Some Like It Hot

"Engine 51 respond for a citizen assist. Elderly female says burner on electric stove won't turn off."

First thought: Why not just unplug it?

Doesn't matter, we are here to help so we headed out. On our arrival we discovered that this 90 year old woman was apparently some kind of house sitter and that it was super hot in the house.

 

 I put on gloves and headed straight to the stove where I found all four burners on High and a whistling tea kettle still sitting on one of the burners.

I moved the tea kettle and put it in the sink and then simply turned all the burners off. The lady exclaimed, "Well how come they just popped up for you?" I think she just turned them the wrong way to hot instead of off but they were the kind that you had to push down and turn so maybe she just wasn't pushing down. Who knows? In any case we shut off the stove and checked the hood and cabinets above to make sure nothing above had overheated. All was clear and the captain began getting information from the woman for the report. I walked out of the kitchen and underneath a ceiling register that just blasted me with hot air. I mean hot.

Now, I thought it was hot in the place because she had the stove cranked but that was nothing. I told the captain and we went and checked her thermostat. It was set to 90 degreees! Four stove burners on full and the thermostat set to 90. We showed it to her and set it back down to a reasonable temperature for her.

As we were wrapping up and set to leave we noticed the door from the laundry room to the outside was open. We asked if she wanted us to lock everything up for her before we left. She said no and that she would get it later. She had that door open because it was hot in the house.

She was a very nice lady and very appreciative, but these folks might want to reconsider who they have house sit for them in the future.

Mother May I

For those of you who work in the field, the title of this post has an entirely different meaning. You see we have standing protocols we follow for different types of medical emergencies. They are guidelines with some room for paramedic judgement but most of the time to step out of protocol we have to make base contact and get permission from the ER Doc to do so, "Mother may I". This call was different. This time someone was asking me for permission.

We responded to a call for a lift assist only, no medical needed. My district has a lot of elderly and infirmed citizens and when they fall, or slide out of bed/chair/walker whatever, we go and pick them up. They aren't hurt but just don't have the strength to get up. Dispatch informed us that the patient would be in front of the residence. I figured this meant it was an actual fall but sometimes people just have trouble transferring from the car to wheelchair and need assistance.

When we arrived we found an elderly woman lying next to her side yard gate with a neighbor supporting her right leg. I asked what happened and she told me that she fell and that she thinks she cracked her hip. So much for the lift assist. I told my captain to get an ambulance coming right away. I sent the firefighter into the house to get some pillows and padding to prop her leg up so the neighbor could let go of her leg. Turns out she was bending over and lost her balance and fell, landing right on her hip. She had no other injuries but was in a lot of pain anytime her leg was moved.

We assessed her injury and obtained vitals. I then established IV access in preparation for pain meds. I knew it was going to hurt like hell when we had to move her. I adminstered the pain meds and I could tell just by her voice and reaction that they were kicking in but she still had pain to be sure. I told her we ready to move her and that we would do our best to make it quick but that it was going to hurt. She said, "Alright, I understand. But, is it alright if I curse?".  Now that's a lady, huh? We laughed and told her she could do whatever she wanted to.

We rolled her to the uninjured side to get our scoop stretcher under her and she responded with, "Shhhhiiiiiiitttttt". We got her loaded up and on her way with no further distress. It just cracked me up that she asked permission to curse. She was a very sweet lady and I hope she heals up quickly.