Chapter 26
Roy Desoto arched his back trying to stretch all the kinks out of it. He glanced over at his 'trainees' Doyle and Reagan. Both were pretty good given the lack of hands-on training they'd received. He had to admit Dr. Davis over at Hawaii Med had done a fine job making sure his paramedics were ready for the field.
He repressed a sigh as he reminded the men to write the vitals down. Johnny'd bough a bunch of little spiral notebooks to give to his trainees; maybe he should do the same. Scraps of paper just didn't cut it and it made the subsequent logging hard without the notes. Finally he walked over to triage and once more showed the nervous men how to start an IV.
When he saw the flash of red he slipped the IV into place and gently taped it securely to the patient's arm. She looked grateful. Of course, given she'd been stabbed twice before his stick, she had reason to. Roy mentally noted to practice starting IVs when they got back to the station.
As the patient was packaged to go the senior paramedic let his mind drift to his partner. It was difficult to be the only trainer. More difficult having two trainees. Even more difficult the early lack of commitment from two of the three hospital staffs. He was glad Queens came on board so quickly and that Brackett seemed to be making good headway with Castle's crew. Still, it left him with very inexperienced paramedics.
Johnny was at one of the 'problem' stations. At least he was with Cap. Ok, Cap was broken, but still the two would present a united front and help the paramedics there. Roy reached down and started cleaning up all the debris that littered the ground from the rescue. He noticed that the two paramedics were unsure of who should ride in.
"Who called it in?" he asked them. Sheepishly Doyle waved his hand then Reagan climbed into the ambulance. He'd told them if neither really built a rapport with the patient the person who'd done the vitals and started the IV should go in with the ambulance. Two taps and the vehicle scooted off, lights flashing.
"Uh, that wasn't really too bad, was it?" Doyle asked as he helped secure the equipment.
"No, not too bad," Roy said calmly. "I'm going to talk to Captain Lofquist about practicing starting IVs." The younger paramedic tried to tool his face into neutrality, but a squeamish little frown broke through.
"We need that?" he asked.
"You need that," Roy said firmly. "Once you've jabbed each other I'll let you try my arm out." He reflexively tapped his chin thinking about the practice. "Maybe I'll have you start on on yourself. My partner, Johnny, has done that at least twice." Doyle stopped in his tracks and turned his unbelieving eyes on the man.
"He started an IV on himself?" he managed to stave off a gasp. Roy looked up and grinned.
"Oh, yes," he said and proceeded to detail out the two situations that happened causing the dark haired paramedic to insert an IV on himself.
It was a looong shift for both LA paramedics. Desoto had to bolster his team's self-esteem and felt like a cross between an elementary teacher and a cheerleader. His arms were bruised, plural, due to numerous sticks. Not one to suffer in silence, the entire crew of station 27 sported at least one bandage and bruising.
Gage continued to suffer under the adulation of Station 14's engineer, Manny. It didn't help that Hank kept adding to the fire, telling many exaggerated stories. By supper several family members had come in to see the 'legend'.
Gage swore he wouldn't hurt an injured man. Repeatedly.
Both paramedics were happy to see the end of their shift with their respective stations and move on to their next assignment. Johnny found himself at the 5's and Roy paired with Cap at the 32's.
X x x x x x
"This was one of the difficult stations, right?" Roy asked Hank as they pulled into the station.
"Yeah, and they work out of Castle so it must have been a double whammy for John the other day," Cap agreed. "Best put on a good poker face!"
"Yes sir!" he answered with alacrity and tossed off a salute. Together they walked into the apparatus bay. The engine was in the process of being cleaned; something muddy had presented itself during the night so both C shift and B shift were polishing away. Hank noted two 'white stripes' watching the dual crew and directed Roy ahead of them.
"Captain Kaiwi?" Stanley asked politely.
"That'd be me," the man with salt and pepper hair smiled tersely and held out his hand. "You must be Hank Stanley out of LA."
"Yes, I am," the man smiled. "And this is my paramedic, Roy Desoto."
"Sir," Roy had on his 'friendly face' and accepted a handshake as well. Both Los Angelenos waited for the other shoe to drop.
"So you're Johnny's partner," a new voice piped up. One of the crew drying the engine grinned. "Jeff Lee, engineer," he held out his hand. The next thing Roy and Hank knew two large men sauntered over.
"Kurt Acker," the first growled.
"Atoni Ryan," the second added. Another round of handshaking.
"Lewis! Yamaguchi!" Kaiwi barked out. Two more men joined the growing circle. The paramedics were introduced.
"How's Gage doing?" Lewis asked. "He got tagged pretty good when he was here." Hank noted the men shift uneasily.
