New Work Day

More calls, more excitement. Just another day at the office for Kevin.

 

New Work Day

 

Kevin returned to work the next day and found a full crew on hand at all stations. As he spoke to Reggie, he found that the publicity about Kevin's accident from the previous shift had greatly influenced the management to relax the new drug testing policy just enough to appease the new hires and keep all of the old hats happy. They also decided to break free with a little extra money to get the spare units repaired and/or replaced.

            Kevin was pleased with this new development and went to his office with new life in his step. He looked over the messages he had to return and found a note in reference to the patient from the accident last shift. Kevin could not believe his eyes as he read the words on the paper in front of him.

            "Hard to imagine, ain't it?” Reggie drawled as he entered Kevin's office.

            "I'll say it is. I wanted to try to get up there to visit her today. I guess I'll have to put that aside."

            "I called Joyce and let her know as well. She couldn't believe it either. That was one short hospital stay."

            Well", Kevin started slowly, "she may not have been injured as badly as we thought. I'm still surprised they turned her loose so soon, though."

            "You said it yourself, God must have been watching over her that day."

            “Am I beginning to make a believer of you?”

            “Well” Reggie drawled, “Let’s just say there are some things I can not explain. This is one of them.”

            "I think he was watching over all of us that day, but she must have had tremendous prayer cover."

            "I don't think I've ever heard that term used before.”

            "It seemed to fit the situation. You know guardian angels and all that. It was in a book I read, “This Present Danger”. It was a pretty good book; maybe you should read it some day."

           "Don't try to start a religious discussion with me today, Kevin. I'm in too good of a mood to be sucked into one of your discussions."

            "Well I got my try in early. You can't blame me for trying. By the way, where is James this morning? He still needs to count the meds before he leaves.”

           "Front office", Reggie replied. "He's trying to find a replacement for Joyce. We still have all of the applications from trying to replace the walk-outs."

           "How's his search going?"

            "It could be better. He really hated to lose her. She was the only one he could trust to take care of station duties."

            "He should have taken care of her then instead of letting that witch of an assistant walk all over her like she was doing. Joyce is too good to be treated like that. I thought Geronimo was going to swap with her so he could go to school."

           "He found another slot that will let him stay with us. He really didn't want to leave this shift. Before I forget, Joyce is planning to stop by the station today. She wants to talk with you again before the next shift."

            The tones broke into their conversation as the police dispatcher called their attention to the area road construction list for the day. Reggie took note of the list of streets and marked the maps in the radio room. Kevin watched Reggie as the streets were marked and took note that the new freeway was now open for traffic. Kevin then turned his attention to the task of counting the drugs with James and took report from him concerning the unit status and the number of transfers set for the day.

            No sooner had Kevin finished his morning duties, the alert tones went off once again.

            "Station 1, standby for emergency traffic"

            Reggie was already on the air and was writing the information down as Kevin jumped in the driver's seat of the unit. Reggie put the radio down and gave Kevin the signal to start rolling out. Reggie yelled for Randy to join them and the two piled into the back of the ambulance as Kevin pulled out of the bay.

            "11-A-1 enroute.”

           "11-A-1, copy emergency traffic to assault with a handgun, multiple victims, assailant still at large, police on scene, approach Code 3 with caution."

           "Great way to start the day", Reggie said from the back. "We're setting up multiple lines for ya and I'll monitor police traffic."

           "Thanks", Kevin yelled over the siren. "We're a long way out on this one."

           "I know, but is there anything else you need us to do before we get there?"

           "Yeah", Kevin replied. "Get Life Flight on standby. I'm feeling wings."

           Randy looked at Reggie with an unbelieving glance.

           "Just trust him on this. I've never seen him wrong when he asks for the bird."

           As Reggie uttered those words, the dispatcher called their unit with more information.

            "11-A-1, we have confirmed two patients, multiple GSW to each patient, Life Flight 1 is in the air, LZ officer on scene."

            "11-A-1 copy that. Advise Life Flight we'll establish safe zone and triage on arrival."

            "Copy 11-A-1, Life Flight 1 is on direct line, request you contact them direct with patient information as it becomes available."

            "Affirmative, 11-A-1 out."

            "We're still at least five minutes out. We're going to earn our paychecks on this one."

            "I hate it when he says that. He never misses these calls."

            "Go ahead and get us a long board set up," Kevin requested. "We'll put the more critical patient on the monitor until the bird lands. I want the airway kit out and ready if we have to intubate one of'em."

