Unofficial Observation-TRAUMA
 

Gents, I have come to a realization over the past 4 weeks...
I have been working on the Trauma Service here in Tacoma for the aformentioned time frame (30 on / 18 off) and have made a startling observation.
I have worked on people every shift from motor vehicle accidents...and EVERY ACCIDENT that someone has come in to the Trauma Service (meaning: really injured badly) there has been alcohol and or drugs in at least one of the drivers.

Pertaining to alcohol...it hasn't been just a little. The LOWEST reading thus far has been .19. Some have been as high as .41:eek: .
Meth seems to be the drug de jour, but it is amazing to me that this commonality has been present in every MVA victim incident that I have worked on in the past month.

Folks...they are out there. Driving the WRONG WAY on the interstate in the middle of the night. Cooking their drugs and shooting while they are sitting in traffic. Having a good ole time without a care in the world...and once the majority of them hit someone else...they still don't care.

Be careful folks...it is a dangerous world after dark.

Eagle

Welcome to job security...they may cure heart disease and cancer but not stupidity and accidents...........
ah, the life in Trauma......
Need to nominate the newest Darwin award to one of these freaks.

ss

Eagle5US,
Welcome to the great northwest.

Eagle5US: Welcome to every day EMS conditions in the USA!!!

Well, I had run EMS from 1981-1999. I would hardly call what I am seeing reminscent of my past experience.
Sad either way.

Eagle

My very first EMT run (1975!) was a head-on between a drunk and a family in a Pinto. The drunk walked away from it and the family was all killed. The only thing I was good for was burying the family dog by the side of the road.

We had two teens in town -- sober -- killed by a drunk this last week.

Terror for a parent is a doorbell after midnight.

Meth has moved from endemic (bikers and truckers) to a pandemic. I do not know of anyone who has not personally been impacted by meth. In my case, my two youngest arrived via meth>>>>social services>>>>adoption!

In our last 10 homicides meth has been on board the victim or suspect!

[side note]

Last week I saw a walking (under his own power) and talking .539 BAC (no that is not a typo his BAC was a .539)

[/side note]

I have been saying for sometime now that meth is going to be the BLACK PLAGUE of the 20th century.

At one time I aspired to be a paramedic but after watching the trama shows on Discovery Health and reading the threads here I'm glad I didn't. I don't think I could deal with a substance abuser that just killed another innocent person.

My hat is off to everyone that performs this job.

Speaking of Meth, how about going out to spray down (with water for decontamination) an innocent family, an EMS crew and two dumb cops at 0130
at an apartment meth lab....and the air temp is around 35 degrees?

Although some of you may disagree, I think EMS is a war of its own. But whether you are a FNG 91-W medic just now arriving in Baghdad or a old cynical EMS bastard, or even a high speed 18-D, the common thread I would bet on is that you were called to do this. Not everybody can do this type of work. Thank you for your observations Eagle.
HTM

The meth epidemic is rampant across the U.S. right now. I'm not sure how being strung out for three days straight with no sleep is "fun" (isn't that what patrolling is for?).

Fu*k 'em...what a bunch of 'tards!!!

Good luck to all the EMT's/LEO's out there who have to deal with these people...

To quote Albert Einstein: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.":munchin

From 9-13-2001 thru 01/ 2005 I was a vol. firefighter who responded to a few mva's that were alchol/meth related (including one that almost took a buddy's life helping me with a stalled vehicle).As time went by it seems like the mva's increased.
Sometimes it is hard to believe that people will allow this to happen then sometimes I figure as long as someone is getting paid then after they leave the bar who cares.

Oh h***l with it.It might change some day.

Another another forum I used to go to, a guy tried to convince me he really did drive better after taking meth. It "made his reactions quicker and so could drive faster." He was/is a fucking idiot.

Meth has exploded here in the last five years. Crystal meth is starting to come in from SE Asia. It's one reason I'm learning Chinese. Those motherfuckers piss me off.

Stop treating them...

Concur. You folks can fill in your own conclusions.

Doc