Rescue 12 Responding, page 22
"Rescue 12 respond to unknown abdominal pain at Tampa High School. There will be a teacher to lead you to the bathroom with the patient."
Jonathan reached over and flipped on the lights. This was their call. Jonathan rubbed the palms of his hands on the steering wheel. He noticed that his hands were sweating in nervous anticipation. That 'paramedic feeling' was telling him that this was going to be bad, really bad. His eyes were focused on the road as they darted in and out of the traffic that rarely got completely out of his way. The air horn blew, the sirens screamed, and rapidly Rescue 12 made its way up highway 41.
David was surprised when he noticed that his own heart rate had jumped up a few beats a minute. He swallowed as he tried to calm himself. Cold chills ran up and down his spine.
Years of street experience had made him recognize that feeling. David knew he was about to fight Death again. He focused his mind for the battle.
The supplier walked to the trunk of his car and looked at his young captive. No one knew Joey was his dealer and he was the only link to the teenagers who had died using the lethal cocaine. Their deaths were not his problem, and one more dead teenager wasn't either. Joey lay bound and unconscious from the beatings his men had inflicted. The smell of blood excited the supplier. He laughed, mocking the bloody body he saw before him, striking him to awaken his sleeping captive. "So how do you like being my partner? Have you enjoyed your treatment so far?" His mockery was lost on the captive who remained still and unconscious.
The supplier looked toward his guards. "I told you not to take him too close to death. If he dies before I kill him, I'll punish you, as well." His men looked at each other. Fear gained strength in them and tightened his noose around their necks. "You know what I do to those that don't do as I tell them." His men nervously awaited their employer’s whim, and he enjoyed their fear. It satisfied him for a moment.
"We'll take him to my boat. It seems like a nice day for a ride in the bay. I'm sure Joey will love a swim." He took Joey by the hair of his head, "Won't you?" There was no response. He dropped the head down with force, and it bounced as it hit the edge of the trunk. Blood stained the rear bumper area. The guards folded the crumpled body back into the trunk. The supplier reached over and touched the bright red blood that stained his white car. He stared at the blood on the tip of his finger and gently tasted it with the same pleasure he had in tasting the white powder of death he traded in so often. The sneer lingered on his face as he walked to the rear seat of his car. He was pleased to offer his partner, Death, another gift. Somehow, he thought it would add to his own eternal reign in hell.
Death reached in and touched the finger stained with blood. The sacrifice would be sweet indeed. The guards got back in the car, and slowly they left the wooded field, driving toward their destination called Death, Hell and the Grave.
"Rescue 12 on scene at Tampa High School," Jonathan spoke rapidly into the microphone as the unit came to a complete stop. Jonathan grabbed the airway bag. David carried a large box full of bandages and fluids in one hand, and the EKG machine in the other. Quickly, they followed the nervous counselor to the bathroom at the end of the long corridor. The fire department engine arrived behind them, and three firemen swiftly followed the paramedics to the patient.
The school administrator met them as the ambulance came to a stop and rushed them to their patient, “We didn’t move her because she is bleeding. The parents have been called and are on the way now to the school. Hurry, I think she is having a baby. The school nurse is with her now.”
David and Jonathan were surprised when the bathroom door opened, and they recognized both young girls. Each man swallowed deeply and maintained their calm, professional appearance while they looked for clues to what was going on. Both girls looked terrified and pale. Debra was trembling in fear, dripping in sweat and her bloody jeans were lying beside her.
"What happened?" David asked as he took Debra's arm. He found a weak pulse. His gloved hands were instantly wet by her sweat.
Debra simply cried, "I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know."
"Didn't know what? What happened?" Jonathan was concerned by the pool of blood between her legs.
Terri didn't speak. She just looked down at Debra's legs as she slowly held her hands up toward David. Blood hung from between her fingers, she was holding something gently in her hands, and stuttered, "It just came out. I just caught it. I didn't know what to do." She was obviously in shock herself, her hands trembled, and her fingers were frozen in position.
