ETOH and Another Bad Decision.

 The call came in just down the street from the station. We could see it from the apron. But just as we were getting on the rig, dispatch notified us that we would have to stage due to a male on scene arguing with the cops. We stayed put in the station and were only staged for a few minutes before we got the all clear.

We drove the two blocks up the street to where the three or four police cars, all with their code 3 lights on, were parked in the street. I pulled up and nosed in to one of the cop cars, opposing traffic, and hopped off the rig. After grabbing the airway bag I met one of the officers in front and she told me the patient was intoxicated and the boyfriend was being belligerent to them and doesn't want anyone touching her.

We made our way inside the business into what appeared to be a small private or maybe family party. On the ground was a young woman, clearly intoxicated, being supported by a man in his 20s I assumed. I knelt down to his level and calmly began asking him about what had happened, his name, her name, and pertinent medical information. My partner began to gather vitals (blood pressure, pulse, SPO2, and blood glucose). We made sure to explain in detail what we were going to do and essentially waiting for acknowledgement/permission from him before we did anything. He got riled up a couple of times as police moved into the doorway or even into the room. We calmly told him they were just there for our safety and were not going to do anything. 

I don't know what the latin translation is, but I always felt that I wanted a personal crest or tattoo in latin that says, "It never pays to be a dick.". Calmly talking to this gentlemen, explaining all of what was going to happen and why, kept him relatively reasonable, with the occasional verbal outburst at the police being the exception. The patient had one episode of vomiting while we were assessing her and perked up a bit after, as you usually do when you've gotten some of it out of your system.

The patient was non english speaking, and not really speaking at all until she threw up, so most of our interaction with her was by translator in the room or the boyfriend. I knew our next hurdle was coming as he began to explain that she feels better now and that they would just take her to the hospital. I had to explain that we couldn't do it that way at this point. That, now that 9-1-1 was called and she was intoxicated and deemed "unable to care for herself or make her own medical decisions" that we could not just walk away and that she needed to be transported to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment.

He said, " She's saying no. So, you can just rob her??". I thought in my head, no we aren't going to rob her, the word you are looking for is 'kidnap'. Obviously I didn't say that out loud. My partner and I both maintained a calm and quiet demeanor and explained that yes, we agree, this might be stupid but that we don't have a choice at this point and he seemed somewhat resigned to the idea now.

The ambulance pulled up and I stepped away to fill them in on the situation and the boyfriends issues, the legal issues of her being intoxicated and what we had already explained. It was a bls crew with one male and one female, which I thought was good and would probably prove useful. As we got her up and on to the gurney, the boyfriend stated that he wanted to ride in with her in the ambulance. Another delicate dance of explaining to him that he couldn't go with her (without saying because you're hammered and aggressive and dangersou!!) ensued. But there was a calm and resaonable female family member there and we all agreed that she could go with her and he seemed satisfied with that.

So...we got her loaded into the ambulance and another young man in a nice suit, who either showed up or was at the party and I hadn't noticed, came up and was thanking us profusely and, without actually using the words, apologizing for the other guy. He then asked if I knew another one of our firefighters and I said I did. He told me, "Tell him Hector says he sucks at soccer.", and laughed good naturedly,

The ambulance crew had the patient loaded up and my crew was putting equipment back on the rig while I was engaged with the man in the suit, and the police were all dispersing and driving away, when the boyfriend appeared and came up to me asking what hospital she was being taken to. I told him where they were headed and he demanded the address. I knew the cross streets but not the actual address (it was an overtime shift at a different station in a different city) but said I'd look it up. As I took out my phone to find the address for him he began to berate me for not knowing it already. The friend in the suit kept him calm and claimed the name calling etc was just messing around. Before I had the information on my phone the boyfriend had walked off again to get in a car and follow the ambulance, hopefully not driving,

I went back to the engine and drove the two and a half blocks back to the station. As I was pulling in, we heard a radio request from our ambulance crew asking for PD to return to the scene Code 3. Oh crap. My captain tried to raise them on the radio and got no answer. Dispatch tried to raise them and got no answer.

My firefighter went out on the apron and looked down the street and could see the ambulance there still with it's lights on but no activity he could see. My captain said let's go and I pulled out on the apron and the firefighter hopped back in. We hit the lights and drove back up, nosing into the ambulance and hopped out as we saw a couple of the cop cars down the road on their way back,

We went around to the back of the ambulance expecting/fearing to find a fight in progress or something along those lines. We were met by the female EMT who explained that they were still parked and doing their assessment, after we had all left, when the boyfriend had come back up to the ambulance. Now, in what I can only describe as inexperience or inattention or maybe just inability read the room...for whatever reason, the ambulance crew had decided to have the male emt in the back doing the assessment. Even though the female family member was in the back with them, this did not sit well, AT ALL, with the boyfriend when he saw what was happening. 

