Lab Day

Lab days intimidate me. That being said, today  was definitely one of the more enjoyable days in class. We went over how to give IVs and calculate drip rates. I hit one vein and blew through the back of another. Too bad the one I botched up with my instructor's. Luckily he was very understanding and a great sport. He talked me through what I had done wrong all while gritting his teeth through the pain I was causing him. I felt sooo bad. 

In the assessment portion. We had an awesome Paramedic come in that I already respect so much. The way he treats each of us as equals and doesn't care about our background or past experience made me feel soo much more comfortable and relaxed. Hearing him talk about his experiences and passion for the work he does and loves has made an impact on me. I have a feeling I will be spending more time with him picking his brain to gain as much knowledge and insight as I can. So far I've been able to hold my own alright and have been able to become friends with most everyone in class which has been a blast. I can't wait for the weeks to come to get to know, and trust everyone even more.

Until next time!

Katie

Observational Ride Along Day II

Today I had the chance to ride along with SLCFD Station 2. The calls I got to go on consisted of a false alarm on a high rise fire, a chest pain, another drunk that got sent to detox, a woman that was presenting with a brain attack (stroke), a lift assist, and another woman who was complaining of chest pain and bronchitis.

I had the opportunity to experience a lot of new things today. On the first chest pain call, we were dispatched to the road home. I had looked at the outside many times but I would have never been able to picture just how sad and dirty the inside was. I was a little shocked. The people hanging out there welcomed us and thanked us for our service to them which was nice. I would never want to have to live in their shoes.

While the engine responded to the high rise fire, I got to sit in the rig and listed to the communication and break down of the event over the radio. It was really interesting to see how they delegated who would be the inspection crew, who would be in charge of finding the water source, and who would be responding as backup. It makes me appreciate the hard work and time these guys put in to make sure that they can be there when they're needed and be able to deescalate the problem as soon as possible. Even though it was a false alarm there was a lot to be learned from it and the firefighters take any opportunity to continue their training and to become more familiar with the buildings within their district so that when there is a real fire, they know the best way in and out of the building and the possible risks they would have to consider to maintain their team's safety.

While treating the woman who was presenting as a possible stroke, I learned that sometimes you can't rely on only talking to communicate, not only was her speech slurred, but she couldn't understand us because she only speaks Russian. Having her family translate presented some problems too. They couldn't tell us where she was hurting or how she was feeling, they could fill in bits and pieces of the events leading up to the attack, and some of her current medications but not much else. Simple questions like can you blink for us or raise your arms and hold them turned into a game of charades almost. We loaded her in the ambulance and I got to ride to the hospital with the medics in the back of the ambulance to continue observing their patient care. We transferred the care to the hospital staff and I got to sit and watch while the Neurologist took over and started tests of her own. On the other side of the curtain, a full arrest was going on. I never got a chance to see the patient but I heard them call it and watched as they cleaned up the room. That made me realize that I have no room to complain when I'm having a rough day. At least I'm breathing alive and well.

As usual, I had a blast and thought the men I rode along with today were great. They gave me pieces of advice that I will never forget and more importantly, I learned more from them by the example they set and their high standards for each other and themselves. I hope if I ever have the chance to work along side them as a coworker, I'll be able to pull my own weight and make them proud.

Until Tomorrow!

Katie

Beginning of week two!

This weekend was a busy one to say the least, I went on a ride a long with station 8 this weekend. Nothing too stressful, it was mainly just to observe life in the fire house and that's exactly what I did. I have what the firefighters call a white cloud following me. No matter what station I'm at, we don't receive many calls. Station 8 is known to be one of the busiest stations in the valley and average anywhere from 6-12 calls in a day, we had two for the 12 hours I was there with them. I did however get two patient contacts. I took blood sugar and blood pressures on two very intoxicated males. The rest of the day consisted of watching Paranorman, College Basketball, and a very cool car auction. The guys at 8 were great and it was a pleasure getting to meet and work along side everyone.

Sunday I went down to Provo to stay at a friend's place and have some fun. We made a Cafe Rio style dinner and had a great time playing games. One of Afton's room mates, Renee is in the animation program at BYU and it was a lot of fun talking art, color theory and concept design with her. If I wasn't doing paramedic, I would probably be studying art as my major. For now it will remain as one of my beloved hobbies that I will use as an excuse to take a break from studying once in a while.

Anytime I am together with this particular group of friends (Afton, Haval, Jared, and any of his room mates that choose to come) we can be doing anything and burst out into uncontrollable laughter leaving us all in tears and barely able to breathe. Werewolf and Uno were the games of choice this weekend. I'm so glad I have these people in my life to lighten the mood and knock me down to size. While waiting for dinner to cook last night, we were giving each other nicknames Struggles is what I ended up with, I wasn't too offended because put simply, it fits. Haval was Stutters and Jared was Gimp. We can all pick on each other and laugh at ourselves without taking offense because we all know it's meant to be taken very lightly. We all know that we would do anything for each other. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome support group cheering me on in life.

