Corpse in the Bushes - Part 1
“Hello, ambulances!” said a friendly voice. “It’s Commontown Police here; we’ve got one for your attendance.”
“Jolly good,” I said. It’s always nice to talk to other services, like the police, fire brigade, buses and tube. They’re always so much friendlier than the general public. “Where are we off to?”
“West Common Road, near the church. We’ve just had a report from a man walking his dog who’s seen a man lying in the bushes — deceased, he thinks. He’s too scared to approach. We’re on way… are you?”
“WEST COMMON ROAD, SE29″ I typed. “MALE LYING IN BUSHES, POSSIBLY DECEASED.” By the time I’d flicked through the triage questions, an ambulance and a FRU were on way, and I told the police so.
The FRU in question just happened to belong to one Mr Steve Gibbs. Spotting this, I was tempted to write “MORNING STEVE!!!” in the special instructions, but I don’t think it would have gone down too well with my boss. Instead, I made a small but significant alteration to the diagnosis:
MALE LYING IN BUSHES, POSSIBLY DECEASED
now read:
MALE LYING IN BUSHES, POSSIBLY DEAD
Steve knows that I’m the only person in Nee Naw Control who ever dares say the word “dead”…
Sure enough, half an hour later, my phone buzzed with the following message:
“Are you working today? Just took a call about a corpse in some bushes. Sounded like your style…”
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:44 am
How exciting! Is this a new idea in the blogging concept!?
I am off to read part 2!
on May 15th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Hi Mark,
I hope you don’t mind but I wrote a very short piece about work-related blogs and mentioned you (briefly).
Here’s the link:
http://www.bloggapedia.com/blog/permalink/2006/05/15/Guest_Post_What_Did_You_Do_at_Work_Today.html
It’s a bit late now, but I hope you approve!!
on May 15th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Congratulations, a mention on Guardian Unlimited no less:
http://goto.cream.org/neenaw
Great blog, btw.
on May 15th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
intresting cross blog blogging, shown how LAS work from start to finish on a shout.
Great to read even if it was a drunk
on May 15th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Next time maybe we’ll even get a “proper” call. And then maybe the nurses and doctors in A+E can carry on the story!
on May 15th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Ok I’ll give you that one it was worth the wait! Also popped over to London on Wednesday last week, had a look at your work place. Not exactly colourful is it?! Mind you it did make me giggle that LAS has enough crews spare to leave 3 FRUs, a motorbike and an ambulance (with crew) in front of HQ showing off to the public…
Just out of interest when you finally go for the EMT/Paramedic business are you hoping to train in-house or at a Uni?
on May 15th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Ugh, Nee Naw Control is the ugliest building I’ve ever seen. Whose idea was it to put the call taking bit underground without any windows? That person should be shot.
I’m not going to university to train as a paramedic as I’ve already been to university and am still in debt as a result! Definitely the EMT route for me…
on May 15th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Cripes!! Makes me glad when I go to Sheffield in September that the course is sponsered…. especially as course fees are now £3000 a year plus living expenses..
However out of the two of us I know you will be far better at it, experience is everything. I wish I could go down the EMT route, but at the rate at which in-house training is being reduced at, I suspect by the time I am 21 most trusts will only accept graduates from Paramedic courses.
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
I’m sure you’ll be great at it too - and you’ll probably be out on the road before me! I’m hoping being in Control will give me an advantage when applying for an EMT course…
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Damn straight it will.. Makes you far, far more aware of what you will be facing. I’m going in fresh-faced and youthfull! Yeah about being on the road, hopefully be on my first blue-light run before Christmas. Nervewracking doesn’t even cover it..
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
What gets me is, it’s always a man walking a dog when a body is discovered.
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Ken - if I may….a lot of uni-bods - not all by any means, but nevertheless a lot, come out with an “I’m holier than thou” attitude.
My advice is…use your knowledge, but also listen to the people you work with, and get used to working with different people - we’ve all got our own way of doing things, and you’ll see some excellent practice, and some very poor practice, but it’s all good experience, and there’ll be plenty of good advice to be gained.
Good luck!
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Steve - while it is always a man with a dog who discovers the body, it is usually safe to assume that if it is a stranger killing, the person responsible will be a lorry driver!
on May 15th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Christ I know I’ve talked to them. Coming into this proffession with that “holier than thou” attitude is without doubt my biggest fear, and something which I will make every concsious effort to avoid. Iistening to others is a skill that I feel people of my generation tend to not have, maybe its just “yoof”.
In my opinion gaining experience is a much better tool in the long term, in comparison to just reading books. That is in fact one of my main doubts about the Sheffield course, its only two years long. Unfortunately I wasn’t good enough for LAS at Hertfordshire, a course I would much prefer. However, all experience is good experience.
on May 16th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
The “cross-blogging” was a nice way to show how the system flows,,,, even if it DID “flow” into a drunk…. lolol…. I vote for another one, when you can manage it!
on May 16th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Loved the cross blogging. Very interesting to see how this works for multiple POVs. If it occurs, I’d love to see most posts like this.
on May 16th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
We’re going to try and do as many as possible. Of course, we don’t always work the same shifts, and there are a couple of hundred ambulances on at any time, so the chances of us being on the same call aren’t all that high…
on August 31st, 2006 at 2:49 am
Greetings!..
on October 13th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I also have the pleasure of working in one of the EMDCs as an EMD! Im hopefully going to uni next autumn to do the parameidc course. What does everyone think about the fact that the age restriction of 21 to be a techncian is being reviewed and might be lowered?