Man Up

I understand that kids whine and cry. Hey, I just went through a PALS course. That means I'm a trained professional, right?! Ok. Not quite. But I am really good with kids. And I have 3 of the little rug rats of my own. So that's where I'm coming from when I tell this next story.

We were dispatched to a child down in the street. We expected the kid to be gone by the time that we arrived on scene. When we pulled up we could see a small knot of people standing and kneeling by a kid in the street. There was an ER RN at the head of the patient holding c-spine. It really looked as if we had a critical kid.

As I walked up I noticed the 10 year old boy was laying prone with his left leg and arm slightly bent in a normal fashion. I also noted that the kid was screaming bloody murder.The story was that the victim had been racing hes scooter down the hill and lost control. Luckily he was wearing a helmet and he wasn't on a busy street.

He was complaining that he had severe pain to his left hip. We exposed his hip and found that he had road rash. During the head to toe assessment I found that he also had some road rash on his left elbow. When the kid discovered this he forgot all about the hip and started wailing like our siren. Keep in mind, there is no blood. It's a large scratch. Band aid worthy.

I know road rash can be painful. But it's not that painful. My six year old daughter wouldn't have cried that much if she had broken an arm along with the road rash. I really felt like saying 'man up' to the kid. I guess I wasn't feeling to sympathetic that day.