I can hear Don talking with Chris in the bay of Station #3. They are doing the mandatory truck check for Engine 3 at the beginning of the shift. In between the opening and closing of the compartment doors of the Engine, I hear Don talking.
"When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you trust God to do what is best and wait on him, sooner or later you will get something a lot better"
I walk back into the kitchen to pour another cup of coffee and enjoy the quiet of the morning. I want to tell Don that as well-meaning as that sounds, it is terribly misguided. I believe strongly that God is always at your side, he is not the good friend who is always on call, he is already in your life. He has given everyone remarkable set of skills, personality, and amazing gifts that you will discover every day of your life. Free will means that you can elect to not recognize everything he has given you and beseech him to receive the gifts you already have.
I am also firmly convinced that God has a well-developed sense of humor. And free will aside, God expects you to not be a dumb ass. He is like the friend who will draw on your face with a sharpie when you are passed out from drinking too much and being a pain in the ass to all of the people near and dear to you. Like that good friend of yours, he loves you enough to let you know what a dumb ass you have been without hurting you.
I try to not forget all of the gifts God has given me and appreciate deeply when I have the wisdom to use these gifts for the people I will come into contact with. All of the things that have been worth a damn to me have involved me recognizing this and using the gifts I have been given under the best and worst circumstances I find myself in.
I get up to refill my coffee and I see the familiar green light come on in the kitchen and the tones for our Engine.
"Engine 3, Paramedic 4, respond to the Diagonal Highway for car versus cement barrier" I am always amazed how calm and matter of fact all of the dispatcher's sound.
"Engine 3 in route, status 3" I am already thinking what I will need. There is construction on the Diagonal and in the northbound lanes the Jersey Barriers (cement) that are lined up two deep for about a quarter of a mile or so. They have not closed down the lane yet, construction is supposed to start in 2 weeks. I do not know if it was head on impact or if the car ran into the side of the Jersey Barriers.
"Engine 3, RP (reporting party) is saying this is a head on accident with heavy front end damage. Windshield is missing and there are no parties in or near the car." the dispatcher says in that same calm voice.
"Engine 3 copies, can you put Air Life on airborne standby and dispatch a heavy rescue from Longmont?" The laws of physics do not always apply to motor vehicle accidents. If this is a high-speed head on accident on these Jersey Barriers, I believe we are going to be involved in a recovery (when a person dies on scene and firefighters help recover and collect the remains). A recovery is on the best days, a difficult task for any crew. Waiting for the coroner, standing by until the investigation is complete, and helping to move the patient to the coroner's van.
Engine 3 will be first on scene, Paramedic 4 is enroute from Longmont United and Heavy Rescue from Longmont just got paged.
"Don, grab the portable generator and the spreaders and set up in safe spot near the car, Chris get backboard, C-collars and I will get the jump kit" I remind Chris to park the Engine, so we are protected from traffic, if it ends up that we have to remove anyone from inside or underneath the car.
As we pull up, I see a small 4 door late model car that hit two Jersey Barriers head on. There is heavy front-end damage and there are parts of the engine in the passenger compartment of the car. The windshield is gone and in pieces around the car. There is blood on the pieces of windshield on the car and ground. There is no indication that there is anyone in the car.
"Engine 3 arrival, car with heavy front end damage, we will be investigating, this will be Oxford command" All of the incoming apparatus will be listening to my radio traffic to see if they can get a feel for how tough a call this is going to be. I am trying to sound plain spoken and clear despite the "Oh Fuck" that sounds really loud in my head.
Two Sheriff's Officers have arrived, and we meet briefly to discuss how we are going to look for patients. Chris and I will walk down through the Jersey Barriers and both officers will look in the adjacent fields. As we are walking, I hear giggling coming from a 6-foot oval sized gap where construction crews have put sand for the upcoming road construction. Giggling is not what I expected to hear, and it is hard to process.
As we approach the sandpile in the middle of the Jersey barrier, I see a young woman. She is laying on her back and looks very young. She is face up, one hand is covering her mouth (she is still giggling) and the other arm is at her side. Legs, arms, neck, and torso look symmetrical with no significant trauma and the sand is relatively dry around her entire body. When I talk to her, I want to be close, so she does not turn her head or try to move.
"Hi, we are from the Fire Department, I need to make sure you don't move or try to get up. Chris is going to hold your neck still while we put a collar around your neck. It's really important that you do not move, OK?" Chris has a hold of her neck and is palpating the back of her head and neck. I look over at him and he shakes his head no, I understand this means he has not found any deformities or injuries. He is telling her to look straight up and not move her head, neck or body. The sand makes checking her more difficult, I will need a couple more hands to help get her on a backboard and palpate the backside of her body.
"Oxford command, we have single female patient approximately 50 feet in front of the accident, we are assessing her now. Advise other units to continue to look for other passengers, we are attempting to find out how many people were in the car"
I move closer to her, so I can ask her if she was alone or with other people in the car. I need to do this quickly so other incoming apparatus can shut down to non-emergent. There is a strong smell of alcohol on her and she has a number of lacerations on her face.
"Were you alone in the car? Did you have any other people or pets in the car with you?
She stops giggling and takes her hand away from her mouth. There is what looks like bright red lipstick on the top half of her lip. The line of lipstick, covers half of her top lip, continues in a rough line up her cheek, with a big quarter size blot up near her hairline. I glance down at her arm by her side, and it looks like she is holding what is left of a lipstick tube.
She looks up at me and says in a slurred voice "You look cute" I can see Chris break out in a smile and I realize for the remainder of the shift I will be "cute".
"It's important that I know if anyone was in the car with you, there is a lot of people coming in here in a hurry to take care of you and anyone else who was with you" I am looking directly at her and want to try to convey the urgency of getting a response from her.
"No, only me" she said, and she is starting to giggle again.
"Any pets with you? she says no pets.
"Oxford Command, continue Paramedic 4 emergent, cancel Air Life and shut down the remaining response down to non-emergent. We have found the patient and are assessing her now, patient is currently a trauma yellow" I am not sure she is a trauma yellow, but I cannot rule out anything until I see her backside. I get on the radio and on a tactical channel, ask Don to come up and help me and Chris. The Sheriff's deputies are standing next to the barriers now and are watching us work.
With her c-spine stabilized, we position the backboard and carefully roll her on her side. It is a slow and deliberate process; we assume the worst and hope for the best. As we turn her, I palpate her spine and the back of her legs. Surprisingly, there are no injuries or deformities. Paramedic 4 pulls up next to where we are working, and I walk over to give them turnover for the patient. I mention to the deputies that there is a strong smell of alcohol on our patient, and they nod. The smell of alcohol is not a confirmation that she was drinking, the medics will need to figure out why she is impaired.
The laws of physics were completely discarded today. As I look at the car, the pile of sand, and all the concrete Jersey Barriers, I cannot believe she is alive and does not appear to have any significant injuries. This is one of those calls that reinforces my belief that God is always at your side.
Today, this young woman was given the gift of her life and I hope she realizes it.
I also hope that they took pictures of her at the hospital before they cleaned her face up. She needs to see the red lipstick lightning bolt and splat marks on her face and know what a dumbass she was today but still lived to tell everyone about it.
EPILOG
For the remainder of his life when Chris found me absorbed in anything I was doing in and out of the department, he would do a simple thing to bring me to back. He would simply lean over and tell me that I looked cute.
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