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Showing posts from 2009

Mental

Many of you know that I have recently relocated to a new city. One of the facility contracts we have is a hospital, on the local Army base. Yesterday I was dispatched out to transfer a patient to the other VA Hospital, which from my understanding, is primarily a inpatient psychiatric facility with a few primary care offices. I arrived on the floor to get report from the nurse to find out that our patient was a 24 year old male, who was hospitalized for a suicide attempt. He returned from the Middle East with both his legs amputated, one just above the knee the other nearly to his hip. He "survived" an explosion, I assumed a buried bomb, landmine, or direct heavy fire. I didn't want to ask. The blast not only took his legs, but shattered his pelvis, which took months of surgeries and physical therapy to "recover" from. This last November he was discharged under disability. Since then he has been unable to cope with all the fallout of not only his injuries, his ne

Hello out there...

Most of you all have e-mailed me asking about my hiatus from blogging. I've had so much going on lately that I have just simply not been able to sit down in front of the computer and compose anything. Packing and moving twice, job searches, apprenticeship, and chauffeuring friends keeps one busy. I wake up at 8 and don't go to bed until midnight or later. Nowhere in there do I have time to blog right now. I promise I will be back soon. And with an all new blog about the adventures of the new job.

Because I Laughed...

I was happy to see that they finally enabled the embedding codes for this video. So happy happy happy I can share it. All my Atlanta friends and colleagues will laugh their asses off. It's a great spoof of Atlanta history and landmarks. Check it out.

Life goes on... FINALLY!

I am delighted to report that I have been extended a job offer. This includes a significant relocation bonus, competitive pay, and decent benefits. I even have a second part time job in the works. It's a posh one too! Fantastic hourly pay with travel and lodging reimbursement. By my estimates, I will have fully recovered financially from the fall out of this last year within just a couple of months. The downside is that I will be moving to a city where I know absolutely no one. Considering the last year, this may actually be a good thing. But the most wonderful thing is that I accomplished all of this 100% alone. No help from "friends", or ex's. So I start new with a feeling of accomplishment, and no obligations to repay any debts. I will be starting a new blog, yielding the dish on my new journey and of course including all the anecdotes I anticipate to collect providing EMS in a new city. If you guys want the link, just e-mail me your request through the link on my

ADOPT A SOLDIER!!!

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From Dragon's blog: Many deployed service personnel are without letters from home. This is a pen-pal organization that promotes letter writing through the adoption of a US soldier. I JOINED! I am wiggling in my seat to start up a pen-pal again. And this time around, my efforts will have depth and meaning! The last pen-pal I had was in highschool, through my German classes. It didn't last long, but neither did many other short lived phases I went through. Here's the link to the website: ADOPT A US SOLDIER (dot) ORG

Paying It Forward... (or) Repaying a Priceless Debt...

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I worked the streets as a Paramedic in the inner-city for almost 8 years. I have been shot at, cut, beaten, cursed at daily... and for that I gained an appreciation of what our service men and women face overseas, fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. My own experience has only been a tiny fraction in comparison to the terrors and violence these brave souls face -- DAILY. Most regular every day folks don't realize how truly traumatic this war, and past wars, have been on our military personnel. Many come home with pent up emotions, anger, stress, hidden fear, panic attacks, nightmares, chronic and acute depression, suicidal ideations... even worse... violent outbursts and blackouts. This is all from a very real response called POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER . In some it is very subtle. In others it can be very obvious. Either way, it can be crippling to their daily lives, and damning to marriages and families. PTSD had not even really been recognized, much less be diagnosed as a very

I was reminded...

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Out of sheer boredom for the slow nights... it can be really fun to fuck with dispatch. Most of them don't even realize it either. That's even funnier. Ambulance Driver had such an exchange last night apparently: Ambulance Driver: Radio Traffic From Last Night Dispatcher: "Borg Unit Four, you have an assault/rape at Masquerade, 1384 Waterfront. 23-year-old male at the rear entrance." Temporary Partner: "What's Masquerade?" Ambulance Driver: "Local gay bar. They have an awesome drag show on Wednesday nights." Temporary Partner [on radio]: "Dispatch, where did you say the patient was again?" Dispatcher: "Unit Four, your injury is going to be at the rear entrance." TP: "Ummmm, okay." Back in the old days, when Fulton County Communications handled Grady EMS's dispatching, one of our primary posts was in Buckhead. On Friday and Saturday nights we would move from our usual post at AFD Sta 21 over to the middle of the

Great Quote

Be who you are. Say how you feel. Those who mind don't matter. Those who matter won't mind. I stole this from Dragon's blog today. Damn good piece of plagerism if I do say so myself.

The Airway Continuum - Kelly Grayson

Looks like the embedded player isn't working. Sorry! Yell at the folks over at EMS1.com! Try this link: EMS Blogger Kelly Grayson discusses The Airway Continuum at EMStock 2008. The Airway Continuum is a conceptual tool that provides EMS professionals a template for providing the appropriate level of airway management for a given patient. In this brief video clip, Kelly discusses with EMS1.com Director, Kris Kaull, the current paradigms in EMS airway management, and how current research is driving a shift in the was EMS providers view airway management. ORIGINAL POST LINK: Ambulance Driver: For All You EMS Types...

さようなら, arrivederci, adiós... y'all!!!

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(because a foreign catch phrase makes me feel intellectually superior, damn it!) Recovering Grady Addict will remain a totally EMS related blog, which was it's original intended purpose. The new blog will hold all the pearls relating to the more personal side of life and the folks I choose to include in it. I have redirected my personal blogging to a new site, which those of you who know about, know about. Those of you who don't... it's for a good reason. I have just posted an archive of personal blogs (removed from here), a reference for those of you who have expressed interest in following me on my new blogging journey. There are those who have given drama a new definition, and for them this was fun for a while. But for me, it's just time to move on. Some of us are simply more upfront about it than others who would rather keep up appearances, play both sides of the chase, and deny to each side the truth about what they do with the other. As for the professed misery o

Repost: Toxic Partners

a post from Ambulance Driver: "Toxic Partners" "...We can talk about what you should expect from me." "And what is that?" "I'm a pretty easy guy to work with," I continued. "I only have a couple of hard and fast rules, and I consider them inviolable. Rule #1 is, what happens on the truck stays on the truck." "Good," she agreed, "I have the same rule." "This isn't some Code of Silence I'm talking about, BP," I explained. "I'm talking about personal stuff. You're going to be spending more time with me than you do with your kids and your boyfriend. Anything going on in your personal life that I happen to overhear, I'm not going to repeat. I expect the same from you. What happens with company business and patient care is another story, which brings me to Rule #2..." "Which is?" "Partners back each other up. I'm not starry-eyed enough to believe that you follo