EMS in the Rural Setting

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Comment by Michele Logue on April 15, 2009 at 9:46pm

Rural EMS can be exciting at times, you never know what your next call may bring. You could be cofing a man in his cow pens, up to you ankles in manure or assisting in the rescue of a mare with fold found in a pond in cold weather. Of course, we still have our MVC, resident calls and frequant , I stubbed my toe calls. Nothing is more exciting than being chased by a farm animal like a goat, or licked by a cow while trying to render care to a ill or injured person. Our area is well known for either doing it on the street, in the field or at the bursing home. That's rural!

Comment by Lorraine A. Michaels on April 15, 2009 at 5:30pm

Ok. This shouldn't count because I was POV, but a deer slid into me as I was returning from the "big" city, La Grande, Oregon after a day of shopping. We have extreme road conditions in the winter and I was doing about 10 mph on about 3 inches of ice when a herd of deer decided to try and make it across the road in front of me. The last deer wasn't quite fast enough and slid into the driver's side front door. The look of surprise on the doe's face will stay with me forever. The slow-impact hit didn't even dent my door and the doe just bounced off the car and went about her businss. Really funny. On the EMS side of things, our ambulance has hit deer, but nothing major. Dead deer - proceed to call.

Comment by Jodi on April 15, 2009 at 3:55pm

Do owls count? Road kill café was in full swing on an old road into a mining town where we were based.

Coming back from a transfer to Tucson General, hit one who cracked the wind shield and took out a light bar, second less that 2 seconds later took out the rest of the windshield heading straight between the front seats leave a VERY PO bird in the back of the rig on the floor screeching for blood.

Pulled over and had dispatch call fish and wild life. We went looking for the first one, to see how bad it was injured. Never found the first one, after 20 minutes of searching. The second was removed and cared for and released.

Have far more than a few feathers to clean up in the back. Thank goodness there was no pt. Owls are mean suckers when they are mad. Having one flopping around in the back was something I never want to do again.
We had SO giving us greif for months after that. They bought little Magnetic owls and placed them on our rig.

Comment by ArcticKat on April 15, 2009 at 1:37pm

I have hit two deer in my career, neither time was the ambulance disabled and we completed the call. Neither time was there a patient on board. Other medics have hit deer as well, including airbag deployment with a NOK in the passenger seat. All but one collision occured at night.

Our service has since purchased FLIR systems for the ambulances that allow us to see the animals from almost 1/2 a mile away. It's made a big difference and saved money. The system costs about $4500.00 but saves it in down time.

Comment by Max Becker on April 15, 2009 at 12:57pm

Hi i'm a paid paramedic and i was just wondering if anyoun had ever hit a deer or some other big animal on the way to a scene or en route to the hospitall i have hit a moose,deer and a bear en route to the hospital and to a scene write back if you have

Comment by JamaLee Fiscus on March 1, 2009 at 12:44pm

Hi all!! I volunteer as an EMT-B in Sturgis and Spearfish, SD. This will be my first year working during the rally...could be interesting. I work full-time as an x-ray tech at Sturgis hospital, so again, can't wait for rally!!

Comment by Valerie Franklin on December 27, 2008 at 11:32pm

Hey ArctirKat, It all depends on just how far out into the county roads I can get at time. Im stationed in the middle of Lafayette,IN. I can say the last two days have taken me out to the good old county. It true what is said about Indiana weather. We went to dry to rain. It turned to ice with in two minutes of hiting the ground and on this one day we had four killed in two different MVD. Then next thing you know the sun is out and that nite thunderstorms took over. I want to go South way South. I would love to work in my old home grounds again. Im sure the fast times to the hospital have me out of shape for the 30 or more minutes of CPR. It would be a sight.

Comment by Christie on December 23, 2008 at 2:23pm

Douglas,
The repsonses offered by others before me are GREAT answers. Listen to what they have said. In my opinion the most important thing you can do is to keep yourself safe. You won't be of any use to anyone if you become part of the problem. Be patient with yourself. ALWAYS be patient with yourself - you won't have all the answers to every situation, but do the best you can and be patient. You will learn something from every call, regardless of how long your career in EMS is. Don't be afraid to talk about your reactions/feelings about calls with the appropriate people. If something is bothering you, talk to someone. It isn't a sign of weakness to have something hurt, it's a sign of being a caring human. Best of luck as you embark on a wonderful career.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. Be safe!!!

Comment by ArcticKat on December 22, 2008 at 12:39pm

Great post Valerie, it's nice to have someone here who has converted to the dark side and Urban EMS, ;) Do you ever get back into the rural setting to work part time and such?

Comment by Valerie Franklin on December 19, 2008 at 1:12pm

I started my career 11 years ago in with a rural service. Fountain County in Indiana has not hospital in or very close to the coulnty. Most of the time we where having to cross the state line into Ill. Its mostly cow and corn out ther. So CPR would be no less then 30min and if you had a trauma you where on your own for the most part. At the time i worked for them air transport was very limited as well. Now we are lucky to have a PHI crew just in Purdue University airport. Now that I work in Lafayette and most of our transport times are anywhere from two to twenty minutes or so it a big change. Our service is growing so fast and we just cant seem to keep up with the medical emergency demand. When I statred for TEAS(Tippecanoe Emergency Ambulance Service) four years ago we had four units. One was mainly a transfer unit and would take called is availible and no one eles was cleared. Now as of January 7 we are happy to be getting a new 5 fleet unit and still keeping a few of our 2 yr old units. The city is growing so fast that Purdue has to come and take a run for us now and then and several times in the week we seem to run out. I consider myself very luck to have and be apart of the wonderful world of EMS. I do miss the rural setting. My hats off to all of you for the wonderful job you do.

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