While watching the houses go by the rig as the were being pummeled by red lights dispatch said that we were responding for a fall victim. Pulling up on scene I recognized the house. We had been there before, often.
My citizen in distress was a 70 year old woman. She's obese. Shocker huh? She has had a heart attack in the past and now has CHF. She also smokes more than a structure fire. Enough that I always feel the need for a shower when I'm done with the call so that I can get the smell off of me. She has COPD, Emphysema and Asthma. She's supposed to be on home oxygen but every time we're there the cannula is tucked into the corner, unmoved, I'm sure, from the last time we were there. And she also wonders why she gets short of breath when she does the simplest of tasks. And to top everything off, she has an attitude.
We walk up to the door and find her husband waiting. She is sitting on the floor in between her recliner (the kind that stand up to help people get out) and her wheel chair. We ask if she is injured and she says no, just stuck. We help her back up into her chair. Usually this is all we do. This time they needed more help.
We then helped to move her to her portable commode. While she did her business we stepped outside. She took the opportunity to light up another cigarette. We then helped move her back into her wheelchair and then moved her once again into her recliner.
Now I don't mind "citizen assist" calls. I really don't. I don't mind helping people do things at their house that might prevent us from going back there in a few hours. I can even stand ending up smelling like stale cigarettes to help someone.
What pisses me off is when someone that needs my help, because they won't take proper care of themselves, has an attitude about it. Maybe, just maybe, you should try being nice to the people that are just there to help you.
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