R.Dunne

*I´m vaguely aware of one of the detectives marking themself on scene - definitely a lot of people there. I scan the area ahead of me and I spy a tall figure with a dark beanie cap. 'I´ll bet anything that´s my guy´. I start inching closer and he´s definitely trying to blend in. I park my car and as soon as I pull out of the line of cars I was in, he takes off. ´Definitely my guy´.* ¨220, in foot pursuit of suspect.¨ *I take off after him, noting as I get closer the guy has a somewhat large and bulky box clutched. I look ahead and see a parking lot the guy was definitely heading towards. The box is heavy, clearly, and I´m grateful. It slows him down some and gives me a chance to catch up some. I shout after him to stop and he tries to move faster - before he falls. I sprint towards him now on the ground, thankful for my lucky break.* ¨220, I have one in custody.¨ *I arrest him, picking up the fallen ps5 along with my perp. Helping him to his feet, we walk back to my truck and I help him into the back. I toss the recovered property in the back of my truck before getting in to the driver´s seat.*

¨220, in the area.¨ *´10th and Kensington...´ I think to myself cutting all my lights now, having cut my sirens about a block or two out. My other officers are probably both at the site of the initial incident; one of them will likely be following me shortly. ´damn this guy is fast to get that far.' I slow down even further, my eyes scanning the road and sidewalks ahead.*

*What a way to start the shift. I sigh and pull out of the lot - this should be interesting.* ¨220, show me responding to the stabbing¨ *I pull out of the lot and accelerate, flicking on my lights and sirens.*

*I walk in to the parade room and see everyone dispersing to their assigned vehicles. I see Russo and Blackburn up at the front of the room and head over to them.* 'Morning gentlemen.'

*I walk in, later than usual to see assignments already out. Goddamnit.* 'Morning. Sorry I'm late.'

*I walk into the duty room, crossing my ankles as I lean against a wall* 'Here'

*'Stand and pivot was definitely the fastest.' I think to myself as we raise the stretcher. I start another blood pressure cycling as we head out to the truck, slinging the jump bag over my shoulder on the way out. We load the man up in the ambulance and I climb up in the back after the stretcher is locked into place. Habitually, I double check the latch as I walk by the stretcher to the bench.* 'Aight Bobby, whenever you're ready. Quick and easy if you don't mind.' *I open up the med box and grab the small bottle of nitrostat out, tapping out one of the tablets into my hand.* 'Alright sir, can you put this under your tongue?' *He nods and as I hand the tablet to him, I continue.* ' It's a medication that will help with your chest pain, and it may tingle a bit under your tongue while it dissolves.' *After we pull off, I pick up the radio* "Medic 3, transporting 1 to County." *I hope they use the same shorthand names I'm used to, or at least can figure out where the hell we're going. As we're on our way, I figure I may as well start an IV, just a lock. I open up the cabinet with my IV supplies, grabbing out a start kit, extension, flush. I grip the overhead rail as I cross back over and sit on the bench. 'I've got to move some of them to right behind the bench.' I idly think to myself - I should have thought of that sooner. I grab my catheter out of the bag and look over at him.* 'Sir, I'm just gonna start an IV on you. Do you have a preference for which arm?' *He shakes his head* 'Alright, sounds good.' *I reach for his left arm and start looking for a site. His skin is somewhat thin and the veins roll a bit. Not too difficult though. I start the IV, warning him before I stick. Once it's flushed and locked, I acquire another strip, and look over the first one on our way in.*

'Alright sir, how old did you say you were?' '78.' 'Thank you sir, if you would just hold still for me for a minute, I'm gonna let this machine run and take a picture of your heart.' *'This is too easy' I think to myself; not that I'm complaining. Far from it, a straightforward call with just enough to make me thing is honestly relieving for my first shift. This gentleman is definitely a pleasant patient to work with. I catch my mind wandering and redirect myself to the sights and everything in front of me. I like to get an EKG on scene before moving and after that, we'll move out to the truck and I'll do anything else out there before we head out. I'm plenty happy with his vitals right now, nothing imminently life threatening to my eye but also not the kind of run I'd fool around unnecessarily on. While the monitor is acquiring, I pull out the aspirin and dose out 4 of the chewable tablets.* 'Alright sir, you can relax. I'm gonna give you some aspirin, do you think you can chew it up?' *He nods and I help him sit up some more before handing the aspirin for him before glancing over the strip the monitor spit out when I hit the record event button. No ST elevation, but hyperacute T waves it looks like, and peaked not rounded. There might be some QT prolongation but at my quick glance I'm not positive. Either way, I'm not quite happy with that strip.* 'Alright sir, do you think you can stand up and sit back down on the stretcher if my partner and I help you? We'll be right here and you're not gonna fall.' *He nods and I wait for Bobby to get on his other side. It's unfortunate I don't have a good working relationship with him yet - that subtext that can be shared in a glance between partners is invaluable in a lot of situations.*

