C2 Sunday, February 16, 2020 PeninsulaNorthwest Peninsula Daily News

On call: Team players

Continued from C1
Through a bit of time, teasing and work,
Wildeman has become part of the depart-
ment’s lineup.
Frequent assists
After assisting the gentleman who had
fallen that morning — known as a “lift
assist” — Gage and German explained that
such calls are probably the most frequent
type they get.
“This is a situation where if we saw him
three times in one week for the same thing,
we would refer him to Dan M o n t a n a ,”
Gage said.
Longtime firefighter/paramedic Daniel
Montana was taken off his regular duties
with PAFD last year to become a dedicated
community paramedic — part of a city
program that began in early 2019.
Through referrals from fellow firefight-
ers, police or partner agencies, Montana
provides a range of services to heavy users
of the 9-1-1 system.
In the case of this call, “Dan would come
out, meet with him, talk with his primary
care doctor, talk with Medicare, and try
and get more resources set up for him, like
a ramp to the outside just so he can get to
his doctor, stuff like that so he can be more
productive and have more mobility in his
life,” Gage said.
There’s also the emotional aspect of
these types of calls.
“It’s definitely sad,” Gage said. “It’s kind
of one of those things where it’s one of the
processes of life. … It’s interesting to think
about because if 9-1-1 didn’t exist, he prob-
ably wouldn’t be able to get up.”
Running drills
On this day, Ziegler took the opportu-
nity to run a few practice drills with the
crew after discussing coronavirus protocols
and doing rig checks.
Out at the old Rayonier site just off the
Olympic Discovery Trail in east Port Ange-
les, B Shift had a car — donated by Penin-
sula College’s automotive technician class
— set up to simulate a “patient entrap-
ment” scenario, Ziegler said.
“That’s a pretty common event for us,”
he said. “We’ve had two incidents probably
within the last year, year and a half … that
we’ve had critical patients that were
trapped in a vehicle and pinned.”
He explained that it can take longer
than 45 minutes to get an unconscious
person out of a wreck without causing
more harm.
It’s a low-frequency, high-stress situa-
tion, Ziegler said, and the crew needs to
practice when they can.
After placing a dummy in the car — the
team chose the “lighter” dummy with no
legs, at about 160 pounds — everyone got
into place to start the drill.
Using the Jaws of Life and other heavy-
duty equipment, they worked together to
extract the patient, communicating needs
to each other from around the vehicle.
The crew also worked out a few other
scenarios with the car, removing the front
end, the other doors and opening the trunk
with only manual tools.
“It’s a lot of fun for us,” Ziegler said.
The second drill — a ladder rescue —
took place on the stairs of the old water
tower at Rayonier.
Paramedics Doug Eaton and Lt. Jeremy
Church were the “first on the scene” and
worked to assess the patient and ready
them for the rescue from several flights up.
On the ground, Gage and paramedic
Mike Ingraham readied the basket while
German manned the ladder.
After a successful transfer of the patient
from the landing to the ladder basket, and
when everyone was safely back on the
ground, the drill was deemed a success,
with a time of just over 45 minutes.
Photos by Laura A. Foster/
Peninsula Daily News
Paramedics Mike
Ingraham, left, and
Tyler Gage lower the
rescue basket after
securing a victim
EMT VS. PARAMEDIC during a drill at the old
The main difference between Rayonier site in Port
paramedics and EMTs (emergency Angeles.
medical technician) is in the train- Below, Capt. Kelly
Ziegler of the Port
ing and scope of practice.
Basic EMTs usually receive 120- Angeles Fire
150 hours of training, while para- Department gives
orders to the crew for
medics get anywhere from 1,200- an extraction drill.
1,800 hours of training.
Paramedic programs often
award educational degrees.
According to verywellhealth.com,
the scope of difference between the
two can be summed up by the abil-
ity to break the skin. Most states do
not allow basic EMTs to give shots
or start intravenous lifelines. Para-
medics, on the other hand, can give
shots, as well as use more
advanced airway management
devices to support breathing.
Basic EMTs are usually restricted
to using oxygen, glucose, asthma
inhalers and epinephrine auto-injec-
tors. Paramedics are trained in the
use of 30-40 medications.
Always available
After taking three more calls — a minor
crash on the Tumwater Truck Route, a lift
assist (this time by a frequent caller) and
another lift assist at a retirement commu-
nity — the crew settled into the later por-
tion of the shift.
It was Wildeman’s turn to make dinner
for everyone, and as he prepared stuffed
peppers while others helped to keep things
tidy in the kitchen, B Shift discussed the
trying parts of the gig.
“We appreciate that our community has
afforded us the opportunity and the per-
sonnel to make our jobs easier and help
make our communities safer,” Gage said.
“We’re still human, so there’s definitely
those calls that affect us emotionally.
“We go see something terrible and come
home to our families. … That’s the hard
part of the job, that it’s not all fun and help-
ing people. There are hard calls and sad
calls.”
After the difficult calls, Church said, the
teams are debriefed with other partner
agencies.
Sometimes that helps, and sometimes it
doesn’t.
An example from Church was his arrival
on scene where he did his part of the job
and was more or less fine with what had
happened. But at the debriefing, he heard
others’ experiences with the situation, and
that painted the whole, sad picture for him.
The full narrative made it harder for
him to deal with what had happened.
Other debriefings help, though, because
everyone shares their stories and how a
call had affected them.
“We take care of each other,” Gage said.
“We check in on each other at home.”
Church said it’s about finding a balance.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to go
out and do the best we can with what we
got,” he said.
“That’s what we spend a lot of time Above, before and
doing, helping people who can’t help them- after each shift, Port
selves, to be frank. Angeles Fire
“Those aren’t the most glamorous parts Department crews
of our job, and the way we get through that check the supply of
is just by people recognizing and appreciat- medications on board
ing it, and you feel like you made a differ- each ambulance. If
ence because of that.” anything needs to
Editor’s note: Digital content editor be restocked, a
Laura Foster went on a ride-along with the paramedic and a chief
Port Angeles Fire Department for this story. do so together.
She spent an eight-hour shift with the crew, Right, paramedic Doug
going on calls, attending drills and spend- Eaton performs a rig
ing time learning what the department check at the beginning
does during a regular business day. of his 24-hour shift.

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