A/N: As requested by Beleg Cuthalion on AO3, a couple of training snippets for you, with potentially a third on the way. Enjoy!
Training 1
"Morning Virgil." ICP William Heke gave a lazy wave as he greeted their latest volunteer from the 'Smith' family.
Virgil grinned and waved back, setting his backpack down beside the ambulance. "Morning Bill. How far are you on the truck check?"
"Just got here. I'll take the cupboards, you take the kits?" William, Bill for short, offered as he opened up the back doors and climbed into the back of the ambulance.
"Works for me." Virgil nodded and followed him, taking the large first response kit and the almost as large Intensive Care Paramedic kit and laying them out on the stretcher so he could start to go through the pockets and check the contents were all present and accounted for.
While setting up International Rescue, Jeff had run headlong into some of the bureaucracy he'd been trying to avoid. Medical practitioners needed certification, authority to practice, recertification and oversight. Legally speaking, without it there were several countries in which they would have been forbidden to offer medical aid in which defeated half the purpose of them being there. So he'd cast about and come up with an acceptable solution that met the legal and medical requirements and IR's need for secrecy.
New Zealand was in a unique situation, ambulance-wise. They had two emergency ambulance services- Wellington Free Ambulance, covering the region around the capital city, and The Order of St John which covered the rest of the country. Both were charities with a mixture of paid staff and volunteers manning the ambulances. Arranging the required New Zealand residency was straightforward enough, they needed it anyway, and after a series of meetings with management at St John, the Tracys and Kyranos were all registered as volunteers for St John under the family name of 'Smith'.
Their authority to practice emergency medicine as an EMT (Alan), paramedics (Gordon, John, Scott and Kayo) and Virgil as an ICP came under the signature of the St John medical director, all their patient report forms were audited by St John, training and recertification came through them as well and once a year they all did a block of shifts on the ambulance under the watchful eye of an Intensive Care Paramedic to ensure they were following process and procedure correctly.
They'd decided on basing themselves out of Ohakune on the Central Plateau for the ski season for their shifts- it meant trauma and environmental cases for the most part with the odd medical and a sprinkling of drug and alcohol related cases to make things interesting. To make life easier they bought a house there, tucked well out of sight just in case a Thunderbird ever needed to make a quick pick up.
It worked remarkably well- people saw what they expected to see and everyone could recognise International Rescue in their distinctive blue uniforms. But that guy with the American accent or the Malaysian woman no one recognised wearing the green St John uniform? Oh, they're one of the vollies, comes down from Auckland to help out. The simple explanation worked every time
In addition to the anonymity provided by the uniform, Scott would grow a short beard for the occasion. He claimed it was to keep his face warm in the snowy weather but the others knew the 'secret agent man' vibe of the ambulance shifts tickled his fancy and he used it as an excuse. Gordon tried to do the same one time, but the chlorine from his daily swims was very unkind to facial hair and the fuzzy results sent Kayo into a fit of giggles so he abandoned that effort and attempted a Kiwi accent instead. That he lost the accent as soon as a patient or driving lights and sirens drew his focus never discouraged his efforts to try and hold an at least passible Kiwi accent. John didn't bother with either approach and trusted in the green St John-issue knitted beanie pulled down snugly over his red hair and the polar fleece jacket zipped up to his chin. Virgil, Alan and Kayo did similar, knowing between the uniform, the hat (if they used it) and the sunglasses needed for daytime driving they were almost unrecognisable.
That the Smith family weren't who they said they were was an open secret amongst the Ohakune based staff and volunteers- more than one sibling had slipped and used 'F.A.B' instead of 'copy'- but not a peep of it was mentioned outside the tight knit cadre of full time staff and volunteers.
"Kits are all good to go." Virgil reported as the clock on the wall of the ambulance ticked over 0545. "I'll check gasses and linens."
"Gotcha." Bill nodded as he moved through the overhead cabinets. "Grab us some more blankets and towels? Weather's supposed to turn nasty later today. And get some more lancets, the BGL kit is almost out."
"Understood."
The ambulance finally checked off, their backpacks of spare uniforms, lunch and high viz stowed in the on board lockers and both officers signed in on the tablets, Ohakune 1 was ready to roll for the 6am-6pm day shift, the first for the Blue Watch shift block of two days, two nights, then four off. Green Watch had the night shift, then as Blue switched to night shift, Red took days, followed by Brown.
"So anything in particular you want to do while you're here?" Bill asked as he led Virgil to the kitchen for a hopeful hot drink- hopeful because pagers had a tendency to go off right when it got to drinkable temperature.
"I.O. if we get the chance. I haven't done one of those for a while." Virgil said, picking out two mugs from the mismatched collection in the kitchen and handed one to Will. I.O. stood for intraosseous, literally giving fluids via a special needle drilled into the bone when I.V. wasn't viable.
"Well, if we get one it's all yours." Will nodded, making himself a cup of tea. "Is it just you down at the house?"