While this weekend was a lot of fun, it left me very sleep deprived and class this morning was very long. We were warned at the beginning of class that it was going to be one of those "death by power point" kind of days. Sure enough, we went through almost 200 slides on the subject of patient assessments. I have another ride along tomorrow and I can't wait to hopefully get a few more patient contacts to add to meager list. Hopefully I will get the chance to write tomorrow night to tell of my time spent at the firehouse.

Until then!
Katie

End of the first week!

I have made it through the first week of medic school. TGIF. The mutual feeling in class this morning seemed to be exhaustion. We were all tired and quiet. I was having a rough morning and was not feeling that great. I was happy to sit in my back corner and take my notes and listen to the lecture. Little did I know we were going to be running through some scenarios first. I know that when I am working as a paramedic in the field, I will have to be able to put my own personal struggles and ill thoughts aside and approach my patients with the best attitude I can muster up, and be able to focus all of my attention on them and their current problem. I am going to strive to make myself work through these mornings and approach everything that is asked of me with the attitude and answer, "Yes of course" and "Sure, why not?" I have to make myself take advantage of every opportunity to better myself and build my skill set along with my confidence in my abilities so I can be the best paramedic/person I can be.

A few tidbits from yesterday and today before I pass out and take a much needed afternoon nap.
-It is vital that you become very familiar with your equipment and how to properly use it.
-Always prep your surfaces when applying fast patches, and shave the sweater if needs be. Singed hair doesn't smell so good.
-Never assume. Always be searching for possible alternatives and narrow down your choices  logically.
-While ANP stands for Atrial Neuro Peptide, BNP stands for Brain Neuro Peptide and by that they really mean Ventricular Neuro Peptide. It was just found in the brains of rats first.
-"Don't treat the damn monitor, treat your patient." (talking about reading the ECG machine) They make mistakes too.

A movie we watched yesterday in class to lighten the mood a little bit



Until next time!

Katie

Pictures I realize never made it onto the blog from this fall

Pumpkin carving with Whitney!

An epic day of shooting with the boys

We can't help but goof off a bit.

This series of photos I found on my camera while I was downloading the ones I had taken... I guess that's what I get for leaving my camera unattended.

This on makes me laugh every time :)

Looks like I left the camera unattended again...

Gardner Village with my mom and cousin Annie and her kid Giselle.

Annie and Giselle.

My cute momma and I.

Another day of epic shooting with some more of my favorite people.

Silly Jason

Nasty A rat tail....

Jason's anime face.

All I can say is my life is filled with awesome family and friends!

Day 2 of Medic School

Today was filled mostly with a lot of review of material we all should have covered in previous classes such as physiology, and anatomy. The first half of class we talked about the electophysiology of how the heart works. It was a nice refresher since I haven't been in physiology since last year. This will play heavily in our ability to interpret Electrocardiograms (ECGs) later on in our career. It was also helpful that I had the opportunity to take an Advanced Cardio Life Support class from my EMT intermediate teacher and this covered almost all of what I had studied for that. I am also so thankful for taking two Medical Terminology classes as they are put to almost constant use in the classroom. Just a few of the words we used multiple times today were, ionotropic, chronotropic, dromotropic, enteral, parenteral, synergism, potentiation, bioavailability, among many others.

We also went over the importance of working as a team. These fellow medics and EMTs are your family away from home. They have your back and you in return should have theirs. Without each other it becomes almost impossible to perform even the simplest of tasks. They are your witness when shit hits the fan so you better become the best of friends.

One of the most intimidating parts of this class is the medication list, we received 7 pages (landscape mind you) of drugs listed with their generic and trade name, class, indications, dosages (both ped and adult), contraindications, side effects along with some additional notes on each drug. Our instructor told us by the end of the year we will be able to recreate this table from memory... I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.

Once again I left the room with a desire to know as much as I can so when I am put in the situation of having someone's life in my hands and their family expecting me to fix their loved one, I am able to do so to the best of my capabilities.

A few tidbits I liked from class,
-You guys are having a unique experience in this class, you are the guinea pigs. You get everything, the important stuff along with the shit that I will edit out later because frankly... it didn't work.
-PFM: stands for Pure F#*$&%( Magic, this was used to describe the complex functions of the heart both mechanically and electrically.
-The way we practice is the way we play, verbalize everything and go through your checklists religiously.
-As you get your experience you will know where to cut corners, don't start here.
-Kill them all and let God sort them out, well since the public wouldn't be very happy about that, take them to the Emergency Department and let them sort it out.
-The three things that people need most when their life on the line is and IV, O2, and Diesel. (meaning an IV running to push meds, oxygen is always a good thing, and diesel burning in the engine while their in the back of the ambulance being transported to the appropriate facility.)

