You meet and care for all sorts of people on this job.
This tour the first response of the day was for a male subject unable to move. When we arrived on scene our elderly and bearded patient was standing outside his front door leaning on his cane. Well, unable to move seemed a bit of a stretch since he made his way out to the front and closed the door behind him. I would learn in a few minutes that I was likely to be very glad that he met us outside. As it was the first thing I noticed was that he was barefoot and had Howard Hughes toenails.
Like this except pointier and more dragon like.
He said that he had arthritis really bad and that he couldn't walk. He slid down the stairs on his belly to get to the door and then get outside. He said he had no other complaints but my observation was that he was pale and didn't smell great. We got some vitals and realized that he was extremely sweaty and had a rapid pulse. He was so sweaty that the ekg lead stickers would not stick to him at all. We undid his sweatshirt which turned out to be the only thing he had on to wipe him down and try to get the leads to stay. It was at this point he stated that he had not had a shower in over a month and "could we tell?". Well yes we could.
Even wiping him down didn't do the trick and I had to hold the leads to him in order to get a reading. His heart was racing along at over 155 but he had no cardiac complaints at all and no cardiac history.
When the ambulance arrived we had a moderately tough time getting him to shuffle his way to turning around and then get on the gurney because he couldn't really bend which also explains why he can't take care of his toenails. His heart was still racing and the ambulance crew asked again if he had any cardiac or other significant medical history. Again he said no. As they wheeled him away I asked the overlooked obvious question: "When was the last time you saw a doctor?" His answer was, "Six years." Well there you have it then.
This way to the ambulance Mr. Hughes.
Six years since a doctors visit and over a month since a shower. This is why I was so glad that he met us outside. I can't imagine what the inside of that place looks like and I don't want to.
The following two calls were for hip problems. One lady had an artificial hip that was supposed to be basically bullet proof. Except in her case when she bent over to grab her slippers the thing popped out on her. She was handling it pretty well and I was able to give her some meds for the pain although they didn't help much.
The next lady fell in her kitchen and was very cordial and not in quite as much distress as long as she was laying still. We were able to get her up and on to the gurney without much difficulty. It was hard to say if she had done any real damage as nothing seemed out of place or unstable. But she was also in some pain when we did have to move her so I'm sure her xrays may reveal some damage.
We were able to help everybody we tended to that day but in a district with a primarily older population it can be tough seeing these folks struggle with daily tasks in their old age and especially those who lack the resources to get needed help.