David opened Terri's hands and curled her fingers away from what she was holding. Because of the blood, he wasn't surprised that he found a baby, but he was surprised that it was still alive because it was so very small. He took the baby from Terri's hands and held it out for Jonathan to see. Instantly, Jonathan grabbed the portable radio on his waist and called for the helicopter. Each of the emergency medical personnel stood ready for action.
Joshua, the rookie firefighter, standing at the door, wanted to help the paramedics. He spoke up, "Can I help?" His pale face revealed the controlled fear that gripped him.
Without looking away from his patients, David answered, "The lights are bad in here. Get a flashlight and hold it over the baby so I can see it better."
Joshua complied instantly. The light flashed from side to side over the patient as the nervous young man tried and failed to keep his trembling hands still. Sweat dripped from his face as he watched the two paramedics treat their two patients, the teenage mother, and her new baby.
David looked up at the fire captain in the doorway and said, "Careflight is on the way. I'll need a landing zone ready. Would you have your men set up two IV's for us, and get the stretcher? We need it yesterday." Captain Sawyer turned and rushed out of the bathroom. They would be ready for the helicopter.
David looked at the baby and began to speak to anyone who could hear this surprising report, "It can't be any more than two pounds. Yet, it is looking around. It is fully awake, and in no apparent distress." David was surprised, and his voice cracked, and he whispered, "The baby's color is pink, and looks very good."
Debra asked tentatively, "Is it a boy or girl?" Her mind was searching for something to hope in and something that would let this feel more real.
Jonathan was kneeling on the ground, next to Debra. He had rolled up her shirt sleeve, actively looking for an IV site but looked up and smiled at his patient. The question verified her level of consciousness as normal. He turned and looked at the baby that David held. David smiled as he picked up the umbilical cord that rested against the baby's body. The cord was almost as big and round as the baby's belly. Slowly he pressed the little legs down so that he could see the genitals. "It's a boy," David said, looking at the appendage, no wider than a piece of macaroni pasta, which was about right for a child who was almost as long as an ear of corn. He was so small, but he was definitely a boy. David delighted in the miracle he was holding and witnessing.
The baby rested in David's hand. Through his thin almost transparent skin you could almost see the organs underneath. David watched as the baby's chest bounced in response to his strong heartbeat, and his dark brown lungs filled and then fell, filled then fell, over and over. The breaths were regular and without a struggling effort. The baby was wide awake, and his eyes looked around in what appeared to be purposeful movement. David watched in amazement, and his throat felt like it was full of cotton in the face of this miracle. David continued to examine him, and it appeared that the baby was healthy and without any obvious distress. David inhaled deeply in relief and then wiped vernix, the white cream from the womb, off the premature infant. The baby kicked his legs at the stimulation, and simultaneously his right thumb found his mouth. He seemed genuinely comforted by sucking his thumb. A sterile warming blanket was wrapped around the infant to protect him from developing hypothermia. Otherwise no further treatment seemed necessary, for the moment.
David's attention returned to Debra as she lay on the bathroom floor. Jonathan had already started an IV and was giving his patient a large amount of fluid to replace the blood that she had lost. Terri was holding her hand and occasionally wiping a tear from Debra's face. Debra lay there crying softly. It wasn't the pain in her body, but the revelation of her new son that caused the tears. Her new son. Debra squeezed Terri's hand. "I didn't know. Today, on the bus, I had this idea that I might be. But, I didn't know." She cried, "If I had known for sure, I might have aborted it." Again, she cried and whispered, "Thank God, I didn't know. I have a son."
Terri reached down and hugged her friend, "Love won out this time. Your son is gonna have a great mom."