At that point he tried to push his way into the ambulance. I'm not exactly sure how they drove him off but the female EMT said they kept him back and he then took off.

The fear now was that he would go to the hospital and be waiting for the ambulance crew when they arrived. The crew was very appreciative of us coming back to help despite the police not having returned. We didn't mention the ill advised move of putting they guy in the back with the patient, but just said we were glad they were OK, and again returned to quarters, thankful we didn't end up in a fight or worse and thinking about the fact that my firefighter and I were both male and just did a full assessment on her too. Can't say that any reasoning in an alcohol fueled state is going to be sound of course,

Last Rides

My career has been full of firsts, new experiences, and unimagined scenarios. I've had the opportunity to take part in some really touching events and to be there for people in celebration and in mourning. Both are equally important, but they do not feel the same. In my capacity as a boat operator alone, I have done both.

A few years back, a good friend and colleague retired from the fire service. On his last day he wanted to go out on the bay on the rescue boat one last time. He was given permission to take the boat out of service and spend some time on the water (he was a leader in the water rescue program and set a high bar for seamanship within the organization). He didn't want to take a crew out of service to accomplish this and he didn't want to pilot the boat, he just wanted to enjoy being out on the water. He asked if I would come in and pilot the boat for him. I was off duty and my (soon to be) wife and I were spending the night in a hotel after a concert. I told him I would already be close by in the morning and would be honored to take him out.

That morning I arrived at the station and met up with him and just a couple others to go out on the water. No family, just him and a few firefighters. This was just for him to enjoy being with the guys and out doing what he loved and would miss most of all. It's what I enjoy too and I didn't hesitate to say yes and do this for him (and for me).

We did our usual tour of the bay and the bridges, not staying out too long but seeing the highlights of our area of operation and a bit beyond. A short cruise on a beautiful day and back to the station to return the boat. Definitely a nice memory for everyone and not anything that put me out or required any sacrifice at all. But it meant so much more to him than I realized at the time. He brings it up to this day, thanking me for coming in just to drive him around the bay for a couple of hours. I would have rearranged any plans I had to do it though, he is one of the finest human beings I have met. A few years before, he and I had pulled a father and daughter from the bay onto this very same boat after their boat had capsized. So, knowing what an impact that one last ride had on him just makes it that much more priceless a memory.

On the flip side, but as I said before - equally important, today I took another firefighter on a last ride of a much different kind. This time, I was on duty and the rescue boat was detailed to a special assignment to pick up the family of a firefighter we had lost last year and take them out to scatter his ashes at sea. This was a man I knew, not very well, but had worked with a handful of times. He always had a smile on his face and was engaging and would always ask about you and how you and the family were doing. His death hit close to home for a number of reasons, bringing issues of the toll this job can take on people to the forefront for a lot of us.

We met up with his wife, his son, and his parents at the marina along with the crew of a second boat who would lead the way for us. These were people I had never met and to add to the anonymity, we were all masked due to covid precautions. It was a surprisingly light hearted ride out, almost jovial. In this case, I was taking people who had never been on the bay like this, or passed under the bridges so they were excited by all the new sites and wildlife as well. We saw pelicans, seals, and even a porpoise on the way, which we perceived as a good sign. We took a long and circuitous route to try to keep in the calmest water possible. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to get sick or soaking wet or to be bounced around too much.

I had taken part in a very similar ceremony for my father in law the year before and knew the way to a pretty area where we could scatter the ashes if the water wasn't too rough. As we passed under the bridge, everything seemed to shift just a little: the mood, the water, the weather. Everything became a little bit darker and more somber. I brought the boat to what I felt would be the best location for us to do this and explained how best to scatter the ashes and maneuver the boat (as best I remembered from the year before).

His father asked to say a few celebratory words about his son and then recite a psalm before they began. When he had concluded he moved to the side of the boat and opened the first of the two jars they had brought and let the ashes go into the wind and sea as I steered the boat gently forward and arcing away from the shore. Next, his wife and son took up position along the side of the boat and repeated the ceremony with the second jar as I completed the arc, leaving the ashes in as close to a floating circle as ai could. This time, however, the scattering was followed by her slumping down, her head and arms resting on the boats sponson, the empty jar still open and held in her hand. We were all still for just a moment as her grief seemed to pour into the sea after him. After a moment, she straightened, and the first thing she did was thank us all for taking the time to do this for them.

Again, I would have rearranged whatever I had to do, and made myself available to do something like this if asked. But in reality, I was on duty, it was luck of the draw, so to speak. But it was an experience I won't ever forget either and I'm so glad we could be there for his family and make this happen for them.

Damn near the same ride, the highs and lows, grief and elation, celebration and mourning, and ultimately celebration again...paid or unpaid, by choice or by circumstance, these two rides sum up a career in the fire service pretty well, I think, and will undoubtedly stay with me forever.