in good hands. My new cop friends call ems for us and in no time at all, we bundle him off to the hospital to get checked out, told the same thing as last time, and booted back onto the street to get stupid drunk again.

Katie is so excited she can't stand still. She goes over the details of the call, what we did, how we did it, picking apart everything. She is ecstatic at how many "awesome" patients she had tonight (count: 3 - all in various stages of drunkenness), and how she is totally in love with this job. I watch her excitement and grin, feeling my own love for this coming back. It's easy to forget how much I loved it when I first began, sometimes it takes a fresh-eyed, eager young member to remind me.