Jonathan opened the bathroom door as the firemen rolled the stretcher inside. Debra was gently placed on the stretcher, and the stretcher straps were applied. Her color was improving. Jonathan took a blood pressure reading, "100/60. It's better, but we still need to hurry." The baby was handed to his mother, and then the stretcher was rolled to the landing zone for the awaiting helicopter.
Excitement and fear filled Debra's mind. The helicopter crew only wanted to transport one patient, the baby. They wanted to have enough room to work, if the baby became distressed. David agreed. Debra trembled as she watched her baby being lifted into the emergency helicopter. "Debra, we'll get you there fast by ambulance. I promise," David said. Terri didn't want to let go of her friend's hand, and she started to step up into the ambulance. "Terri, I can't let you come." David's voice was forceful and allowed no room for debate.
Slowly Terri released her grip. "I'll see you at the hospital as soon as I can, I promise." As the men loaded Debra into the ambulance, she was fascinated by the surprisingly large compartment in the back.
David looked over at the eager firefighter, "Joshua, please drive us to the hospital." He looked at the rookie, "Use the lights, but please be as smooth as possible."
"I promise a smooth ride." sweat dripped from the face of this young nervous man.
David reached over and handed a flashlight to Joshua, "Here's your flashlight. You dropped it on the way out of the bathroom. I guess you didn't notice." David smiled a fatherly look at this new firefighter and patted him on the back as he stepped into the back of the ambulance with Jonathan and Debra. Joshua turned red at his own clumsiness and took the flashlight. As he walked to the cab of the ambulance, he determined he would prove his worth with the smoothest ride possible to the hospital.
David and Jonathan reexamined their young patient as the unit pulled out of the school. David knew life and death were again in battle in the back of the ambulance, but he didn't know why. Debra appeared stable; however, he could not shake the ominous feeling that troubled him.
As the ambulance screamed down Highway 41, David heard over the radio that the helicopter had landed at Tampa General and that the baby was still stable. He stood up and leaned over to tell Debra the good news. Suddenly, the air horn blasted through the air, and the brakes locked. The ambulance twisted. David lunged for the railing on the ceiling. His hand found it, as his feet left the floor. He held on, as the unit swerved to the left, and suddenly stopped, its metal ripping from the impact with another vehicle.
David found himself lying on the floor of the ambulance. Boxes of unopened drugs covered him because the drug compartment doors had opened, spilling all their supplies onto the unit's floor. The EKG machine rested on David's right ankle. He rolled over and bent forward to get the machine off but stopped because of the sudden sharp stabbing pain that shot up his right arm. He looked at his right wrist and hand that had held him up during the crash. It was twisted abnormally and was now obviously broken. He moved his right hand close to his body as he removed the monitor from his foot with his left hand and stood up to check Debra.
She appeared to have not gotten hurt by the crash, but she screamed in terror. She was struggling to figure out how to release the straps that held her securely to the stretcher that was locked to the ambulance floor while kicking against the medical supplies that had fallen out of the shelves on impact but had not actually injured her. He tried to calm her down as he turned his attention to the surrounding damage.
Suddenly, he saw Jonathan, who lay still on the ground between the stretcher and rear doors. He wasn't moving at all. Fear gripped David, and everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as he moved to get to his friend. His left hand stretched forward and touched Jonathan, but he did not respond, so with one hand, he grabbed Jonathan by his shirt and threw him up onto the flat bench seat beside the stretcher. David yelled, "Jonathan, wake up! Jon, wake up!" All the while his left hand reaching, touching, trying to find a pulse, trying to find some effort to breathe but there was none.
David grabbed the microphone from off the wall. "Rescue 12. Help us, we've been hit!"
Dispatch responded, "What is your location?"
David had forgotten to look. He peered out the window and recognized the entrance ramp to the expressway. "Highway 41 and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway. Jonathan's hurt! I don't know who else is. Get the helicopter here quick."
David heard dispatch record the time "12:21 hours."
David turned his full attention back to his friend. There was no obvious injury, so David knew that meant it was probably something internal that was broken and bleeding. Immediately, he placed his broken wrist and hand under Jonathan's jaw to stabilize his head, and his good hand held the nostrils of his friend. David blew in four quick breaths into Jonathan's mouth. The chest rose evenly. His left hand shook with fear as he checked for a pulse and found none. David placed his broken hand upon his friend's breast bone and placed his left hand on top of the broken one. Slowly he began to count as he pressed into his friend's chest, "One - One Thousand, Two - One Thousand, Three - One Thousand, Four - One Thousand, Five - One Thousand..." He stopped and gave two quick breaths into Jonathan’s mouth then continued the cycle of breaths and compressions. A puddle of tears and sweat formed in the hollow of Jonathan's chest as David stood over him and worked so hard to save his dear friend's life.
It didn't seem real, so he was surprised, when suddenly the back doors opened and the rescue crew from the helicopter stepped in. In a daze, he watched them push him back out of the way and carry Jonathan outside onto their stretcher. David sat on the bench seat and just stared at the helicopter. Its blades going around and around. Slowly he watched it rise from the ground as he heard the radio announce their departure for Tampa General.
Debra’s whimpering cry brought David back to the continuing crisis at hand. David pressed his emotions into submission and forced himself to refocus toward the other potential patients from this accident. There was more to do, right now. He touched Debra, "You'll be alright. I need to see who else is hurt. They will be sending another ambulance for you quick, I promise. Just stay here and wait." She had no time to answer and swallowed in stunned silence as he stepped out and quickly disappeared around the front of the ambulance.
A white Cadillac was twisted and impaled upon the front end of the ambulance. David could see immediately that the driver and front seat passenger were not moving and were pressed against the windshield of their wrecked car. There had been no seat belt worn to protect them, and the airbag had not deployed. Broken metal pierced their flesh, and their heads rested against the windshield that encased their faces with shattered glass. Their death was caused by the blunt trauma they had absorbed at the impact of the accident, and they would require no immediate work to save them.
David immediately moved to check out the back seat for any other possible survivor. He could see a passenger laying still and twisted on the rear floor area; however, the broken metal and the front seat blocked a clear view of the passenger’s face. Quickly, his left hand reached into the broken side window and stretched until it felt the man's head then slid down to his neck. David expected to find him dead, as well and was surprised by the strong pulse in the neck of the unconscious man. David heard sirens approaching and, in the distance, he looked up, and he could see a fire engine and second ambulance driving quickly toward him and knew there would be others to help this patient as soon as possible. He let go of this man's neck and continued to look for other victims.
As he rushed to check on Joshua, he thought that there was something about the damaged car and living passenger that seemed familiar, but his mind was blinded by fear for his friend and the need to focus on checking on the rookie firefighter. The hood of the ambulance had rolled forward at impact and now blocked access to Joshua. David's left hand pulled at the driver’s door, but it wouldn't budge, so he jumped on the hood of the white car and slid himself onto the hood of his ambulance. He pulled himself as close as he could to the front window. David looked in around the twisted metal and saw Joshua laying still. His left hand grabbed the shattered windshield and tried to pull it back to see if he could somehow manage some entry into the cab that held Joshua. David couldn’t budge the metal and glass, and his left hand began to bleed from the effort that was slicing it.
Captain Sawyer grabbed David's leg and yelled, "Where is Joshua?"
"He is in here! I just got up here. We need to cut the door off to get him out." David slid off the broken hood with the immediate assistance of Captain Sawyer, protectively holding both of his hands as he turned over the scene to the captain’s care.
"Could you see him? Is he moving? Can he hear you?" Captain Sawyer demanded an immediate report, and he didn't attempt to cover his fear.
"I don't know. I could barely see him, and I couldn’t hear anything. Let's just get him out quick. And, we'll need another rescue team to cut out the patient in the white car. I found one patient still alive in the passenger's rear seat, and two dead ones."