            "Got it! Hey, I’m already catching on to his style! He likes everything at the ready and sitting on go!”

            "Don't get too cocky", Reggie warned.

            "I'm cool", Randy said.

            Even though Randy had spent a couple of years in the emergency medical services, his skills as a paramedic were still very green. He had worked with volunteer organizations for two years before Kevin saw a glimmer of hope in his attitude and abilities.

           "11-A-1 on the scene.”

            "Affirmative 11-A-1, Life Flight 1 eta approximately six minutes. Officers report the assailant is still at large."

            "Great", Kevin said under his breath. He remembered the last time he heard those words. The gunman was still on the scene as he and his partner, Greg, worked on the young hooker and drug dealer in downtown Houston. Her pimp was the gunman and had shot the drug runner after the drug deal went bad. The dealer shot the hooker after the pimp refused to pay him for a delivery. The pimp shot the dealer with a large caliber handgun. Neither the pimp nor the drug dealer were very good shots because both patients were still alive as they arrived on the scene. The pimp later corrected this error as he used a sawed off shotgun to finish the drug dealer.   It was the dream which continuously haunted Kevin. 

            Randy and Reggie were about three steps ahead of Kevin as they approached the house. One patient was on the ground at the steps of the house. The officers at the scene told them that the second patient was inside. When asked about the gun, they were informed that the gun was in their hands, but they had not yet found the gunman.

            Kevin had Reggie stay with the patient on the ground while he and Randy went inside to check on the other patient. They found him in a small bedroom at the opposite end of the house. He had several minor injuries and one large bullet wound to the abdomen. Kevin left Randy to start the IV's and initiate treatment on this patient while he went back outside to take care of the second.

            "This one's bad. I've already got oxygen on him, but his pressure is less than 80%."   

            "Let’s get the IV’s going and get him up to at least 80/50 and maybe some oxygen will get to what brain he has left. I'll get the lines going. Contact Life Flight and tell them we've got one serious and one critical. Bring me the pressure infusers from the unit when you're finished."

            "Consider it done", Reggie responded.

            Kevin did not feel good about the prospects for this patient. There were two wounds in the upper extremities, which made his IV selection sites poor. He opted to start one in the external jugular vein and the other was started in the left arm. Kevin took note of the wound in the abdomen and could not see an exit in the patient's back. He knew the bullet must have done extensive damage to his internal organs, but at least the lungs and heart had been spared.

            Kevin had really welcomed the sound of the Life Flight helicopter. Normally, he would have been off and racing the reaper with this patient, but with no improvement in his patient's vital signs or condition at this point, Kevin knew the only chance this patient had for survival was The Trauma Center in Galveston.

            Laura stepped off the bird with Kenneth, both very welcome faces to Kevin at this point. Together with Kevin, they were able to further stabilize their dieing patient. The look Laura gave Kevin as she closed the chopper's doors let him know that things really did not look good for their patient. Even with the best of care, some patients are just too critical to save.

            Kevin turned his attention to assisting Randy with the second victim inside the house. A bystander was holding IV bags for Randy. Kevin noticed blood on the front of the man's shirt and jeans.   The detective must have noticed this at the same time as Kevin because he began to question the man about his possible involvement in the shooting. The reply sent chills down Kevin's spine. He told the detective that he had been the one that shot both of the victims. Kevin could not believe his own ears.

            "He was inside the house when we came in. He told the police where the gun was and did everything he could to help us take care of this guy."

            The detective placed the man under arrest very quickly and abruptly and mumbled some rather hurried apology for not adequately clearing the scene before allowing them to begin treatment. The situation did not sit well with Kevin, but he was glad that things had turned as well as they had so far. At least the gunman had not tried to shoot Randy or anyone else on the scene.

            Kevin was surprised that the suspect had actually helped Randy care for the patient inside the trailer. His actions were not typical of a cold-blooded killer.

             Reggie and Randy loaded the patient into the ambulance for the twenty-minute emergency ride to Island General. Kevin rode in the back with Randy to assist and evaluate his skills. As he watched the young paramedic take charge of the patient's care, Kevin was feeling pretty good about his decision to hire Randy.

            The trip to Island General went without incident and Kevin took time to look Laura up while his crew squared the unit away for the return trip. He found her in the flight room; finishing up the paper work on the patient they had flown in.

            "I was hoping to see you", she said as he approached her door. "Dad still wants to know about Sunday."

            "Tell him to count on three of us for sure and tell him not to lay the medical school guilt trip on me again. I've had about all of that I can stand and the subject is closed."

