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'

*I follow behind Bobby to our truck for the shift. Since I'm both new and I like to know what I'm working with, I drop the bag I'm still carrying in the passenger seat.* 'As long as it isn't ALS, I don't mind alternating. If it's a BS day, I'm not above BLS work.' *I answer back, climbing up into the back of the truck to start familiarizing myself with the equipment and where it's at.* 'Hey Bobby, can you check what our fuel is at?' *Under my breath I add 'and that it actually starts.' Not all crews are diligent about little things like that. I've had more than one dead battery from a crew not plugging the truck in and leaving the master on. New as I am here, I'm not about to insult them if they are good about it but I don't like chances.*

'A pleasure. Is Bobby alright?' *I respond casually as we walk into the Bay* 'If you don't mind, which truck is medic 3? I haven't had a chance to see how everything is set up yet.'

*I look around at the gathered EMS crews and see we're just as understaffed as I had guessed, based on what they told me in onboarding. The woman looks unhappy, and im guessing she isn't with me based on the Lieutenant's words. The other two guys, one I see has insignia marking him as a medic so the other guy must be my partner. I stride over, extending my hand.* 'Hello, I'm Erik. Nice to be working with you.'

*After standing outside for a few minutes before someone lets me in, I follow behind into the duty room* 'Sorenson, here.'

*I come in, hands shaking as I see an official looking envelope from the Saratoga state Board of Nursing. It's been a couple weeks since I sat for the exam and I've been applying to jobs at hospitals in the area. I got a conditional offer with Arcadia Community, and finally my results are here. I sit down at our kitchen table and open that envelope, dropping the rest of the mail on the table. 'Mr. Dunne, we would like to congratulate you on your successful completion of licensing requirements for your Saratoga State nursing license...' I have to reread the line again. I passed. I double check the envelope and, sure enough, my nursing license is in the envelope. I fucking passed! I had put in my notice after I'd finished my exam and resolved to find a job. I definitely took a gamble but I'm absolutely elated to find out it was successful. The first thing I do, I text Aubrey. She's at work right now and probably won't answer but I want her to know immediately. I'll have to call my hiring manager tomorrow and tell them, then we can move forward from there with hiring.* 'Hey Aubs, I passed. Got my license' *That should be enough to get the point across but for the rest of today, I'm celebrating. Everything else can come tomorrow.*

*I walk into the duty room, my bag slung over my shoulder still* 'mornin'

Hey guys I know I haven't been around much but I am going to step out from ERT for a couple weeks. Sorry for leaving mid shift I'm just not doing hot.

*We really didn't need to tase the guy. He was between us for god's sake. Fucking trigger happy probies. I cuff the guy and haul him up, and Rogers offers to bring him down to the 7-11. We need to get him IDd sooner rather than later and while I'd have preferred to have Caldwell come here with the clerk, Rogers is already moving off. I shrug, and hear 208 calling in the area and I pause for a moment.* "208? Unit calling, 220. We're good here" *Isn't.. 208 on scene with me already? Once Rogers calls to ask ERT to run the guy's name I nod to myself. He'll be a moment. It takes me another couple seconds to recall what unit Caldwell is in.* "215, 220. Can you go ahead and bring the clerk up Westside between south 4th and 5th" *It'll get things done faster and we can get a positive ID on the guy and keep him contained AND protect the clerk.*

*"Aw for fucks sake" I think as I'm pulling up to the block that we have him pinned down to. I see the cars parked ahead, dimly, and I hear the pursuit traffic. Seconds after I see the guy running towards me. His hood comes down and I catch a good glimpse of him, a thin scrawny looking white guy. Wouldn't shock me of he had a drug habit. No sooner does the thought cross my mind, than I bail out of my unit.* "220 is on scene, in pursuit" *If we can settle without shooting anyone that would be nice. I take off towards him, not running too hard. Unless he ducks down an alley he's sandwiched between us, with the other officers in pursuit.*

*I'm not far from the south 6th 7-11 and I hear the couple units canvassing the area. 3 units by my count of the last transmission, along with a description. Honestly, it has overtones of so many shootings gone bad that have dominated the country's media lately. And we haven't exactly had good press lately.* "Dispatch, 220 is responding." *Westside drive it is. I pop down S 3rd towards Westside and turning down, cutting my lights as I head down the street, scanning for the guy that Rogers was describing.*