Until next time,
Katie

First Day of Medic Class

The last 6 months have been some of the best of my life! That being said, I have gone through many trials and hard decisions to get to my current feelings. Here is a quick list of just a few of the things that have happened, I will most likely explain some of them in more depth later in the post or those that follow in the months to come.

1. Two of the most amazing people whom I have the honor of calling my friends and partners in crime have returned from serving full time LDS missions abroad. Those two years were the longest two years of my life, but much needed. I was able to learn a lot about myself and was forced to focus on me. I was able to narrow down and choose a major which I am passionate about and really enjoy. Health Education and Promotion but more importantly, the provider track, where if all goes as planned, I will be a paramedic in less than a year! On one of my ride a-longs I had the pleasure of meeting Capt. Gaulke. He made a lasting impression on me that I will never forget. He first questioned me why I... a girl... wanted to go into EMS and Fire. I replied because I love the work and I feel like I was born to help people. He was very supportive and gave me some words of advice. He really wanted me to try out for Fire Academy that following spring but I had other plans of finishing school. He also told me that I would need to get my butt in to shape and probably lose 30 pounds if I really wanted to be the best Fire/Medic I could be. I took that portion of his advice to heart and was able to drop 20 pounds this past year. I have never felt better both mentally and physically. 

2. In July, I got out of a two year relationship that I have learned so much from and have gained a loving family that accept me as one of theirs in return even though the two of us are not just right for each other. 

3. I've reconnected with some old friends that I haven't talked to since high school. Even though we haven't talked for years, it was just like old times and we have had a good time catching up on each other's lives.

4. In October, I had the opportunity to take a trip to see my brother while he was interning in St. Thomas USVI. Whitney and I had a blast traveling just the two of us. It was definitely an adventure I will keep with me for life.

5. In November, I sent my academic adviser an email asking when I need to apply for the Paramedic Program at the University of Utah and got a quick reply back stating that I had missed it by two weeks but could still try contacting the Coordinator to see if they would still accept my application. Over the course of the next two days, I gathered the mountain of required documentation and paperwork and handed it in. All I could do was wait until I heard back from them. A week later they called me in for an interview. I was stoked. When I went into interview it was kind of an awkward time because I was working during the time they normally scheduled the interviews. I got there and they were just shooting the breeze and had totally forgot that I was coming. I felt as though they had already picked their candidates and I was going to have to prove that I was willing to put in the time and work necessary to excel. As they were interviewing me, they asked my prior experience, I explained to them that I hadn't had much in the field, I had worked as an EMT at a summer camp and that was about it. They then proceeded to ask me if I knew the five patient rights. I had not reviewed these since 2009 for my EMT basic course. I was able to recall something about right time, right patient, right medication, right dose, and my mind just blanked on the last one... I said that was all I could come up with and they thanked me for my time and sent me on my way. On my drive home I realized the one right I forgot was right route. I was so mad at myself. But hopefully they had sensed my love for the work and desire to learn. Once again, all I could do was wait to hear from them. Two weeks went by and nothing... It was getting closer to Christmas and I had figured that they had already told the students that made it in who they were so I started to prepare myself for the next year. I planned on applying for a job at Gold Cross to gain the experience I was lacking and studying up on all of the past courses I had taken to stay current. On the 7th of December I opened my email inbox to find a letter from the Paramedic program coordinator with the subject line of 

"Welcome to the Salt Lake City Fire Department and University of Utah Paramedic Program 2013"

I have never been so excited in my life. I had made it! This next year is going to be one filled with hard work, late nights, long shifts, hard tests (mental and physical), teamwork, and most importantly of all, knowledge that will prepare me to work my dream job as a paramedic helping those in need to make the worst day of their lives the best I can.

Today was the first day of class and the second week of my internship. Every time I leave I am left wanting more. I can be in a funky mood before class and when I leave, I have a renewed passion for life and am as happy as ever. I feel I have found my calling in life. I can't wait to see what the future brings. I'm going to try and write as often as a I can about my experience in the program not only so you can enjoy reading about my life, but also so I can come back on those days that I'm struggling to remember why I got myself in such a demanding program and read through the good days I have had.

Some tidbits and pieces of advice that stuck out to me today while listening to our lecture in class today:

     1. No matter good or bad, you can't take back first impressions

     2. Strive to be the best paramedic you can be

     3. Be the best you can be TODAY

     4. If you really want to F$%^ up a fire scene, insert an injured firefighter. Be safe out there.

     5. Hand sanitizer is there to tide you over until you have time to wash your hands.

     6. Do not carry what you can put on wheels.

     7. This profession is not a measure of toughness, ask for help if you need it.

     8. Avoid becoming irritated with a patient, while being important, is easier said than done sometimes.

Until next time!

Katie