            "I know and I've told him that it isn't worth the time to argue about it, but you know how he is some times. You realize he was on my back to go to medical school too?”

            "All too well. Say, how is our boy doing?"

            "In surgery and critical. He never regained consciousness before they took him in. How about the other one?"

            "He's in Trauma 1 and stable. He lost a lot of blood, but we were able to keep him stable. He talked to us a little on the way down here."

            "They find the one who did the shooting?”

            "Oh, they found him alright. He was in the house helping Randy the whole time."

             "Tell me you're kidding", Laura said with obvious shock in her voice. "Are you okay?"

            "Scared the daylights out of me when he told us he shot both of these guys. That was a little too close for comfort, but I think he would have taken the cops out first had he intended to harm anyone or do anything like that. He was really concerned about those two after he shot them.  I guess he didn't realize what kind of damage that ten millimeter could do to a man."

            "You could say that again", Laura agreed. "That one wound in the abdomen destroyed his spleen, half of his liver and one of his kidneys. Don't even ask about the intestines."

            "I get the picture. Spaghetti is off the menu at my house for a while."

            "Mine too," Laura laughed. "Speaking of home, how is everything going?"

            "I thought we agreed you would not bring that up again. You know that when I decide to talk about my wife and my marriage, I will come to you. Not before."

            "Kevin", she began slowly, "I know you and I know you are hurting inside. I just want to help if you would just let me."

            "Well, I appreciate that. Helen and I have some problems, but the extra money this latest contract will bring in should help that situation out quite a bit."

            "She isn't worth your money", Laura protested. "You could make enough money to keep two women happy and she would still want more. You can't keep trying to buy her because there's always a higher bidder. I hate to say this, but I realize now I should have stood beside you when you wanted to let Michelle move into the guesthouse. You haven't been happy since she left and you know it."

            "I thought you hated her.”  Laura's words had struck a few nerves inside Kevin, but the statement she had just made about Michelle really struck him deeply.

           "It wasn't her", Laura defended. "She just wasn’t the type of girl you were normally interested in. She was totally different from all the other girls you dated."

            "You mean", Kevin said sharply, "she was not from our social standing, she was poor and she couldn't dress the way you and your friends dressed. Travis and your group never did like her and he always went out of his way to be mean to her. Her parents couldn't afford to buy her a car and they weren't members of the country club."

            "Right on all counts and I'm guilty as charged. I realize now that Helen is just the type of person you should have avoided, even though Mom and Dad think she's the greatest thing that ever happened to you. I can see things so differently now and I am really sorry."

            "Well", Kevin began, "I think that I can forget the past. After all, what are my chances of ever meeting anyone like Michelle again? There's no sense in my worrying about what could have been, right?"

            "I guess you are right about that.” She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything about the identity of the nurse from the accident.

            "Changing the subject a bit, but have you heard about our patient from the other day? Did you know she was already out of the hospital? I was going to get up there later on today, but they told me she was already home."

        "I knew that. She has a few problems still, but they told me that she should be able to come to work for us in about three weeks if she is still interested. I also found out that I will have to rotate her schedule around her husband's shifts in order for them to home school their children."

            "She mentioned that on the way to the hospital. That must be a challenge."

            "I'm sure it is", Laura agreed. "Anyway, I'll work it out with her once she's ready to go to work. I think she'll be an asset to us here."

            "Listen, I've got to go. Reggie and Randy will be ready to leave me here if I don't get back with them."

            "Okay, are the girls ready for Saturday?"

            "They sure are. They asked if you could be there. I told them I would ask."

            "You know I'll be there", Laura promised. "See ya tomorrow."

            "Then we are all set, so I'll see you tomorrow."

            Kevin walked back to the trauma center and found his crew waiting patiently on him. They gave Kevin the usual lines about flirting with the nurses, but Kevin brushed them aside.

            "Good job guys. What do you say let's get back home."

            "I'm ready. It's way past time for breakfast. I could eat a horse."

            "I'm for that. Think we need to get straight back or can we find a place a little closer? I don't have the luxury of a wife to fix my breakfast."     

            "I'm just as hungry as you guys. Pop Tarts don't last very long on calls like this."

            "Good! Think Laura would want to join us?"

            "Give her a call while I check on the status of the rest of our units. We should be okay getting some food over here.”

            Reggie stopped as he heard the sound of the Life Flight helicopter taking off.

            "I guess that was her flying off again.” He was disappointed and he tried not to let this show in his voice.

