Pagers: Friend or Foe

[EMS-Cat]

The thread on the cell phone brought this situation to mind. And since we as a career field live with electronics in our back pocket, I was wonder who of you out there might have a pager story to share.

Here's one of mine.

I was working with a guy on evening shift at a major military hospital back in the mid 70's who'd had just one too many pages that evening. Being the shift super, It fell upon me to explain to the AOD [Admin Officer on Duty] and the SNCOD [senior NCO on Duty] why we needed a replacement pager issued.

The 'official story' was it 'fell in' when he leaned over to ... ah ... flush.

The real story is simply this: the old fashioned boxy Motorola pagers simply won't make it through that bend in the bottom of the toilet bowl.

No way I was going to fink on him when I'd been contemplating the whole idea myself - he just beat me to it.

Back then we had two [count them, only 2] RT's on evening shift for a whole 750+ [give or take 200 beds depending on what was going on at the time] military medical center with 6 acute ICU beds, 8 step-down, the same with CCU, a 24/7 OR/RR, a NICU and a very active ER. Occ. we'd get 91V [military designation for an RT] rotating in from the field units for hospital time, but you couldn't count on it. Hectic was our middle name. If we got swamped than the floor staff got the basic care dumped on them [sVN, trach care, etc], but life, she's like that.

And let's not even go into what would happen if one of the two of us got sick. Six day weeks were not uncommon the first year I was there. Civil service wasn't sure what an RT even was [we were 'medical machine technicians' back then] and the Army had just created the 91V MOS around 1975 when I came in Reserves. To say we were spread thin is an understatement.

It's gotten much, *much* better now.

[Richard B the EMT]

1980 to 1985, I worked for Nassau Ambulance/Ambulette Service (Freeport, Nassau county, NY). "Night call", we worked with pagers.

There was a month I tried to eat with my family at a local restaurant, every Saturday night, and got paged out just as we sat down, each time. The servers all wondered if I ever got to eat (sometimes, it seemed to be "never").

My mom got a laugh, when sneaking a look into a JEMS article on how pagers gave EMS and VFD people "freedom", felt that when I strapped on the pager, I went into a kind of slavery.

[hammerpcp]

this is an oldy but a goody. our pagers have high pitched tones that can be very loud if you turn the volume all the way up. when someone is sleeping (the grouchy guy prefferably) you put it next to their head on the pillow and then phone up dispatch and have them put through a "test page". The dispatchers love to be included in the fun. :twisted:

[akroeze]

You guys still use the portable pagers? Our bases have speakers wired into the ceiling.

[aussiemedic]

I am in a volunteer rescue service in Australia, and my pager has gone off while I was, well, doing my husbandly duties with my fiancee.... damn call out turned out to be a pharmacuetically gifted individual who was bored.... we call them space cadets, cause they are spaced out (like me now.... perhaps it is my bed time...

And the damn test pages! Supposed to go through at 730 at night, and when it goes off at 1030 you always make it to the station before you realise that it was a test page....

And also... does anyone have a problem of the low battery warning at 3am sounding just like a pager message... once again at the station before you realise it.....

[MedicNorth]

I can relate to all the stories above, but you certainly can have fun with pagers, especially if you have the "backdoor" number to set them off. We had a rookie who set new standards for wankerism, and when the pager went off she would jump like she was holding booster cables. We would wait until she was totally relaxed or engrossed in something, and then call the number. It created all sorts of hilarity for us, but it stopped when she jumped up and spilled her coffee into the base radio unit.

Had one girl who dropped hers into a pot of clam chowder she was making, too.

[hammerpcp]

Well, since North brought it up..... I have a story about dropping the pager too.

I keep it on my belt just like we are supposed to.

My partner and I were at the hospital having just finished a run. So I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom. I undo my belt, and then PLOP! :shock: .....There goes the pager right into the toilet.

There I am, wondering if the pager is really that important....and what kind of story I can fabricate to explain its disappearance. Although I was in denial at the time, it was quite evident that the pager would never fit down the toilet hole, so flushing just wasn't an option.

I decide to take the high road. I put on a glove.....reminding myself of all those studies that have been done saying that toilets are cleaner than sinks in most places.....and i scooped it out. I did my thing, and then went to track down my partner.

I found him sitting in the charting area doing paper work. I casually walked up to him, and asked if he would mind carrying the pager for the rest of the night.....being the nice guy that he is, he says sure....I handed it too him, and obviously he notices that its all wet.

The first thing out of his mouth is:" Did you drop this in the toilet?" ...While laughing my ass off I fessed up, and he took it very well. Apparently these pagers go for a swim more often then I care to know.

We disassembled it and let it dry out and it worked fine afterwards. So I even avoided reporting this embarrassing little incident. :oops:

[aussiemedic]

One pager that I had met with an accident with a car tyre.....

Fell off my belt and landed under my car as I was responding to an emergency call....

[Beagle189]

Used to had to pull 12 hr call while working what we called an altered Kelly shift 24 on / 24 off for 5 days then 4 days off, we were short handed so I pulled 12 hr call each day in between my shifts. Been a busy week, I was in the last hour of call on my last day to pull the call back, a bunch of us went to get some pizza and beer. Food and 2 pitchers of beer arrived at the table. Boy was I hungry and tired. I was waiting out the last 10 min of call before I started any alcohol when the pager went off. I used to be quite the hothead, so I picked the lovable little thing up and saying an unrepeatable phrase, attempted to throw it on the table. Only I made a basket straight into a Pitcher of Ice cold BUD.

Later at the station when it wouldn't work properly, I tried to lie and say I dropped it in the toilet. It seems the supervisor had a good nose for hops and the like.

Oh well, we get smarter w/ age - I Hope!

[emedtech]

About 2 years ago I was on the local Vol. fire dept. Since I was the newest member, I got the oldest and bulkest pager they had. I hated the the thing, but I carried it on my belt like a good volly should. One night I take my wife and little girl to the county fair. We parked way out in the grass. After it was over I was loading some stuff in the back of my suv and I took my pager off and set it on the bumper. I don't know why. We drove the county roads about 10 miles home. When I went to get the stuff out of the back there was my pager just sitting on the bumper like I had glued it there. I don't see how it made it all the way home but it did.