Saving a Life

As we arrived on the scene of absolute carnage, it reminded me of some Hollywood disaster movie scenes. But in this reality scene, there was the associated sounds and smells, along with the inner feeling of uncertainty. There seemed to be no single wreck, the cars, trucks and semi-tractor trailers, were all somehow intertwined. The many different smells seemed to take on their own importance. The wrecks that were burning, gave off a mixture of rubber, gasoline and heated iron. Popping glass and tires were taking place in all directions. Some wrecks were still dripping fluids that had not yet ignited.

From all indications, we had pulled our vehicle up to the scene within minutes of the catastrophe. I jumped out of the ambulance and ran to the back to retrieve my medical gear. My hands were trembling under sheer stress and fear I was feeling. I lifted my heavy bag from the metal storage and slung it over my shoulder. It felt as if the fifteen pound bag weighed about forty pounds. I rushed over to the first accident, a compact car smashed against the guard wall. There was a young women, about thirty years of age and a young male approximatly the same age, blood dripping from their heads and the windshield. I gave the women a quick nudge to see if she was breathing. She reponded with what I can only describe as a fait cough. She was completely out of it but the first thing she said that made sense was "My husband, is he going to be ok?" I averted my attention to the young man in the passanger seat. I looked at him the entire time i walked around the car.

"Sir, sir are you ok?" I said but received no response. I persisted again, "Sir, are you awake, can you here me, give me a sign." and yet still nothing. "Ma'am please do not be alarmed. I'm sure he is just unconscience" I assured her.

I carefully removed her from the car, lay her on the back board and moved her away from the car. I ran to the passenger side again, opened the door and pulled the man out. I was still getting no sign of life.

"HELP! I NEED HELP OVER HERE STAT!" I yelled from the wreckage. In an instant Johnny Screws showed up and began caring for the life-less looking man. "Johnny my main man, I need you to look over him. Start him on oxygen and monitor is blood level. We need to heli-vac him out of here, got that?" Johnny replied with a head nod, gave me a pat on the back and I was on to my next scene.

Boy I thought my first scene was bad. After this one I knew it was only going to get worse. A pick-up truck had flipped and landed on its side. The driver was yelling for help; yelling in a way that would make your blood curdle. I dropped my bag in front of the car and tended to the man. I was joined by Ben Nap. Big Ben was my new partner, he had been in this field for three years now so he was like my mentor. We knelt down beside the man and asked him what had happened. While he was describing the story, I noticed a piece of metal, about 2 feet long protruding from his chest cavity. He was bleeding out and fast, we had to move. I went to go grab the metal to stabilze it so that it didn't hit any other important organs but when I did he went limp and we bagan to panic.

"Get him the hell out of this car, now!" Ben yelled. "We will not lose this man, try your hardest to keep that peice of metal in him until he gets to the hospital. That could be the one thing saving his life right now."

The man still had a pulse but wasn't conscience. We picked him up and put him on the strectcher but half way up the peice of metal fell out of his chest and blood began spurting out.

"Put a finger in there Zack, you need to stop that bleeding." I couldn't move, i was in so much shock. "Did you hear what I said? You're going to lose him if you don't pull your head out of your butt and do your job!" Ben demanded.

I stuck my long finger into his chest and tried my hardest to find where he was bleeding from but with no luck. I serched frantically until Ben told me that he was gone. This man was dead, and it was my fault; his life was literally on the tip of my finger and I failed him.

"COME ON BEN! THIS IS MY FIRST DAY CUT ME SOME SLACK!" I yelled at him. "Why didn't you do anything you?!"

"Cut you slack? Slack leads to deaths. When would you think that we have extra time to work on someone! Think about it Zack, if I cut you slack this time, we would have lost him faster than we did. Do you want that feeling again? Change you ways or it will drive you to drink. Do you work and get the hell out of my face."

Ben walked away shaking his head as he moved on to the next scene. I lifted my medic bag, slung it over my shoulder and proceeded to my final victim. I really just wanted to call it quits but calling it quits meant that I would be quitting on their lives and I wouldn't be able to live with that. I picked up my courage off the ground, sucked it up and moved on.

It seemed like it took forever to get to my last victim. She was laying on the road bleeding from her mouth and arms. I threw my bag against the wall and started her on oxygen. She wasn't breathing and she was bleed quite fast. I radioed for Johnny again and he was next to me with a minute.

"Johnny, keep her on the oxygen, I have to tend to her wounds." I ordered. I quickly reached for the guaze from my bag. Wrapping her wound with it, I tried my hardest to end the bleeding. I radioed for a helicopter.

It took twenty five minutes for it to arrive on the scene. Johnny and I lifted her up, placed her in the copter and I sent Johnny to ride with her. Was it true, did I just save a life? Only time would tell but the descision between life and death was no longer up to me, I had gone the distance I could to save her life. Now was the waiting game.