            "Try to call anyway", Kevin suggested. "She has extra crew today."

            Reggie was able to persuade Laura to have an early lunch with him and his friends. She brought along one of her friends from surgery to help keep the odds a little more even.

            After they finished lunch, Kevin checked on the status of their patients once again before leaving for base. Both patients were still in recovery but the patient Kevin had flown out was not doing very well. The trip back to the base was unusually quiet. Reggie, normally very talkative and verbose was totally lost in thought as he drove the ambulance through the flat back roads. Kevin took advantage of the quiet and stole a brief nap.

            Kevin returned to his office and found a message from one of his friends at HFD. He returned the call to find that the street person that had done CPR on the cop had assisted another individual and left some more evidence. The Medic told Kevin that an ambulance arrived on the scene of a knife attack and found that someone had started two IV's of Ringers before the ambulance arrived. Both of the bags were still in date and the lines were secured the same way Kevin and Greg secured their IV lines. Greg had to be this street person they had seen the other night.

            Kevin thought about this development as he read once again the incident report from the night Greg had nearly lost his life. He knew that Greg was somewhere downtown Houston and living on the streets. Kevin was not surprised that Greg was helping people again, because that was the type person he was. He would do most anything for a person who really needed the help.

            From his own certification date, Kevin knew that Greg's Paramedic ticket was still good for another year. He had that much time to find him if Greg actually wanted to be found.

            Kevin decided to enlist the aid of a private detective he had known for a very long time. He agreed take the case free of charge if it meant finding Greg. Kevin looked up from his paperwork to find Randy leaning against the door to his office.

            “Come on in and take a load off,” Kevin offered.

            “Thanks,” Randy replied. “I don’t mind if I do.”

             "How did you feel about that call this morning?”

            "Pretty scared", Randy confessed.

             "I think that goes for all of us there", Kevin laughed. "How do you think the patient care went?"

            "Not bad but I think I could have done a little better. I know with a little more time and a few more calls under my belt, I'll be much better."

            "We all either improve with time or we burn out. I'm thinking about turning you out on your own. Think you're ready for that?"

            "I've been looking forward to that day, but it really depends on what you think.”

           "Don't let me make this decision for you. I really want this to be your decision, because you will not be ready for this move if you don't make the determination yourself."

            "Let's go for it then. Just give me a chance and I'll make sure that you won't regret bringing me on."

            "That's a deal. You'll be with Joyce on 11-A-2 next shift. Ride with Reggie the rest of the day and I'll take the supervisor car out with you if you get in a bind."

            "I don't think I could ask for more than that. I’ll do the best job out there I can, promise!”

            Kevin and Randy went to the equipment bay where a game of basketball was just getting under way. Kevin quickly joined Reggie's team and they played until the tones went off, calling Sandra and Rick away for a sick call in town.

            "We're kinda slow today aren't we?” Mike Torres observed.

            "Just a little. It seems like we've dropped about five calls a day in the past four shifts. It'll pick up, though, just watch. This time next shift we'll be calling the part time help in to cover calls."

            "Slow is fine with me", he said. "I tuned your bomb up today. Still say you need a truck."

            "Thanks", Kevin said a bit surprised. "How much do I owe you?"

            "Don't even think about trying to pay me for this", Mike protested. "I was tired of hearing that thing of yours wheeze every time you parked it. Just don't let it get that bad before you take care of it next time."

            The tones went off again and another unit went out to answer a CPR in progress call at one of the nursing homes. Kevin decided to roll the supervisor car with this crew.   Antony and Jerry could handle the call, but Kevin thought it best if he tried to go on all the cardiac arrest calls he could. The extra sets of hands were always an asset in this type of situation.

            Antony and Jerry were already working the code when Kevin arrived, but Jerry was having trouble with the IV. Kevin stepped in to help and could see why Jerry hadn't been able to get the IV any earlier. The patient's arms were bruised badly and there were several open sores.

            "Go for the EJ", Kevin ordered. "That's all you've got here."

            Jerry stuck the external jugular as they transported the patient to the local hospital. After another fifteen minutes of CPR, the code was called and Kevin called the medical examiner to report the death of their patient. He then called the nursing home to find the identity of the next of kin. This was the part of Kevin's job he liked the least. Hated would be a better term for his feelings. He detested the idea of informing the family that one of their loved ones has passed away. He would have rather told the family face to face, but no family had come to the hospital with this patient and they were adamant about not coming to the hospital if at all possible.

