Low Pulse Rate

Today I was on the Atan with Aryeh, it was the first time back on the Atan in a couple of days. Our first call brought us to apartments with no elevator (I now look at the apartments as we arrive to try and judge if they will have an elevator or not). Up a few flights of stairs we find the patient, an older lady sitting in a chair in the living room. After hooking up all the monitors and the paramedic doing some treatment we load her up on the chair and carry her down the stairs and get her into the bed. The paramedic had to take blood pressure manually a few times because of the ladies low pulse rate. We got her to the hospital and transferred her.

Our next call was to a local shopping center and after having some difficulties finding the location we were suppose to be at, we find a man who was suffering from chest pain. Monitors got hooked up and we take him down to the ambulance and take him to the hospital. At the hospital it seems it has been a very busy day in the ER because we wait awhile for a bed, another MDA unit arrives with their patient and they start the wait as well. After a bed opens up we transfer the patient and take our leave.

We get a call down to one of the tent cities that has sprung up even in Akko. The patient is visibly in pain but he refuses treatment. So after some attempts at persuading him otherwise he continues to refuse treatment so the paramedic prints up the refuse treatment paperwork and has the man sign it. If a patient refuses treatment there really isn't much we can do other than try to pursued them. The only exceptions are if they are in an altered state of consciousness then there is some wiggle room. So we were on our way.

Our last call of the day was to a car accident. It did not appear anyone was seriously hurt. Both patients walked onto the ambulance and we took their blood pressure and were able to meet a Ragil to transfer them. It is a very nice benefit of being on the Atan, sometimes we can transfer the patients who are not in serious condition so the Atan can stay available. It also means we are spared the long trip to the hospital and possible wait for a bed to open up.