'We're good.' *I grab the front of the stretcher and head up towards the house, noting the one stair at the porch and the small step going from porch into the house. We lift the stretcher onto the porch and I knock on the door.* 'Shiloh County EMS' *I hear a relatively faint voice call out that the door is open, and I open it. Immediately I think to myself that we're already lucky - the house is an almost immaculate classic style home. I help Bobby lift the stretcher into the foyer and call out again. I follow the voice into a back living room. It's a pretty straight shot back out, and I'm incredibly thankful. As I look over the room, I give my patient a quick once over as I call back for Bobby to bring the stretcher and gear in. He's an older gentleman, and definitely seems to be pale. There's a slight sheen to his forehead that I can see in the light and his head is tipped back on the couch. He doesn't seem to be having any obvious trouble breathing to my eye and as I walk towards him, he lifts his head to look at us. I start to interview him, getting basic information from him for Bobby's benefit as I start hooking him up to my monitor. *

*'Neither of us really know how this system works, should be fun' I think to myself as he brings us relatively smoothly to the scene. As we turn onto North 16th, I start watching the house numbers on my side of the street, watching for 159. '131, 133.. must be a couple blocks up.' As we pass Broad st, I see the 150s and notice Bobby's slowed. Aight. 159.* "Medic 3, on scene." *I get out, heading to the back door. I strapped both the monitor and the first in bag to the stretcher on my truck check at shift start, with some extra sheets on the back; they're remarkably useful.*

'If I'm lucky.' *I reply absently. With a history of heart attacks though, that's pretty high in my consideration of things to rule in/out. Chest pain is so ambiguous though. I'm somewhat lost in my thoughts; I usually talk through my thoughts with my partner but I don't know him well enough to judge if that's something he would appreciate, yet. We're heading to the north of north Ft Shannon and it'll be another couple minutes at least before we get out there. I lean back in my seat, my preliminary charting done.* 'When we get on scene, I shouldn't need anything that isn't on the stretcher. Are you ok with charting down anything I note aloud? Names, birth date, stuff like that. And copying important meds if we're lucky enough to have a med list. If you're not comfortable with that I can make it work, no problem.'

"Medic 3 responding" 'aight let's see what we've got..' *My voice trails off as I begin the chart for the run, pulling basic call information from the dispatch and putting the opening lines on my narrative - it'll help to have any little bit done later. The charting system definitely feels foreign to me and it'll probably have a bit of a learning curve. The call at least seems straightforward. With luck, I won't have Breslin and Dr Grant along - it would be nerve wracking to have my first call on my first shift here scrutinized and regardless of what the doc says, that's what it'll feel like.*

*I nod at the end of the Dr Grant's little introduction to him working on shift with us. Before Breslin can speak again, our unit is called out for a chest pain call. I give a short dip of my head before heading off to our rig still parked just outside the bay and get in to the passenger side.* 'At this rate we'll never get a chance to was the truck.'

*I turn as I hear a loud clap in the bay as I'm talking to Bobby and see a couple figures in the bay.* 'Guess we'll wait to wash her up.' *I shut my door and the side door on the truck as I head over to the couple figures standing in the bay.*

'Stock looks good back here.' *I finally finish going over the truck, working off of the check list. Bobby finished his truck check and has already pulled out to spray off the truck. I climb out, and head over to Bobby.* 'Hey while we're out here, may as well give 'er a bath instead of just a spray down, sound good? If you point me to where the soap and brushes are I can go grab that while you pre soak. She's kinda filthy'