This may sound a little wierd....

[Firespecialist]

I was curious about some of the other people out there. I don't know if anyone else has this experience. But anyways, we have this little old man that we refer to as a "frequent flyer". For those of you that are not familiar with that term, it is a person that calls 911 all the time. Well, this little old man is in his 80's and has all kinds of medical conditions, so when we do get on scene, he is actually experiencing the chief complaint we are actually paged for. Most of the "frequent fliers" are B.S. but others are not. This particular patient has a heart of gold. Always is happy to see us, very kind to us, patient with us, and never complains. Everytime we get him loaded in the amulance, he will actually tell us thank you (how many patients have you had say thank you?). Yesterday we ran on him again, but this time with a little more serious condition than usual. It was probably the worse I have ever seen him. My question is, does this stuff ever get to you? We run over 2,500 calls a year and I never have stuff bother me like it did today. I don't know, is it wierd? To me it is, but if I am not the only one, then I guess it ain't so wierd.

[MalahatTwo7]

When I worked with Malahat, we had an older gentleman, Frank, who was our FF. He would call us in at 2am, and everytime would meet us at the top of his driveway - about 400 yards from the house. Chief complaint was usually shortness of breath - Go figure, Ya just walked 400 yards in the dark! LOL

Anyhow we would run calls to him at least once every 6 weeks or so. Just before I sailed for the Arabian Gulf in Oct 2001, we ran what was to be my last call to his house. For the first time in almost 4 years, he failed to meet us in the driveway. We actually found him in the house. That was an eye opener. "Collier" House comes to mind. Stacks and stacks of newspaper everywhere. The only sort of good thing was that none of the stacks were much more than about waist high. At least in the areas of the house we saw.

I sailed for the Gulf, and on my return I found out that he had moved out of our area, and into Victoria. He was always pleasant to us, and although he was Polish, and his English was a bit rough, but he never complained - would just sit down and wait for the O2 to be hooked up and his ride into town.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

It's not weird.

Some of the "frequent fliers" meet, you become attached to in one way or another.

You have to learn to turn off the "personal side" and switch to "pro mode" when you go to these types of calls.

[fireman4949]

I was curious about some of the other people out there. I don't know if anyone else has this experience. But anyways, we have this little old man that we refer to as a "frequent flyer". For those of you that are not familiar with that term, it is a person that calls 911 all the time. Well, this little old man is in his 80's and has all kinds of medical conditions, so when we do get on scene, he is actually experiencing the chief complaint we are actually paged for. Most of the "frequent fliers" are B.S. but others are not. This particular patient has a heart of gold. Always is happy to see us, very kind to us, patient with us, and never complains. Everytime we get him loaded in the amulance, he will actually tell us thank you (how many patients have you had say thank you?). Yesterday we ran on him again, but this time with a little more serious condition than usual. It was probably the worse I have ever seen him. My question is, does this stuff ever get to you? We run over 2,500 calls a year and I never have stuff bother me like it did today. I don't know, is it wierd? To me it is, but if I am not the only one, then I guess it ain't so wierd.

I have had quite a few like you described, and yes, they can most certainly get to you.

Actually, I think it's a good sign though. It means you still "care" and have not lost your concern and compassion for your patients. Far too many people in this profession reach the burn-out point where they only care FOR the patient, instead of also caring ABOUT the patient.
The patients can tell the difference too.




Kevin

[lexfd5]

We made many frequent fliers during my time on the "Buggy." You have to remember that what is B.S. to us may be the biggest emergency to that person in their life.

Do what the Chief said go into "pro mode" on these runs. It took me awhile to finally learn this.