"Yeah, but just for a couple of days. John's coming in two days for the Red Watch, Kayo for Brown and Gordon's going to be down for the next two Blue Watch blocks, he's almost ready to challenge for ICP. The paperwork is all in, he just wants some more road time before the assessment." Virgil explained, spooning instant coffee into his cup. "It'll be good once he's got that sorted."
"I'll make sure he gets plenty of experience then." Will grinned. "Oh, hey, a bunch of us are going for dinner with the Fire vollies tomorrow night after shift, want to come?"
"Sure." Virgil grinned. "You do know you just jinxed us to get stuck with a long transport though, right?"
"Ha! Yeah, probably. Ah well, they'll understand." Will sipped his tea. "How's Alan coming along? Is he ready to challenge for paramedic yet?"
"No, not yet. He's got most of the skills, but he wants more time for his confidence levels and to get high school out of the way, he's always got us for online direction if he needs it. And driving, he needs more driving time. He'll be down for Red Watch." Virgil added. Last year Alan had been three up with him and Bill, focusing on his patient treatment, not the driving, since he legally couldn't drive in New Zealand at the time.
"Speaking of driving, about Scott…" Bill started, a teasing glint in his eye.
"Yeah, I know." Virgil couldn't help but chuckle. "I'll remind him to practice before he comes down for his block on Green watch."
"Thanks, last thing I want is to throw up on a patient."
The eldest Tracy was known as a lead foot, especially on a call. It was not the best approach when it came to the winding, back country gravel roads of the area and more than one person had had to quietly remind him about 'drive gently when there's a patient'.
Beep Beep Beep Beep
Virgil fumbled for the pager clipped to his belt, habit making him first go for where his bracer controller usually sat. Bill got to his first and squinted at the tiny screen. "That didn't take long, patient with chest pain." Bill reported. "I'll drive."
Training 2
"Need any help?"
"Nah, I've got this." Gordon replied lightly as he shifted the last crate out of the way in the section of Two's hangar that had been co-opted as VR training space and marked off with black and yellow hazard tape.
Virgil lent a hand anyway, checking the layout diagram they'd been sent and putting 'Jack' and 'Jill', their two full body training manikins (named for the nursery rhyme) into place in two chairs set up in the middle of the space. The two manikins could be programmed to talk or respond to stimulus in various ways, breathe and simulate numerous complications with breathing, could simulate any number of heart issues, had palpable pulses, could have their capillary refill checked, could be IV'd and IO'd, bleed and vomit.
Gordon busied himself with checking off the training first response kit and other equipment to distract himself. They all hated assessments. In the field it was easy, you just did the thing, but doing it while someone was watching was a whole other matter. It really didn't help knowing Virgil would be acting as his offsider as well as observing him as the family's intensive care paramedic and in charge of medical training, and that John would be monitoring everything too since it all got piped through Five's systems for data security.
"Okay, gear is all ready." Gordon announced.
"I've got Jack and Jill linked into the remote control suite, just waiting for Beth now." John supplied from the comms. "How's the VR headset?"
"It's good to go too." Gordon nodded, trying to not fidget and betray his nervousness. He'd been practicing between rescues all week, but knowing it was the real thing really put the pressure on.
"Beth is online, handing over to her now. Good luck Gordon." John signed off as Gordon and Virgil put on the VR headsets.
Getting almost all of their training into VR had been an absolute game changer for them, it saved so much time not having to shuttle to New Zealand to do their assessments and keep their skills up, while also maintaining their security. The only exception was the on the road shifts they had to do to satisfy the bureaucracy, but those were well in hand and more like a little holiday for IR.
"Hello Gordon, hello Virgil." Beth greeted them as the training space was overlaid by a grid pattern. Beth's avatar showed up, a middle aged woman in the green St John Ambulance uniform, she was part of the Clinical Training team of the ambulance service and usually oversaw their skills assessments.
"Hiya Beth, whatcha got for me today?" Gordon asked, denying his nerves with a show of nonchalance and focusing on the task at hand.
Beth tapped the tablet she was holding and the scenario flashed up before Gordon. "Car crash, car versus tree, two occupants." She explained as the assessment criteria flicked up as well so Gordon would know what he was being tested for.
"Any dangers or helpers?" Gordon asked, settling into rescue mode, his shoulders squared and standing a little taller.
"As well as Virgil you have one imaginary bystander you can use, it's a busy road close to rush hour." She elaborated.
He took a moment to extrapolate potential complications. "Is the tree stable?"
"Mm, assess that when you see it." Beth replied.
"Is anyone trapped?"
"You'll find out when you see it, but no fancy IR gear, remember?" Beth reminded him, flicking a glance at Virgil to include him in that. That particular detail was a continual battle for all of them to remember. St John couldn't include their gear in the official assessments because it was IR's proprietary technology, because St John didn't have it they couldn't assess how well it was being used. Security-wise it was easier to not include it rather than hand over some of their gear.
"Okay Beth, let's do this." Gordon nodded.
Beth tapped another control on her tablet and Jack and Jill were enveloped by a hologram of a crashed car, head on into a tree. Jill started screaming, Jack was slumped at a funny angle and the car steamed slightly.
"Start when you're ready." Beth told him.