The Case of the Unfortunate Car Thief

Written by KiOntey Turner, SciJourn Reporter |

This kid was in so much pain, from the top of his head to the bottom of his legs. I bet being run over by a truck isn’t as much fun as the stunt professionals makes it out to be, but then I would have to ask the patient how he felt about that question.

It all began with a call to our ambulance. I didn’t really understand what the radio was saying when I was called to the scene of an accident, or so I thought.

When we got to the neighborhood on the north side of St. Louis City I clearly saw that was an accident, but it wasn’t any regular accident. There was an injured teenager, about 16 or 17 years old, and no car.

Of course the first question that popped into my mind was “Where is the car?”

I was then quickly informed that a truck caused the accident, but was nowhere to be found because the driver ran this kid over and didn’t stop.

What could this kid have been doing to get ran over by another vehicle? Well, he was trying to steal another car, in the alley. Not the best idea at night. Bruises that are shades of dark purple and red indicate internal bleeding. Photo: Glen Bowman via Flickr.com.

There was no bleeding on the outside. But I could see that there were many bruises that were shades of dark purple and red, which indicates internal bleeding. And there was also a collection of cuts .

Because of how painful it was for me, the paramedic, who is licensed to give drugs and start IVs, and the other EMT to turn the kid on his back to be placed on the stretcher and into a neck brace, we realized that this kid might need some kind of surgery to fix problems that we couldn’t.

I applied oxygen to the patient, which is a part in the procedure that is used for almost all patients to keep them from going into shock and becoming unresponsive.

I noticed that the patient was closing his eyes slowly and then struggling to keep them open, even after I kept telling him to keep his eyes on me and tried to hold a conversation to make sure that he wouldn’t fall asleep. This would be a sign of some kind of neurological injury that was caused during the accident, which we wouldn’t be able to help in the ambulance. Instead, the patient would have to get care from the neurological specialist, and until we got to a specialist all we could do was keep the patient alert and active. This task was not easy because I had to take vital signs and make sure that he wasn’t falling asleep.

Taking the patient to the hospital was an experience because I wanted to know more of what happened to him. However, as usual, we took the patient into the emergency room to be admitted and we were back on the road to another call.

Sidebar: EMT vs Paramedic

Have you ever been in the middle of an emergency and someone yelled, “Call the Paramedics!” Why not the EMT? There is a really close relation to the two and yet no one ever calls the EMT.

EMTs are emergency medical technicians that assist the paramedic in the transport and care of sick or injured patients. The main focus of an EMT is the operation of the ambulance.

According to St. Louis City EMT Monte Chambers, an EMT is responsible for driving and restocking supplies on the ambulance. There is also training and education to become an EMT. It takes close to six months to become certified, in classes offered in a community or trade colleges.

EMT classes are also offered in some high schools. Students learn skills such as CPR, and various ways to give oxygen to patients. An EMT assists patients in taking prescribed epinephrine pens, spinal immobilization, and assisting the paramedic with IV setup and EKG monitoring. The role of a paramedic is to take charge of the medical emergency at hand, administer medicines through an IV and monitor EKG readings for each patient as needed.

In order to get certified as a paramedic, one has to have be an EMT for at least one year. Paramedics have to learn about drugs and ways to administer them.--KT