Fire at Ivy Apartments

http://www.byuicomm.net/fire-at-apartment-complex/

Air Idaho Rescue

Today I am flying along with the Air Idaho Rescue crew. Turns out that my Program director is on shift today also, so I know it will be a great learning opportunity if we do get called out for a flight. This is the pinnacle of Paramedicine. The patients they transport are the most critical in illness and injury, thus meriting Air transport. The pictures posted were taken while we were performing the morning equipment check and look over of the plane. We're geared up and ready to go!

Intubations!

Wednesday morning I was able to go to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello for Intubations. I was able to learn from some great Doctors and Nurse Anesthetists, see how things are done in the OR (Operation Room), and put a lot of people to sleep and keep them ventilated during the course of their procedures. I had a blast! It was awesome to actually intubate a live person instead of a plastic mannequin! I was able to learn proper techniques of bagging/ventilating a person who's respiratory system is depressed or all together not functioning. I have been seriously looking into Nurse Anesthetists Programs and going on in school and this experience has only intensified my curiosity and desire to pursue such a path. I have posted a few pictures of just what takes place in endotracheal intubations and the views you see when your right in the action.

Scrub in

You may not have known, but Paramedics are also surgically savvy. Here is a picture of me just before I went into the O.R. and removed a guy's appendix.

Ok, of course I am joking. I was able to attend two Cath Lab procedures yesterday. One man was in for a check up on his stent that had been implanted just last spring because he was having reoccurring angina. The second case was a 90 year old man having a pacemaker implanted. That was pretty cool to see. I watched as the doctor inserted the electrical leads into this man's heart and then screwed the leads into the heart muscle in order to get good conduction. Two leads were implanted, one in the right ventricle and the other in the right atria. Once the leads were in place the pacemaker device was then implanted on the outside of the chest wall just under the skin of the man's chest. It was an awesome experience! I am looking forward to the opportunity to watch even more medical procedures.

What I am doing now

Since, the 1st of September I have been back in Rexburg, ID continuing my education. I am working as a Fire Fighter Intern at Madison Fire Department and a full-time student in the BYU-Idaho Paramedic Program. I have had all sorts of new experiences throughout the semester and I am about 3 weeks from completing the first semester of 3 in the Program. I really enjoy the Program and the Internship with the Fire Department. I feel like I have learned a lot so far and I definitely have a lot more to learn in the coming semesters. I was recently on an ambulance call of a man in cardiac arrest. It was quite the experience! We (The Ambulance Crew) worked on the gentlemen for a while. Personally, I probably ended up doing more than 8 rounds ( 2 minutes) of compressions and there were 4 of us switching off. At one point about 5-10 minutes into the code (code=working a cardiac arrest patient) he began breathing, but had insufficient heart rate to sustain his body's needs, we ended up defibrillating (shock) the man more than 12 times throughout our time on scene and during transport. I think the biggest eye opener for me of the whole experience was how physically demanding giving CPR is. I was dripping in sweat from head to toe and exhausted after each round. When we arrived at the hospital I jumped on the side of the gurny continuing compressions until we got the patient in the room and onto the bed. The nurses and doctor worked him for probably another 5 minutes and then discontinued CPR. As an overview of the whole call, this man weighed about 350 lbs. he collapsed on the second story of the residence and when we arrived on scene he was quite blue in the face. We spent a good 25 minutes on scene and it was about 7 minutes to the hospital.

Photo shoot with the Beard

Fresh off the Plane