Here I sit wrapped up in a blanket in my chair early this Sunday morning, contemplating the second day of my PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) class that I shall finish up over in John Day today. Being an EMT has not only expended my education over the years but has brought me face to face with some of my greatest fears and “phobias” to a certain degree, pediatrics being the main one. Little tiny babies terrify me and toddlers can give me the colly wobbles!
Ask any one of my friends who has given birth to a delightful looking little baby, who has as most new mothers do, asked that dreaded question: “Do you want to hold her?” while holding the said baby out at arms length towards me. With a sometimes rather overly emphatic “No!” I shy away from the task. These little humans terrify me! Of course there are a few mothers out there, I shall not name names… (cough, cough… Laura Thomas, Lorraine Vogt, Tammy Van Kirk…) who have just gone ahead and after politely inviting me to sit down rather unceremoniously plonked the newborn bundle into my lap! I sit there feeling stiff as a board as the squirmy little thing looks up at me before sometimes screwing it’s face up into a grimace and as one little chap did, proceed to piddle or otherwise necessitate the need for a nappy change. Then I find my arms briefly softening and wrapping around the tiny bundle, the last couple of such encounters have brought me to silent tears. Mother comes to my aid and relinquishes me of the little one, giving me a “See Rose, you can do it!” smile and a big hug.
So here I am, an EMT who has had to deal with little ones in the back of the ambulance, thankfully not on a regular basis as nothing makes an EMT’s heart rate go up as fast as hearing over the pager an infant with difficulty breathing. The nice thing however is that there is so much one can do as far as assessing these youngsters from a distance, without them being in your actual arms or lap. As they lay in mum’s arms you can tell right away if they are “sick” or “not sick”, “bad” or “oh my gosh where are the paramedics!” bad. But the funny thing is, when I am in the back of the ambulance, my fears of that little bundle of terror seem to evaporate. My training comes into play and I am able to do my job. Thankfully I work with a grand ambulance crew here in Monument who all know my mini-person phobia, yet also know I will get over it and get the job done but they are instrumental in making things go as smoothly as possible bless them!
There was one incident that my own past experience as a little girl of 6 came to play a very helpful role. The Monument Volunteer Ambulance crew had been called out on a pediatric call with a little patient who was having an allergic reaction with hives and blisters but no immediate difficulty breathing. It was a little toddler. After getting the little patient and mum all settled in the ambulance we headed down the road for the 60 mile trip to the hospital. As part of the treatment I needed to administer a medication by way of injection. Of course it was not a good sign when mum informed us that the last time the patient had to have an injection it had taken 3 nurses to hold the little fellow down! I thought back to a time when I was really, really ill and ensconced in an isolation room in hospital. I had to have 3 injections a day and the nurses devised a way to make the deed that much more tolerable, my dear Teddy bear also received 3 injections in his bottom each day too!
So, with the little patient on the ambulance gurney before me, I took one of our always present teddy bears and proceeded to tell the little toddler that Teddy was feeling poorly just like him and to make Teddy feel better he was going to have to have an injection and could he help me make Teddy feel better? I went through all the motions of taking a syringe and pretending to draw up the medicine then had our little patient find just the right spot on Teddy, had him clean the site with an alcohol swab and then had him give Teddy the shot. By this time our little patient was ready for his turn, I had him show me exactly on himself where I was going to give him his shot, the same place as on Teddy, brave little chap took a deep breath just like we had told Teddy to do and he accepted his shot like a trooper! It was really not until we reached the hospital and turned the patient over to the nurses in the emergency room that I finally breathed normally and relaxed!
Another thing I learned during my initial EMT training many years ago was that we may have occasion to attend a soon to be mother who just might pop out her little one en route to the hospital! Thank goodness we actually have a whole bunch of mum’s as well as a couple of dad’s as part of the ambulance crew! They are well able to sympathize and coach immanent mothers while I do my part of assessing the patient.
I have to add a little side story here. Back when I was taking my first EMT basic class, during the final part of the course we had to cover the obstetrics section which included how to assist in childbirth on an emergency call. Along with this came learning how to deal with mis-presentations during delivery such as a breech birth or a footling birth whereby baby tries to come out bottom first or one foot at a time instead of the normal head first delivery. I do not think our instructor TR Hilton was prepared for my answer when he was speaking of a footling presentation and asked how we would treat this problem, my thought being it would be just like a baby calf, lamb or horse… stick it back in, get it organized then pull the baby out! NOT what one does to a human! Of course since I myself have never gone through the experience of having a baby but have been midwife to countless mares, cows, ewes and sows, when a foot comes out by itself, one pushes it back in, twiddles things around to get everything all nicely lined up then proceeds to assist mum make a successful delivery! So it seemed logical that is what happens on humans too does it not? Never fear to those of you expecting mothers out there… I am much more knowledgably about the human birth process now!
Ah yes… the education one receives when one joins the ranks of ambulance EMT’s… it allows one to reach deep inside one’s self to realize one can overcome one’s fears when it comes to helping those in need…