3/15/2024 0 Comments Delta township library contact![]() ![]() You can do a lot with four days off, I thought, and a bit of adrenaline on a company dime didn't hurt either. I became a paramedic in 2009 because I and several friends decided landing a four-days-on, four-days-off work rotation would give us the chance to invest time in our post-university bar band. The hospital had told us it was expecting him now suddenly it wasn't. The paramedics wore cowboy hats and jeans for the Calgary Stampede, when many people don Western wear across the city. They say they don't have a bed for him," my partner said as he came back to the patient on the stretcher.įraser, right, with his team during one of his first years working as a paramedic. "Dude, they aren't accepting this patient. Plus, it was the end of what then premier Jason Kenney referred to as Alberta's "Best Summer Ever," which was turning into an autumn from hell, fuelled by the Delta wave of the pandemic.Īfter 13 years, I was nearing the end of what I could take. This was life as a paramedic - constant unpredictability along with life-and-death consequences and the pressure to be perfect every time. Until, of course, I saw that eye roll this hospital wasn't taking him. We were at the receiving hospital and this would soon be over. Already my new practicum student had tripped and disconnected the arterial line into the patient's arm, forcing us to take a manual blood pressure every few minutes.īut I could see the finish line. The "Ambulance Gods" were at play - those capricious beings paramedics encounter when the chaos builds and everything goes wrong. We were finally at Calgary's Foothills intensive care unit with a patient who had bounced all the way down Highway 2 from central Alberta with multiple drip infusions and on a ventilator. I saw my partner at the triage desk shake his head and roll his eyes. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ. This First Person column was written by Colin Fraser, a former paramedic who lives in Calgary. Daybreak Alberta 4:55 First Person: Colin Fraser ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |