A/N Laws differ state by state on how much care EMTs are allowed to administer. In some states, EMTs are nothing more than Ambulance jockeys who can only bandage people and insert IVs, with anything more serious than that being passed on to more qualified Paramedics. For this story I'm going to go with one of the other options where EMTs have a bit more freedom, and can do almost everything except use a defibrillator or administer certain types of meds, which in most states requires at least a year of medical training. Also, while most departments do not pay their volunteers, some of them do pay for certain situations, like hazard pay for responding to a fire or dangerous situation, and some departments do pay a set wage, which is usually state minimum wage, for the time they are on site treating/transporting patients or fighting a fire, but not for the entire time they are on call.
Reviews Always Welcome!
...
CHAPTER TWO
November, 2009
"Kurt, is that a pager on your belt?" Santana asked on Monday during lunch. It was his first day on the rotation, and he was technically on call, even though he still had to go to school.
Kurt just shrugged. "I got a part time job, running errands for people, and they needed a way to let me know when someone needs help."
It was the truth, sort of. Only Mercedes and Matt knew the full truth, and Sue. Kurt wanted it to stay that way. No need to give the other students more ammunition to use against him. They'd probably say he was lying, that he couldn't possibly be a firefighter/EMT. Santana was already giving him a skeptical look. Who knew what was going on in that twisted head of hers?
It was later in Glee rehearsals that the first call came through, Fortunately it was nearly time to go anyway. "Mr. Schue, I need to leave a little early. It's important."
"We only have fifteen minutes left, Kurt. Can't you stay till the end?"
Before Kurt could reply, Sue entered the classroom. "Lady Hummel, They're playing your tune. Go, now!"
Kurt hurriedly gathered his things and rushed out the door as Mr. Schue and the cheer coach got into an argument.
Burt had given Kurt a Volvo to use to get to and from calls, and he drove as quickly and safely as he could to the station, where he met up with Rae. They quickly donned their uniforms and jumped into the ambulance.
"What's the call?" Kurt asked.
"Woman in labor. Should just be a grab and go," Rae said, getting behind the wheel. "Address is fourteen seventy two Grimmwood Dr."
Kurt quickly punched the address into the GPS, and they set off, lights and sirens. They arrived at the scene within fifteen minutes of their pagers going off. Kurt was the first out the door and at the back of the truck. They offloaded the gurney with their med boxes and oxygen tank loaded on top, and moved quickly up the front walk. The door was ajar, and they could hear a woman moaning from somewhere inside.
"Fire department," Kurt called out. "Can we enter?"
"Come innnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Kurt's eyes had gone wide at the sound of the scream as he looked at Rae. She reached out and opened the screen door, leading the way inside.
"Ma'am?" Rae called out.
The sound of another cry of pain that came from the room ahead and to the right guided them to where the woman was sprawled on the kitchen floor. One look was all it took to let them know that this was not a grab and go. The baby's head was already out, and they could see that the cord was tangled around the neck and one tiny fist that was the only thing keeping it from strangling the newborn.
"We need to deliver the baby, now!" Rae said, kneeling beside the woman.
Kurt looked like he was going to faint. "I don't know nothin about birthin no babies!" They'd only had a basic coverage of this kind of situation.
"Kurt! You need to pull yourself together!" She picked up her radio. "Dispatch, Allen51 requesting Paramedics. 995."
"Allen51, copy. Enroute."
"Kurt, grab the space blanket and the blanket from the gurney and tuck it under her bottom half," Rae said, raising the stethoscope to her ears as she took the woman's blood pressure and pulse, and checked her respiration. She smiled at the expecting mother. "It'll be alright, but I don't want you to push just yet, okay? What's your name?"
"Kristin," the woman replied.
"Hi, Kristin, I'm Rae, and this is my partner Kurt. Do you know how far along you are?"
Kristin nodded. "Thirty eight and a half weeks. I was supposed to go in later this week to be induced, though."
Rae just nodded and jotted down the blood pressure reading and respiration rate. "How old are you, Kristin?"
"Twenty nine."
"Is this your first pregnancy?"
She shook her head. "I had a miscarriage last year.""
"I'm sorry to hear that. I promise we will do our best to protect your baby. Now, do you feel the urge to push coming on?"
Kristin nodded as Rae radioed in the vitals and condition of the mother and child.
"Kurt, you need to get down between her feet and support the head. Try to loosen the cord as the baby advances. Ready, Kristin? When you're ready to push, push as hard as you can. You can do this!"
Kurt was certain she was speaking that last part more to him than to Kristin. He knew he was being squeamish, but really, he'd never thought he'd ever be looking at THAT part of a woman's anatomy, and frankly, it was freaking him out. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and as Kristin began to push, he kept a firm grip on the back of the baby's head as he tried to untangle the cord.
"Now breathe, Kristin," Rae instructed, glancing down to see that Kurt had loosened the cord enough to slip it over the infant's head. "Good job. One more big push, and the baby will be out. Kurt, use the bulb to clear the baby's nose and throat."
Kristin tightened up as another contraction hit. "That's right, push that baby out, momma!"
Two seconds later the kitchen was filled with the newborn's cries as it took its first full breaths.
Kurt stared down at the tiny thing in his hands in awe. "It's a girl," he said, feeling a tear well up in his eye. He gently cleaned the baby a little, then wrapped it in the blankets and laid her on her mother's stomach, just as the paramedics arrived.
"You missed all the fun, boys," Rae taunted as she slowly stood up to relinquish her spot. She and Kurt gathered their equipment and gurney and returned to their truck. As Kurt used a bottle of sterile water to clean his hands, Rae punched him in the arm.
"Oww! What was that for?"
"'I don't know nothin about birthin no babies?' Really?" After a moment, she smiled at him. "You did good in there."
"Me? That was all you! I was freaking out. Our very first call, and that is what we walk into? But you were so calm. You're going to make a great nurse someday."
She smiled and hugged him. "This calls for a celebration. Pizza, on me! Come on!" She climbed into the driver's seat and radioed dispatch. "Allen51, available.", and drove them back to the station. She ordered the pizza as Kurt cleaned up better.
The pizza arrived about twenty minutes later, and they were just about to sit down in the breakroom when their pagers went off again. Kurt let out a little groan as Rae radioed dispatch for the details.
"Man having chest pains," she said, snatching up one of the pizza slices and taking a huge bite before grabbing her uniform shirt from the back of the chair. Kurt took a big gulp of his diet Coke, and grabbed a slice to take with him, careful not to get pizza sauce on his face or uniform as they rushed to the scene.
…
"Blaine, you're still a half a step off after the chorus there. Try to keep up!"
Blaine tried not to wince. He still had twinges in his lower back and legs from the attack, and all this dancing wasn't helping. "I'm sorry," he said, making no excuses. No one but Trent knew about his injuries, and he'd only told his roommate because the friendly boy had seen the scars.
Wes frowned, but nodded. "Once more, from the top! We have five days until Sectionals, and we need this number to be perfect if we have any hope of beating Vocal Adrenaline!"
As they reset their positions, Trent whispered to him, "You should tell them."
Blaine frowned, giving his head an almost imperceptible shake. "I can't," he whispered back. He couldn't let them see that he was weak. Weakness got you beaten until you hurt so bad you just want it to stop and you don't care if you had to die for it to go away.
"Ready, begin!"
Blaine forced the smile to his face as they began harmonizing, forcing the memories and the pain away and focused on the steps, and pushing through the section he'd been having trouble with.
"Much better!" Wes said, smiling for a change.
…
Kurt and Rae pulled up at the address, and Kurt had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He recognized this house. They gathered their equipment and the gurney and headed up the path to the door.
Rae rang the doorbell, and they glanced at each other as they waited for someone to open the door. They were not prepared for the sight that greeted them when the door was thrown open a moment later.
"Hello gor- You're not Henrique!" Sandy Ryerson glared at the two EMTs as he fastened the pink robe that had been thrown as wide open as the door, revealing the man wearing nothing but a sheer pink thong under it.
Kurt immediately spun away, wishing he had about a hundred gallons of bleach to cleanse his eyeballs.
"Henry has taken a leave of absence for a while, Mr. Ryerson," Rae said, her voice clipped. "He said someone had been stalking him and his nerves couldn't take it anymore. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, sir?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about," the disgraced educator said, huffing indignantly at her.
"Mr. Ryerson," Rae continued, voice so sharp she could cut a diamond with it, "we received a call about a man having chest pains at this address. Do you know the penalty for making false 911 reports? It is a class four felony, punishable by up to three years in prison and upto twenty five thousand dollars in fines. Add an indecent exposure charge and you're facing a minimum of eight years behind bars. If they find out you just flashed a sixteen year old, you can add another ten years, and having to register as a sex offender.
"On top of all that, while you are standing here, wasting our time, there may be someone out there who actually does need our help, who may die because of your lack of judgement and self control. So I suggest, unless you want me to radio for a police cruiser right this second, you put some damn clothes on and check yourself into rehab. And if you pull a stunt like this again, I promise, you will need paramedics when I finish with you."
She led Kurt back to the ambulance, as she radioed it in. "Dispatch, Allen51, false alarm. Unit available."
"Copy, Allen51."
"Don't suppose you know how to do a lobotomy? I would really like to erase that image from my mind," Kurt said.
Rae laughed and patted him on the back. They stowed the equipment and had just climbed into the front when their radio let out a long tone.
"Station19, Station51, Engine16, Residential fire, High Ridge Rd. and Roundtree St. Person trapped, multiple injuries. Be advised, OC says more than one structure may be involved."
Rae glanced at Kurt as they both felt their hearts begin to race. This was a big deal. Kurt picked up the radio. "Allen51 responding."
…
It was getting close to midnight when Kurt crawled into bed that night. His first day on the job had gone from bringing a new life into the world, to being the last face someone would ever see.
A backyard gas barbeque grill, left unattended, exploded when the feedline had come loose. It had set fire to the house, as well as the shrubs lining the wooden fence panels, and to the poplar tree in the back corner, which had fallen over and set the house next door on fire as well. A ninety six year old woman had been trapped in the back bedroom on the second floor of the first house. She had been conscious when the firefighters had pulled her out, but faded quickly from the toxic smoke. Kurt and Rae had performed CPR for almost twenty minutes, but could not revive her.
He'd had to come home after that, because he had homework he needed to finish. Before he could start on that, though, he had thrown his clothes and uniform into the washer and had taken a long, hot shower, washing and conditioning his hair twice before he was satisfied that it didn't still feel like ash and soot. He'd then went through his usual moisturizing routine. His skin still felt dry, and he made a mental note to research post-fire skin care products.
His dad had brought him his dinner as he'd sat down to begin tackling his history report and the essay for French class.
"Rough day, kiddo?" Burt asked.
Kurt shrugged. "I delivered a baby, got flashed by a perv, and lost my first patient."
Burt nodded. "Yeah, I would call that tough. How are you handling it all?"
"I'm okay. I kind of freaked when I realized I was going to have to deliver the baby, but Rae walked me through it."
"And what about losing your patient? How are you handling that?"
"I think I'm doing better than Rae is. You know she's studying to be a nurse, but I don't think she's ever lost anyone. I mean, I at least know what it feels like to lose someone close to me, so I know death. She's never experienced that before, you know what I mean? She was pretty shook up afterwards. I've never seen her that vulnerable."
Burt patted him on the back. "She'll be fine, I'm sure. She's tough, like you. And just in case you aren't as fine as you think you are right now, you know you can always come talk to me, right?"
Kurt smiled at him. "Thanks, dad."
Now, as he drifted off to sleep, the image of the woman's granddaughter crying out as she realized her grandmother was gone filled his head. His tears dampened his pillow as he fell asleep.
…
"I say there is something fishy going on with Lady lips," Santana said Thursday as they were getting ready for the next to last Glee rehearsal before their Sectionals competition, watching Kurt from the corner of her eyes as she seemed to be focusing on filing her nails beside Puck's locker. "That pager of his went off during calculus this morning, and when Mrs. Hagburg wouldn't let him leave, Coach Sue showed up out of the blue and dragged him out of class. And when I saw him drive away, He was changing his clothes in the car."
Puck looked down the hall at the skinny boy. "You think he's some kind of gigolo?"
"I don't know, but whatever he's doing, it's not running errands for elderly shut ins."
Puck just shrugged. "So Hummel has something going on the sly. So what?"
Santana didn't respond as she watched Kurt close his locker and head towards the choir room.
…
"Great job, everyone!" Mr. Schue said as they finished rehearsals. "Kurt, glad you could hang around until the end of the day today. I get the fact that you have a job, but try not to let it interfere too much with school."
Kurt just rolled his eyes. He was technically off duty for the next three days, but they'd paged him and Rae that morning because all the others were already out on calls. Fortunately it had been a simple grab and go, a middle aged man had fallen from a ladder and broken his arm. He'd been back to class before the bell had rung.
Even though they were off duty, Kurt had agreed to hang out with Rae and Mercedes after Glee club that day, and they ended up sitting at the mall food court and sharing a pizza.
"I don't know if I could do it," Mercedes said. "How do you guys handle the stress? I mean, you have people's lives in your hands. How do you not panic?"
Rae shrugged. "You know me, I've always been a thrill seeker. Not necessarily an adrenaline junkie, but I love pushing my boundaries, and solving problems."
Mercedes nodded at that. "What about you, Kurt?"
Kurt took a sip of his drink before he answered. "I just think about my mom, and how it felt when I lost her. I don't want anyone else to feel that way, so I focus on doing the job as best as I can. I know it's unreasonable to think I can save everyone, but I'm going to do my damndest to try." Both Rae and Mercedes patted his shoulder.
"Come on, let's hit a few more stores before we have to go home and do homework," Kurt said, finishing his drink.
…
"Is everyone on the bus?" Wes asked David Saturday afternoon. They'd just come in second place to Vocal Adrenaline, and were getting ready to head back to Dalton.
"Everyone except Blaine. Trent said he had to go to the bathroom. He should be here in a minute or so."
Wes nodded. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. I think I'll go before we pull out, too."
He jogged back into the building and to the men's room. He pushed open the door and paused as he spotted Blaine at the sink. There were three pill bottles lined up on the back of the sink, and Blaine held a fourth in his hand as he spun around to face Wes, looking nervous as he tried to block Wes' view.
"Oh, hey, Wes. I was just going to wash my hands and head out to the bus."
Wes was frowning. "What are you doing, Blaine? Are those drugs?"
"No! I mean yes, but not what you think!"
Wes strode forward and picked up two of the bottles. "Oxycodone? Trazodone? What's this about, Blaine?"
Blaine let out a sigh. "I have prescriptions for all of them. I'm not an addict."
Wes crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for an explanation. Blaine put the lid back on the bottle he was still gripping, turning to gather the other bottles and place them back in his messenger bag.
"Blaine, despite what you seem to think about me, I'm not a bad guy. I might be a little over the top, and a perfectionist when it comes to the Warblers, but I can also be a good friend if you let me. Just tell me what is going on with you."
Blaine gripped the side of the sink and leaned forward. "I'm gay," he said, as if that explained everything.
Wes looked confused. "And?"
Blaine looked up at the older boy. There was no look of contempt, no revulsion on the Asian features, just a look of concern. Taking another breath, Blaine went on. "A year ago, almost to the day, me and a friend were gay bashed after the Sadie Hawkins' dance. We were both pretty messed up. I ended up with nerve damage in my lower back. I had to have three surgeries to alleviate the pressure. Every once in a while, usually with physical exertion, I still get pains in my legs. That's why I was having trouble with the choreography."
"Okay," Wes said. "That explains the pain meds. What about the Trazodone?"
"PTSD," Blaine explained. "The other two are a muscle relaxer and an anti anxiety medicine."
Wes nodded. "So why didn't you just tell us about all this in the first place?"
Blaine sighed again. "I have trust issues because of it. I know Dalton has a zero tolerance policy, but I had no reason to believe it would be enforced."
Wes carefully reached out and touched the younger boy's arm. "Blaine, I can promise you, the policy is enforced. No one at Dalton will bother you. And the Warblers aren't just about the music, you know. We're a brotherhood. If one of us is hurting, we all hurt. Let us help you, please?"
Blaine studied the other boy for a moment, and then broke down in tears, leaning on the taller boy for support.
…
"Oh, come on, Kurt, you still won," Rae said Monday afternoon as she was driving the ambulance back from a call. "Does it matter that it was by default?"
Kurt sighed. "That's not the point! They stole our set list! If they hadn't done that, and we'd performed those songs, we would have won, fair and square."
"I think you are looking at this all wrong. Think of it as they cheated, and you still beat them, with only an hour of rehearsal on the new material, and cobbled together dance moves. And your choir director banned from the competition? Do you know how awesome that is?"
Kurt frowned again. He hadn't thought about that. "Well, when you put it like that," he said, feeling a little better about it.
"Allen51," the dispatcher's voice came over the radio.
Rae picked up the CB radio. "Allen51."
"What's your twenty?"
"About to pull into the station."
"Allen51, please pick up rescue51 and proceed to non-emergency call at Fourth and Divine."
They exchanged a look. Rescue51 was their gear truck, the one that carried things like climbing ropes, shorter ladders, power saws, and any other small equipment that might be necessary in unknown situations.
"Copy," Rae said, parking the ambulance. She and Kurt switched into their turn out gear, and switched to the smaller truck.
When they arrived on the scene five minutes later, they found a young girl of about four or five crying, her mother trying to comfort her.
"Hi," Kurt said. "You called for assistance?"
"Poppy got stuck in the drain pipe!" the little girl sniffled. That was when Kurt heard the whining coming from a hole in the grass nearby.
The mother looked up at him. "Ginny has been begging for a puppy for months, so we decided we'd foster one first to see if she was old enough to handle the responsibility. Poppy got out while I was bringing the groceries in, and when we finally found her, she'd already slid down out of reach."
Kurt knelt down beside Ginny, and smiled. "It's alright. We'll get Poppy out for you."
Rae got out the scope line, used to see down pipes or under doors that might not be safe to open. Kurt fed the camera down the pipe as Rae watched the monitor.
"I see her. She's not too far down, about four feet, but there is a bend in the pipe. Looks like she's being held in place by a root that has broken through. We could dig down and bust the pipe the rest of the way to get her out."
"Sounds like a plan," Kurt said, and stood up to get the shovels.
Twenty minutes later, they pulled the four week old puppy from the pipe, and after wiping her down with a towel to remove some mud, handed her back to Ginny. The little girl squealed in delight, and threw her arms around Kurt, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you!" She kissed his cheek, and Kurt couldn't help smiling. So far, this had been his best rescue yet.
...
A/N A 'grab and go,' sometimes called a bag and go or wrap and go, means the patient either doesn't need on site care, just transport to the hospital, or that the site is too unstable to treat the patient, and only minimal care is provided before removing the patient from the location. In the latter case, more urgent care may be provided in the ambulance during transport, or the patient may be handed off to an advanced ambulance or medevac helicopter.