emtmoira

when your idea of a rig check is to open the bay door and say "check the rig is there"

when there's a radio code for livestock in highway and animal carcass at.. when you know everyone that has a lightbar attached to their cars or trucks when you've literally had to "turn off the dirt road" (Jeff Foxworthy reference) to get to a call when you decided where to move based on which volunteer fire and rescue department you want to be part of because you NEED to respond from your house

We're a volunteer squad but we recently started doing QA/QI reviews on our state forms (aka the run sheet for every call). This ensures that all of us who are crew chiefs are filling out our paperwork in a way that will ensure that it's complete and also CYA in terms of possible future legal issues. So far it actually has helped point out a few things that I myself and others have overlooked, nothing major but little things that could effect our "memory" of the call should any legal situation arise.

Depending on what city/town we respond to in our area and if we transport lights and sirens or not it can range from 2 minutes to 40 minutes. We get really good at PFA and because we're so rural you've gotta know at least something about the hunting seasons and whatnot to talk to the patients!

-have ever had first responders tell you over the radio not to take a certain road because there was a bunch of moose on the road (yes this has happened to me!) -have ever been to a car versus cow and told the patient that he should probably go to the hospital because he tucked and rolled out of his car and we couldn't find it (this happened to me too!) -have ever gone to a moose versus car and stole some moose hair to put in the truck's fun call journal (someone else on my squad did this!) -don't know any other way to start IVs but on the dirt road in the middle of winter or mud season (what some call spring) -have ever had a random person with chains on their trucks pull your ambulance out of the ditch in the trailer park that your driver accidentally backed into resulting in the first responders starting to carry chains in their trucks "for next time" -the local bar is considered the "other station"

EMT-I in VT with VT rules (different sort of I than the national I, more restricted) on a volunteer squad