"Fine, Dr. Bracket put in a few stitches and it's coloring up nicely," he explained.
"About that," Acker hedged, "uh, we didn't set the launcher right. We apologized, but we still feel bad about it." Hank raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Roy.
"He said you guys did," Desoto said carefully, "apologize. He's not one to hold a grudge."
"Pranks can backfire," Stanley allowed. "Our station 'phantom' has occasionally messed up." He thought back over a few less than stellar gags that resulted in Johnny getting hurt.
Still confused over the pleasant reception the two men were shown lockers and then brought into the kitchen for coffee. Roll call was informal that morning since they had been busy cleaning. Tasks were assigned and the squad checked out.
X x x x x
Johnny smiled as he walked into the 5s. At least the paramedic team was solid and there was harmony among the crew. He was greeted by Captain Hunter. After stowing his gear he was introduced to the rest of the men. He was extremely glad to note there were no surfing magazines strewn around the day room.
"Squad 5, meet Coast Guard copter 10 at the Rescue Center. 300 Ala Moana Blvd. Time out, 9;05," dispatch toned. Hunter wrote out the slip and the squad was on its way.
Jerry Harris weaved around traffic, laying on the horn. Jim Irvine pointed out holes for the squad to use. It took nearly 20 minutes to get to the Rescue Center.
"What d'you got?" Gage asked as they pulled on headgear in the copter.
"Boat capsized," the pilot reported as he lifted off the pad. "Copter 8 was able to pull most of the passengers, but one person has been combative and refuses to climb into the rescue basket."
"So we have to, uh, coax him in?" Jim asked hesitantly. He didn't mind water rescues but a panicked victim made it difficult.
"It'll be fine," Jerry gave him a tight smile. They turned to scan the waters. Another five minutes and they were circling a large, upsidedown 40 foot cruiser. A man was clinging to the hull.
"I'll go down first," Jerry offered as he pulled on the harness. Soon he was in the water and swimming to the ship. Jim watched nervously as his partner got close to the wreck. The hairs on the back of his neck were bristling but he didn't know why.
"Hey, I'm Jerry," the paramedic began as he put a hand on the man's leg.
All hell broke lose. The man spun around, his foot hit the rescuer in the face. Blood immediately poured out of a possible broken nose. Not good. Blood could attract predators.
Before Jerry could react the large, hysterical man slid off the hull of the boat and latched onto his neck pushing him under water. Without enough flotation the victim panicked more, lashing out trying to save himself.
"Crap!" Johnny kicked off his shoes and before anyone else could react dove down into the ocean. Clean, powerful strokes brought him to his trainee. He quickly pulled the crazed man backwards off of the drowning paramedic. With his hands full he couldn't help Jerry.
Jim dove in right after Gage. He swam immediately to his partner and pulled him up to the surface. He leaned him back trying to see how Jerry was doing. Johnny had his own problems.
"Sir! Calm down!" the dark-haired paramedic asserted as he tangled with the victim. The agitated man would have none of it and continued to struggle. He was being man-handled, Gage's arm around his neck forcing him to float on his back.
"He isn't breathing!" Jim was beginning to get scared.
The situation was deteriorating quickly and he was watching his partner die!
Johnny finally lost all patience. He swung the flailing man around and slapped him on the cheek finally getting his attention. His dark eyes bore into the dazed blue ones.
"You are going to be fine, sir," he said firmly. "You will CALM DOWN!" He waited to be sure there'd be no more struggle. There was still a terror-stricken look in the man's eyes, but Gage had him oriented.
"Jim will take care of you," he growled out. The two paramedics traded victims. John immediately floated the inured man against his chest and gave an upward thrust on the limp man's lower chest/diaphragm and was rewarded as a lungful of water was spewed out. He managed to get a couple breaths into the limp paramedic. With a jerk Jerry started to breathe on his own.
Coughing ensued as he flailed a bit completely disoriented. He was sick, spewing water and what little was left of breakfast, out into the water. Gage kept up a litany of calming words hoping to stop the struggling.
Confused, Jerry tried to figure out where he was. He was wet, he seemed to be bleeding and he'd vomited. The realization he was in water came next and he stopped flailing around and noted the capsized boat and his partner helping another man.
If Jim was over there, who was holding him? He tried to look over his shoulder.
"Hey, pally, you with us?" Johnny asked calmly.
"Uh, yeah," Jerry managed. "Just why are we in the water?"
"Let's get up to the copter!" Johnny twirled his right arm in the air and the rescue basket was lowered. "I'll tell you when we're there."
Soon the victim and Jim were aboard. A woozy Jerry was next and Gage followed them up. It appeared that besides temporary insanity the victim, Roddy, was fine. He had calmed perceptively and was now wrapped in an emergency blanket apologizing profusely for all the trouble he'd caused.
