Within a split second a body part can be lost, you can become forever paralyzed, or even death can occur. No one thinks about a mishap crossing his or her daily path until it actually happens.
When an accident occurs the lives of the people involved often depend on the quick reaction and the proper treatment of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). These groups of professionals primarily provide care to emergency patients in an out-of-hospital setting with medical direction. Their goal is to prevent and reduce mortality and morbidity by providing immediate care when illness or injury occurs. When an EMT goes on duty, their first priority is to check the inventory of supplies and make sure that all of the equipment is functioning properly. After this, the life of an EMT at the dispatch center is much like their life at home. In a sense, it’s a different location with a different family. Depending upon the time of day or night, they may be eating, sleeping, watching television, or just having a plain old conversation with a fellow EMT.
It was three o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, and it was time for Scott Caserta to begin his twenty-four hour shift at the dispatch center. As he does every time he leaves for work, Scott kissed his wife and children goodbye. Never knowing the dangers he may come across, Scott wants to make sure that his family knows how much he loves them. This particular Sunday evening the EMTs had planned a dinner, and Scott was one of the designated cooks. They were just sitting down to a full course meal when the dispatch tone went off. The call came in as a motor vehicle accident located on German Ridge and Fifth Street Hill. They took off in the ambulance. When they arrived on the scene, there was a woman outside of her car yelling for her baby. When Scott and the other EMT searched the car, all they found was the torso of a child. When the woman lost control of her car, she had been driving intoxicated with her three year old daughter in her lap. The car hit an embankment and her daughter became her airbag as the child was decapitated by the steering wheel. After twenty minutes of searching, they found the decapitated head in a ditch. Physically the woman suffered only minor injuries, but mentally she has to live with what she has done for the rest of her life. After witnessing a scene like this Scott said, “Emotionally you have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, then return to the call center and wait for the next dispatch.”
This particular experience that Scott relayed to me left me feeling somewhat disturbed. As we concluded our interview, I asked him what was the worst part about the job. After giving it some thought Scott said, “Two of the hardest parts in the life of an EMT is not knowing what you will see when you go on a call, and never knowing what the end result will be.”