Do you help off duty?

[JPINFV]

Do I help out when I'm off duty? Sure, I've got a cell phone and I generally know the number to 911. The only time I can think of when I would actually stop is if I was in an area far from any sort of emergency response (if you drive cross country some time, you'll find some areas that are pretty remote, but not off the beaten trail).

[rescue25]

I think it's perfectly normal to get a bit of an adrenaline rush - and to want to "help" people - particularly when you're relatively new. That said...

I have, so far, never come upon an accident where I felt that stopping would be of any real value. If PD/EMS/FD isn't already on scene, I'll call it in. If they are, I can almost guarantee they don't need any help 9.9 times out of 10.

Anyway, what am I going to do with the pair of gloves, pocket mask, and basic first aid kit in my trunk? Hold c-spine? No thanks. Unless someone is exsanguinating or in cardiac arrest, there isn't a whole lot I'm going to be able to offer.

Not getting run over is also high on my list of priorities. I don't have whacker lights on my vehicle, so I don't even have a way to warn traffic - not that lights really help that much, anyway.

[CBEMT]

It's a bright sunny day at my old private ambulance job, and my partner and I are on our way to a scheduled discharge. Lo and behold, a relatively minor MVA appears in front of us on the divided sort-of highway, lefthand lane. "Hey, beats doing a taxi ride."

Hit the lights, block the lane, notify dispatch. Some dude in a pickup with an orange lightbar says Staties are on the way. After confirming that one person walking around has neck pain, I call them back myself and add Fire to the response. There's also a mother an 2 kids in the car that got rear-ended, so we start assessing them after throwing a collar on the first patient and telling him to stay put.

Mom has neck and back pain, so I start walking back to the truck for another collar- thankfully the kiddies have no complaints because we've only got one pedi collar.

All of a sudden this mid-90's Nissan roars up in between the back end of my truck and the Jersey barrier- good thing I hadn't gotten there yet! This kid in his 20's flies out holding a stethoscope with this look his eyes that just screams "OMGTHISISITTHEDAYI'VEWAITEDMYWHOLELIFEFOR!!!!" It was so ridiculous I actually stopped dead in my tracks (but also because I wasn't convinced he actually took the time to put the heap into Park).

"Do you guys need a hand?" I turn back to the scene and review the situation. Partner holding c-spine on mom, waiting for me, and trying to make sure the kids don't freak (both of them car seat/booster seat age). Neck pain dude, collared, leaning up against the barrier talking on a cellphone. Can't hear Fire yet, but the Statie did pass us on the southbound side heading for the next available turnaround.

"No thanks, we got it."

You'd think I had just stabbed his puppy.

"Be careful when you back out please, we don't need more problems than we have already."

[JakeEMTP]

^^^

I'm sure his version of the story will be he saved the day.

Thanks for the chuckle CBEMT.

[Dustdevil]

I'm sure his version of the story will be he saved the day.

Yeah, I can hear it now, over at Firehouse.com; "Good thing I was there cuz those medics didn't know what they were doing! They forgot their BLS!"

He'll be using that story as his "proof" that EMT's save Paramedics for the next ten years now. :roll:

[AnthonyM83]

He'll be using that story as his "proof" that EMT's save Paramedics for the next ten years now.

LA EMTs are the only ones who get to say that...

[Richard B the EMT]

One time I did stop, was one of my FDNY EMS ambulances, an FDNY EMS supervisor's suburban, and a Rockaway Point (NY) VFD ambulance were all pulled over to the side of the road.

Unless they work for us, meaning FDNY/9-1-1, nobody else is supposed to drive "company" vehicles, and the VFD ambulance had both the FDNY paramedics doing an "intercept" ALS intervention in the back of their BLS ambulance. The supervisor is not supposed to leave his vehicle unattended, except at the firehouse, or at the scene of a call while "upstairs" with a crew.

So...a RPVFD person drove my car, the supervisor drove the FDNY ambulance, the "wheelman" of the RPVFD ambulance continued driving the VFD ambulance, and I drove the supervisor's vehicle, to the hospital, while the ALS treatment continued in the back of the VFD BLS vehicle.

PS: the supervisor, before being promoted to Lieutenant, had been one of the instructors at the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, and was at the time of this story, assigned to my station, as was the Paramedic ambulance crew and vehicle. Old home week?

[Dustdevil]

PS: the supervisor, before being promoted to Lieutenant, had been one of the instructors at the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, and was at the time of this story, assigned to my station, as was the Paramedic ambulance crew and vehicle. Old home week?

LOL! Years back, I got into a wreck a few blocks from my house. The engine crew that showed up were all friends of mine, and the medic went to medic school with me. The ambulance crew were both former partners of mine. The cop went to the police academy with me. At the hospital, the doc and the nurse were both former co-workers of mine. And to top it off, the woman who I collided with was the wife of our regional state EMS officer, who I had known for years. Now that is a REAL old home week!

[Adam Swartz]

Poor poor Dust. I would stop. Considering here in Iowa the FD is volly so might take a while to show up. When I had my big crown vic i would block traffic with hazards and direct traffic. I don't know if I would help. Probably.

[AnthonyM83]

That was a whole heck of a lot of acronyms in that post Richard...it dizzied my mind. Someone crashed?

Dust, you OWNED that town!