Jerry was a different story. His nose was broken; he'd need some surgery to straighten it out. He was agitated and in pain but because of the injury could not have any medical relief. He was carefully rolled onto his side so the trickle of blood wouldn't choke him. Johnny sat down behind him to give him support. The injured paramedic gratefully leaned against the other man.
"So, you guys do water rescues often?" he asked lightly. Jerry's rapidly darkening eyes (he'd look like a raccoon soon!) blinked a couple times before a smile graced his face as he looked up at his trainer.
"We-ell, some days it seems we're always soaked," he allowed, grimacing with a wave of pain. "I have five uniforms and that's not enough some days!"
"Same here," Jim added. "Cap put up a clothes line to dry stuff."
"Huh, that's a good idea," Johnny considered. "I get wet a lot back home, mostly because of a fellow crew member who shall remain nameless!"
"CHET!" Jim and Jerry said together. "He was at our station yesterday," Jerry said.
"And he didn't teach any of you how to build a water launcher?" Gage asked.
"Water launcher?" Roddy entered in the conversation.
"No, he didn't!" Jim said. "But I'd sure like to know how to make one!" He glanced over at his partner reclining against the senior paramedic.
"Sorry, not part of my training regime," Gage shook his head. "You'll have to check around and see who received that particular 'training'." There was a comfortable silence then the uninjured Hawaiian paramedic grinned.
"Hey! That was the first time I dove from a copter!" Jim said. Jerry glanced at his partner.
"You? Mr. I-don't-like-to-get-wet dove into the ocean?" he teased. Jim snickered.
"Well, I couldn't let Johnny have all the fun!" he said.
"I don't know about fun," the trainer frowned as he pulled out a soggy spiral from his pocket. Followed by an equally drippy pen. At least his shoes were dry!
The four men chatted amiably while the copter descended on Hawaii Med. The pad was next to the main hospital and they could see two gurneys and several people waiting. Roddy was taken off first, renewing his apologetic tirade. The mobile paramedics hung back just in case he decided to go hysterical again.
Jerry grudgingly allowed himself to be lifted on to the second gurney. Dr. Davis leaned over the injured man and began to asses his injuries.
"We'll find you some dry scrubs," he said over his shoulder to the still-dripping duo.
A half-hour later the same duo was warm and dry. They found Jerry in a treatment room, his soggy clothes unceremoniously dumped in the corner and a light blanket covering his body. He did not look very happy!
"I think Helen enjoys stripping patient's clothing off," he grumped.
"Hey, at least she didn't cut 'em off!" Gage said remembering Dixie. "Our nurse wields a mean pair of scissors!" The door opened and Dr. Davis walked in.
"Well, Jerry, you've earned a night in my hotel," he grinned, hoping to curb the disappointment. No one liked to stay in the hospital! "Your nose needs to be tweaked a bit and you have a slight concussion." The patient frowned.
"Ma-an! And I finally got to work with the surfing legend!" he groused. Johnny's face reddened.
"Legend? What surfing legend?" the confused doctor asked. Then he noted the blush gracing Gage's face and the smirks on the 5's paramedics.
"I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about," Johnny said defensively.
"Yeah, we figured that!" Jim chuckled. "Johnny here surfed in a couple of north shore contests and did pretty good for a haole! It's all over the coconut wireless."
"Hey, you have to get him to sign my magazine!" Jerry said pushing up on his elbows. Between the broken nose and bruises around his eyes he look macabre.
"Magazine?" Johnny said testily. "I didn't see any at the station!"
"Cap made us put 'em in our lockers," Jim explained. "Felt we should let you settle in before we brought 'em out!"
"Right neighborly of ya," the embarrassed man scoffed.
"I take it you don't like the attention, eh?" Davis grinned.
"That would be a 'yups'," Jim grinned widely. Johnny ran his hand through unruly locks.
"I guess it just irks me that my surfing career is making paramedics more tolerated by some of the old school," he grumbled. "And having some of the guys following me around like, like groupies, well..."
"Oh, yea, you must have met Manny!" Jerry said as he gingerly lie back down. "He's your number one fan." Gage just sighed.
"Well, just so you know, 'dude'," Davis patted him on the shoulder, "I could care less about your hangin' ten. I'm thrilled you're a paramedic and I don't want your autograph!" Johnny finally smiled his crooked smile.
"Thanks Doc, much appreciated!" he replied as he glanced at his watch. "We need to get back to the station."
"I'll check in on you when we have a run here," Jim patted his friend's shoulder. "Rest!" Johnny seconded the sentiments and soon they were back in the bright yellow squad heading for the 5's.
