Going Above And Beyond

A few weeks ago one of the other crews at my station got a call for a victim of a fall. When they arrived on scene they found an 80 year old woman laying on the floor covered in blood. Her house looked like a scene from a horror movie with blood trails leading to the front door. Towards the rear part of her house she had fallen and hit her head on the door jam. This split her forehead open almost from ear to ear. She also broke her neck. She had crawled from where she hit her head to the phone but couldn't reach it. She finally crawled over to the front door to try and open it to get help. There was blood everywhere.

Eventually neighbor came over and found her. She called 911. The engine crew bandaged her up and placed her in a cervical collar and on a backboard. Then they sent her on her way to the hospital.

What makes my department stand out from others is what the crew did next. After the patient had been transported to the hospital they started to clean up. They used towels and mopped up the floor. They went through and cleaned every surface up to and including the jewelry that was bloody. After getting it mostly clean they used paper towels and a little bit of bleach to make sure it was all clean. Then they took the towels they had used, and a rug that had been soaked in blood and put them in the wash before the blood could dry and ruin them.

I'm proud that I work for a department that would do the extra stuff. When questioned they said that they didn't want to make their patient come home from this traumatic event just to have to clean the house and relive it.

A week later I ran a call on the same lady. She had stitches all across her forehead and had to wear a neck brace because of the cracked vertebrae. This time she was weak and unable to stand. It was a tough assessment since all she wanted to do was thank us for the last time we were there. Today she's doing fine.