            The time seemed to fly as Kevin finished up these details and he realized it was almost suppertime by the time the family arrived at the hospital to take charge of the patient's belongings. The funeral home arrived shortly after the family and Kevin was free to go at last.

            His beeper sounded as he went to start the Blazer they used as supervisor vehicle. He called the base on his radio to find out who needed him at this time.

            "Medic 1100, you have a visitor at station. Request your ETA"

            Reggie's voice was quite characteristic and even the radio could not disguise that deep Texas drawl.

            "Affirmative on visitor. ETA is about fifteen minutes."

            "Base copy fifteen minutes. Be advised you have two urgent messages to return before 1900 hours."

            "I'll be there before then. Can you advise nature on air?"

            "Negative on both. She just requested you return her calls ASAP."

            “Affirmative, Supervisor enroute to base."

            Kevin had an idea the visitor would be Joyce, simply because she had said she would stop by the station today and she had not been in yet. He knew the messages had to be from Helen and/or Stacy. Laura would track him down when she wanted to talk to him on urgent matters. Helen always expected him to drop everything when she called and would become very upset when he could not do so immediately.

            Kevin was right on both counts. Joyce was indeed at the station with her two children. The two children were frequent visitors to the station and knew just about everyone who worked for Life Star

            "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever coming back to base," Joyce teased.

            "So was I, but now I have to return a couple of calls. Can you spare me a few minutes?"

            "Of course. We'll be in the lounge.” 

            "Great and I promise this will be brief."

            Kevin returned the call to Helen first and was a little surprised at Helen's news. She told Kevin that not only was she going to be covering the gymnastics competition for her news station, she was also chosen to be the guest commentator and she was to conduct the post meet interviews. She would also finally be able to introduce Kevin to her new producer. Kevin was glad he was sitting down when she told him this. He was not expecting to ever meet any more of Helen’s news staff, least of all this new producer. 

            She explained that she was doing this as a part of a series on future Olympians in the area. Kevin had never thought of either of his girls as Olympic caliber, but Stacy had the drive, desire and coaching to go as far as she wanted with the sport.

            "I think it’s a great idea", Kevin said trying to hide his surprise. "Are you sure about doing this? Handling sports is not exactly your strongest suit."

            "I understand your concern and that was concerning me as well. But I’ll spend some time with Stacy and Kimberly so they can help me out with the terms and I do have a couple of researchers who have been a great help. I think I'll surprise you with what I've learned about the sport."

            "I'm sure Stacy and Kimberly will be very excited to hear about this. I just hope that you being so involved in the meet doesn’t place too much added pressure on them. After all, they are going against each other in every event."

            "I'll be gentle in the interviews", Helen jokingly promised. "I have to go back on air in about ten minutes, so I had better go for now. See you tomorrow."

            "Okay, I’ll see you in Houston tomorrow.”

     They both hung up at the same time and Kevin went to the lounge to visit with Joyce for a while. Her two children, Reyna and Jack were the same ages as Kevin's girls. Reyna was the older and shared many of Stacy's interests. She was involved with karate and soccer the way Stacy took to gymnastics and cheerleading, but they were actually fierce scholastic competitors. Jack was all boy and always treated Kevin like a father. Joyce had often teased Kevin about being an adopted dad and in some ways she was right. Kevin had spent time with Jack after his father left last summer and it seemed to be a great help to both of them. Kevin was able to relate to Jack very easily and it had helped him over come a couple of bad trauma cases.

            "We came here to take you out to dinner, and don't try to talk your way out of it. We all decided you are going to come with us and I'm paying."

            Kevin could not argue with her on this. He knew Joyce as a very determined and strong person. He gave in to her request as long as she let him pick out his own food. She laughed him off on that one, but Kevin was almost serious in that request. Joyce was a very persuasive person when she wanted to be and her children were along so Kevin did not have to worry about making some explanation for going to dinner with Joyce. He knew Joyce was just trying to pay him back for all of his help and she was finally able to repay some of his kindness.

            Time passed quickly during dinner and Kevin genuinely enjoyed the company of Joyce and her family. He insisted on picking up the tip and left his usual amount, which was more than the customary percentage. He had been accused by some of his protégés that he was trying to single-handedly refute the stereotype that EMS personnel were lousy tippers.

            They parted ways in the parking lot and even though the rest of the shift was fairly busy, Kevin went home feeling rested the next morning. Laura was there with the girls when he arrived and she told him that Helen had called her about half an hour ago to ask her to come over and wait for Kevin to get home.