EVOC videos. OMG soooo boring. I couldn't help but think of Millard and Bill. We finished the videos early and were left to ourselves to find something to do. Four of us(3 EMT's and me, 2 of the EMT's are from the Topeka area but have little experience. Myself and Clint have no idea where we are going). We were assigned to restock some of the trucks to help orient us to how they are stocked. In the barn today I heard multiple times "HA, only in Topeka" much the same we used to say in Oakland. GSW to the face (shotgun slug x2), little old lady in her house, in the summer with the oven open and on, regular upon regular upon regular upon regular. Much the same as Oakland. Really made me feel at home. Unlike Oakland 5-8 ambulances staff the streets at any given time. Topeka has 2-4 12 hours units on a daily basis and three 24 hour ambulances, they have houses for the 24 hour crews, but unlike ALCO they are not assigned specifically to one of the houses. They get moved from post to post and when they are at one of the houses there is an attempt to keep them there for as long as possible. After FTO time I will be placed onto a 24 hour unit. At one point in the afternoon, 10 or so calls dropped with in about 10-15 minutes. Calls waiting and I am standing around listening to it on the radio, HELL. Finally the supervisor made a move to have one of the EMT's get into a unit and go out. Another unit had the fire department bail on them, (that sounds familiar) then had the patient slip into pulsing V Tach. They called fire back but the supervisor and I went en route and found them about 3-4 miles from the hospital, they literally stopped in the middle of the street, had me jump out of the supervisors rig and into the back to help out. This is more like it. Finding the crest of chaos and surfing it into the hospital. And here is the kicker. We went out in unit 203. After ALCO shut its doors, AMR sent our rigs all over the country. three of them came to Topeka. One of them had a hole on the inside and many people were curious as to how that came to be, I don't know. Unit 203 had an 'Andre the Giant has a Posse' sticker on the back. Amazing. Robby Willkom placed that sticker on the bumper of 05-779 2 years ago, and here I go on my first call in Topeka in the same ambulance. I made it clear that sticker was not to come off any time soon. They understood.
This is what family sounds like to me. I love you till the end. I may not like you some of the time and other times I do. Sometimes I am SURE I have annoyed you more than a little, but when the chips are down and my heart is on the line, they understood. The sticker stays and a small part of what made home, home will be treading the waters of Topeka Kansas with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment