Spring 2018
consciousness by the end of our shift, but was kept intubated for a further three days to prevent serious airway swelling. We were extremely busy throughout the shift, barely spending any time at the firehouse. However we managed to return for lunch and dinner, all provided by and cooked by the firemen. During the shift we were sent to a lot of jobs which over here in the UK would not require an ambulance. Each job we attended we were accompanied by the police. I was advised that this was normal due to the neighbourhood we were in. Both the police and fire crews could recount several incidents they have attended where gangs were still on scene. The ambulance crew I was with told me there was a shooting outside the firehouse two months earlier. The crew had to hide behind the concrete pillars in the firehouse to avoid being caught in the crossfire. I lasted 17 hours with the crew before giving in to jet lag. The crew advised me the next day that they weren’t sent to any shootings after I left, however they did go to a serious stabbing.
Chicago Fire Department – Ride Along #2 with Ambulance 42 I was given a ‘down town’ location for my second shift in the largest firehouse in Chicago. I was advised that this would be a completely different shift than with Ambulance 33. This part of town was mainly high rise buildings for businesses and hotels. Ironically this firehouse was mentioned in the crime tour I had been on earlier in my trip as a mob boss was hung outside it for his crimes back in the 1920s. The ‘bell’ rang straight away at the start of the shift, sending us out to a ‘person down of unknown cause’. We drove to the job and found a woman had slipped on ice and had hurt her ankle. As we arrived there was a TV crew with the patient, who continued to film us as we got her into the ambulance. We again drove to hospital under emergency conditions. I asked the crew why they did this and was advised that there was an incident where a crew didn’t drive someone to hospital under emergency conditions who should have been and the patient sued. To stop this happening again they now drive everyone to hospital under emergency conditions. We quickly dropped the patient off to hospital and returned to the ambulance. We were given a job as soon as we left the hospital to a ‘heart attack victim’ in a high rise office building. We arrived to see a fire truck on scene. The patient had the classic ‘MI’ look: grey in colour and sweating profusely. The fire crew got him onto our stretcher