Rescue 12 Responding, page 3
“This is so easy,” spoke Greed, who stood present, but unseen and unheard by human ears. “The payment required for handling my merchandise tonight is blood. I will have payment now. I will wait no longer. It is time for Death to come.”
Anger sneered in agreement, “Humans are just pawns in the war for men's souls.” Their eyes returned to their prey.
Slowly, Greed bent forward, whispering, “Joey, count the money.”
Anger spoke next into the young pusher’s ear, “Make him count it again! He’s cheated you! That worthless snake has tried to cheat you! Threaten him again. Make him beg you for his life, and then your anger will be satisfied.”
Greed turned on Anger, “Nothing shall ever satisfy me! I will not be filled until I have killed, stolen, or destroyed all! This man has embraced me, and he shall do my bidding. I shall not let him go!”
Anger faced his co-worker. His eyes filled with hatred as he spoke, “He is my pawn to do my bidding. See how his mind allowed my anger to poison his reasoning. I am his lord!” For a moment, their attention was taken off their captive and on to each other. It was only their task at hand that kept them from tearing one another apart. There was no joy in the destruction of a human, only darkness.
Death appeared, his eyes ablaze. “Shall we claim another captive for Hell’s fire? Let us then be done with it,” Death watched the humans argue, and then continued, “I choose to linger in this human as I take him tonight. So much destruction already fills him. Alcohol and Heroin have eaten his mind and body well. Tonight, I will claim his soul. I will taste his blood as it slowly drains into the ground.”
Greed approached the young drug pusher. “Joey, make an example of him! Make him pay! All men will fear you if you take his life in payment for trying to steal from you!”
Anger tightened his grip on the pusher. “He is worthy of death. Feel my anger. Embrace it like a robe about you. Kick him!” Immediately, the pusher smirked tauntingly, as he kicked his captive to the ground. Anger continued speaking into the mind of this pusher, “See how that satisfies you. He is nothing!” Joey pulled out his gun and held it tightly in his hand. Often, he played with it, knowing that one day he would use it. Tonight, he would choose that path. Anger coursed through him, strengthening him with the resolve to go beyond threats and into a new realm of power and control.
His captive cried out one more time. “Please, give me some time. I’ll get the money. Please,” he cried, “You don’t have to do this, please.” His cries made the path clearer. The pusher knew what he wanted, and this was the junkie that would get him there. He would have respect.
“So, you think you can trick me! I’m gonna make you an example of what I do to anybody that angers me or steals from me,” he said fiercely, “You’re a fool if you think I will show you mercy,” he taunted. “Nobody’s gonna cheat me ever and live to talk about it.” The dark creatures watching and whispering, wrapped their words in his mind, as if they were his alone. Joey pulled the trigger, and the bullet struck the junkie’s stomach. Horror filled the dying man’s eyes. The warmth of his own blood surrounded him as he fell to the ground, groaning. Joey walked over to the dying man and boasted, “I am going to party at Tommy’s, and you are going to hell. Die sucker!”
The demons watched as the young man of their bidding ran off. They laughed as they sensed his fear beginning to rise. The gods of this battle were pleased. Another victory, another slave. Fear left with Joey to begin his own evil twist of torture on this young pusher’s mind. The other gods would remain to watch and drink in every drop of blood that fell to the earth from this sacrifice.
The ambulance lights spun in syncopated rhythm. Red and white lights fought the darkness of night with a mechanical dance. The sirens screamed the alarm. David and Jonathan mentally prepared for their next battle with death. “Shooting” was their only clue when they had been dispatched to the call from the emergency department. They had no idea what to expect. The address indicated it was just another side street.
“Rescue 12 on scene,” Jonathan advised dispatch of their arrival.
“Acknowledged,” dispatch responded.
Anger and Greed mocked the ambulance’s arrival. “We shall see man’s attempt to stop Death. Let us watch and enjoy their sweat!” Death became quiet and stared at the ambulance. He didn’t like what he sensed.
David and Jonathan swiftly removed boxes and machines from their unit and approached their patient. The fire engine crew would arrive soon to provide the backup personnel they would need. There was also Another who followed at David’s right side, one that men could not see.
Anger, Greed, and Death froze in their places, beginning to fear their defeat. “Look at the size of that warrior! He is truly mighty! What is he doing here? Who are these men that such a great one would be sent to keep them?”
“Hush, you fools! I’m greater than this warrior! This man shall die!” Death declared. Death spoke from experience. The presence of a strong warrior did not mean his defeat. Often the men given these soldiers were unaware or unconcerned that these soldiers were there to aid them in their contract with the Good One. “And, look at the captive;” gloated Death, “his heart is nearly empty of blood. His brain dies now for lack of oxygen. He is mine!”
David felt for a pulse. It was weak and thready. Only the pulse at the side of the patient’s neck could be found. David rolled the man over onto his back and rapidly cut off his clothes to find the wound. He saw an entrance wound in the lower left side of the patient’s belly. There were no obvious exit wounds and very little blood pooled around him. His belly was firm to David’s touch, which David knew meant there was blood freely flowing where it did not belong and could result in this patient’s demise.
Jonathan and David glanced at each other and nodded. Their teamwork might save this man… if it wasn’t too late. Jonathan immediately attached the EKG monitor to the patient’s chest to give a reading of the pulse rate and rhythm. David’s hands moved swiftly to the patient’s right arm, and he placed a large needle in one of the many scarred veins. IV fluid was then attached to it and poured at a wide-open rate into the patient’s blood system. It would hopefully replace enough of the fluid that the body was losing to the pooling of blood in this patient’s abdomen.
The patient now took slow, shallow breaths less than ten times per minute. The fire engine arrived on scene, and its team quickly ran to assist in this battle. David spoke to them. “His breathing is getting too slow. We need to secure the patient’s airway before he vomits.”
Jonathan took a large, firm, football-shaped bag, called an Ambu Bag, and attached it to a mask. He placed it over the patient’s mouth and began to force air into the patient’s lungs every time he would inhale, as well as an extra ventilation every time there was a long pause between his own breaths.
Death stood next to his captive. He laughed in the emergency crew’s face for their vain attempt to stop him. He would take the captive. “Now!” he declared.
“David, check for a pulse. He just went into V. Fib.” Jonathan’s eyes focused on the EKG monitor.
“He doesn’t have one,” David’s words held the command to begin the code.
Jonathan charged up the electrical paddles on the EKG machine and immediately defibrillated the patient. 200 Joules of electrical energy flowed into the man’s chest. His body jumped in response. His heart continued to spasm in chaotic death.
“No change. Stand clear.” Jonathan pressed the button to shock the patient again with a higher dose of energy. “No change,” he said. A third defibrillation attempt was made, this time at the highest electrical setting. Still, “No change.”
David unrolled an orange pouch that contained multiple sized airway tubes and a thin plastic disposable lighted curved tool, nicknamed “the blade,” that would help him see the patient’s airway. He checked the light at the end of the four-inch curved blade. His left hand gripped the handle as his right hand grabbed the long, narrow ET tube. It was ready to be placed in the patient’s throat. He pulled the patient’s head back and opened his mouth. The blade slid in beside the tongue and curved around the back of the throat. Its light provided the only help in finding the trachea.
David mumbled as he peered into the small, dark hole, “His trachea is deep in there, I can barely see it. Let me try…” In one swift action, David bent down and inserted the ET tube deep into the patient’s mouth. As soon as the tube touched the back of the throat, reflex caused the patient to vomit. David sat up just in time to save himself, “Great, just great!” David saw precious seconds wasted as he cleared the patient’s airway of the fluid. The suction machine cleared the mouth, but there was no time to clean the fluid that clung to the patient’s face and ran to the ground.
Jonathan again began to ventilate the patient with the Ambu Bag. Now the patient was not breathing at all on his own. Chest compressions were begun by a firefighter on scene to help. David picked up the ET tube again. Slowly he bent down and laid himself at the head of this patient so he could be in a better position to see clearly, yet careful not to rest in the pools of vomit settling around the man’s head. Under his breath, he breathed a prayer, “God, please help me this time…”
Death laughed at David’s request. The captive was his. The mighty warrior standing beside David watching, suddenly spoke, “The Lord rebuke thee!”
Death stood to this warrior, “Who are you to speak to me? I AM DEATH!”
The warrior pulled out his sword of fire and placed it at the neck of Death. The point pierced his foul skin. “THE LORD REBUKE THEE!”
David found the airway instantly. “Jonathan, I have it in! Check the lung sounds.” David quickly attached the Ambu Bag to the end of the tube that now hung from the patient’s mouth and pressed air into it. The patient’s chest rose and fell with the pressure.
“Lung sounds are good on both sides, and it’s quiet over the stomach. You’re in!” Jonathan stated with pleasure. He tried to defibrillate the patient once again. “Stand clear,” his warning went out to the emergency workers. The patient again jumped as the electrical current flowed through his body. This time the EKG monitor’s screen changed from the chaotic course line to a recognizable heart rate of 120 beats per minute. “Check for a pulse. We have something here,”
Immediately, David reached over and touched the man’s neck feeling for the carotid pulse. “We have a pulse! Let’s get moving to the hospital, now! I’ll give him medications while we’re en route,” David spoke, and the team immediately moved to do just that.
Only a few minutes later, once again David stood at the sink in the emergency department bathroom. This time though he was far more tired and worn. And, once again, the lather covered his arms. Even for a veteran paramedic, this shift was worse than normal, if there is such a thing as a ‘normal’ shift. David stared into the mirror and spoke to his image, “When will 7 A.M. come? I’m ready for a break!” He groaned again at the few hours that remained on this shift, and then splashed some cold water in his face. That helped a little in awakening him, so he moved to sit at the table in the nurse’s lounge to begin his paperwork. As he reached into his pocket to pull out the strips of paper that contained the record of the patient’s heart rhythms, his hand felt a rectangular object. Being too tired to remember what it was, he pulled it out.
It was the little Bible that Mrs. Blake had given him an hour ago. “Only one hour. Boy, how time flies when you’re having fun!” His tired humor was lost in the empty room of the nurse’s lounge.
“Open it and read,” spoke a still, soft voice, a thought, within his mind.
David held the book. He thought how often he had tried to read it, but that it never seemed to make sense. His hands thumbed through the thin pages. “I wonder where I’m supposed to begin.”
“Open it and read,” again the thought whispered.
“Ok, let’s see what’s in here,” David whispered to himself, “Mrs. Blake said that God, Himself would talk to me.” David let the book fall open and then focused on a certain passage to see if it would indeed show him anything. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” David felt the words penetrate his heart and mind, “These words are for me.” again he whispered, but this time in awe.
David closed the book and opened it again and read: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” He flipped through the pages and suddenly was drawn to a passage marked by a yellow highlight. He smiled as he remembered Mrs. Blake and the gift of her well-loved and marked Bible and read “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
David held the book in awe. What had he found today? His tired body was suddenly full of energy. David remembered the quick prayer he said for the last dying man. He had asked for help, and the man should have remained dead, but suddenly responded to their treatment. Adrenaline pumped into his system. Could it have been his prayer that changed this outcome?
Do you think this book is true? Do you think you can believe that what it said is true for you? He wondered as his heart filled with faith. He knew that he felt clean inside, he figured that was what it meant by “sins forgiven.” And, then, he decided that if this book revealed the truth of a God that has such power as to heal by a prayer, it must be true.
A smile filled David’s eyes and covered his face. He spoke again to this God within. “Dear God: I think I’m going to like you teaching me. I will make a deal with you; I will do what this book teaches, if you’ll help me.” He paused as he considered his last patient, then continued, “And, thank you for healing that patient. I will always know that it was you.”
David completed his paperwork, and expectantly awaited the emergency calls that would give him the opportunity to learn more about God. Mrs. Blake had said he would hear His Voice from the ambulance.
As he closed the Bible, his eyes focused on another highlighted text. These words became sealed upon his heart, “I am the God that heals you...”
The stillness of the night filled the house. The snooze alarm sounded but was quickly silenced by a slap in the dark. She didn’t want her husband to wake as she prepared to leave for work. Quietly, she walked into the bedroom of each of her two young children and stood there watching them sleep. The night light from the window cast a blue shadow on the peacefully content children. She walked over to their beds and straightened the blankets around them. Her son wiggled under the blanket and then lay still. Her daughter moaned a few words and then was quiet. Joan blew them a kiss as she closed the door.
Sleep pressed at her, calling her back to bed. She fought the temptation to return to rest a while longer. “I am so tired. I love you,” she whispered to her sleeping husband, as she placed a small kiss on his cheek. Quietly, she departed for work.
That morning she left the stillness of her home, the sleeping family who never saw her leave, and her own dreams. Once the car was started, the alarm buzzed to remind her of the seat belt, but she drove off quickly without putting it on. She was only going to work and knew the buzzing would stop soon. Joan pressed her hands back and forth against the steering wheel, trying to awaken, trying to focus on the road, trying to beat sleep.
She was so sleepy…
The 911 alarm sounded. The printer began to spit out the address of the call. The paramedics rose from their sleep. Another call tonight. Sleep ran from them as the adrenaline in their bodies coursed through their systems. When they arrived at the unit, their minds were focused and alert. 911 dispatch advised them of the call, “Rescue 12, respond to a single car accident at Symmes and Highway 301.”
“Copied, Symmes and Highway 301,” Jonathan replied.
The roads were empty, and the lights of the unit gave a red glow to the streets as they pierced the early morning fog. The overturned car was visible at a distance. Jonathan and David looked at each other.
“It doesn’t look like it hit anything,” Jonathan remarked as he peered down the road towards the car.
“No, I bet whoever was driving just hit the soft sand beside the road and merely flipped once,” David stated as he drove the ambulance toward the overturned car.
“Well, I hope so. If that’s all that happened, then we should be back in bed in 5 minutes.” Jonathan stretched forward, bent down, and retied his shoe. “I really hope so.”
The ambulance pulled up behind the late model Chrysler Sebring. Its engine was still running. Other than being upside down, it appeared to have no damage. Jonathan jumped out of the passenger’s side of the ambulance and went rapidly over to the driver’s side of the car. He knelt and reached in for the keys to turn off the car. His hand jumped back before he was fully aware of what he had just seen. He looked again for the second time.
“Hey, Jonathan, I can’t find the driver out here. Do you think they just walked home?”
Jonathan slowly drew his words. “No, no. I’m afraid they didn’t just walk home. Look in here.” David recognized Jonathan’s tone. He knew what to expect when he knelt to look inside the car.
David’s mind focused as he swiftly walked over to the driver’s door. The car was without a scratch, the windshield and steering wheel were intact. The car would be able to be driven, when it was flipped back over onto its wheels. He bent down and looked within the car; eyes focused on the victim of this accident who lay still across the ceiling of the car. She appeared to have no broken bones, no bruises, no cuts. His eyes moved up her frame – no movement at her chest, no breathing. His hand stretched inside the car and found her wrist – no pulse.
