Over the years, I have changed hats or at least worn many different hats. Although, the majority of my life I have been in sales, I have often pilfered around in other things as well. A large portion of my adult life was set in working as a Paramedic and worked mostly as a volunteer for a small “rescue squad” in my home town and county. For about 15 years I was on call and ready to go at an impulse to jump into an ambulance and go anywhere at anytime and for as long as it seemed to take. It was toll taking at times, but exceedingly rewarding!
In later years I moved to the Birmingham Area and went to work with an ambulance company there as a paid provider. It was not nearly as much “fun” or as meaningful, but we were able to help lots of people for several years just the same.
One year, we had the typical central Alabama weather forecast that said we were “gonna get snow.” Since I was from south Alabama, I could only remember one time that we got “real snow.” That was in 1971 and late in February. I remember the first night of the blizzard, we decided to move our cars away from near the roadway so that we would not have to worry about people sliding around on the road and hitting our cars. We promptly moved them to the back yard.
My parents owned a small 7 unit motel out in the middle of nowhere… and we were booked full in no time at all. The “No Vacancy” sign did still work, although it had been used very few times over the years. And we had guests from all over. We even invited a few to come in to our living quarters to make room for people who were stranded or feared being stranded. On morning, we had no water, but had over a foot of snow on the ground and drifts that covered all the cars in the drive and parking area. I went out back to see the snow, and saw that there was a solid sheet of white with big mounds of white where our cars were.
A friendly guy in room 8 came down and asked about the water. We told him that we had a deep well (about 360 feet deep) and that the water was frozen. He proceeded to explain to us how we could remedy that problem, and with a 100 watt bulb and a tarp, we had water in just a few minutes. It was a winter to remember forever. (I just wish I could remember other things so well).
So in Birmingham, in the late 1990s, we had a grave forecast of snow! Everyone went to the grocery to get their stock pile of bread and milk. That seems to be the Alabama way of dealing with unusual weather. And low and behold the snow began to come down.
I went to work at 6 AM that morning and three days later, I was given the OK to go home. We worked around the clock mostly, and were given times to get a couple hours sleeping before we were put back on our trucks and off again. The first night of the storm, we were ordered to go to a downtown hotel and to take 4 hours for sleep and then to get back out. It was about 2 or 3 in the morning, and things were quieting down a bit.
We arrived at the hotel, given our room with one double bed, and told to be back ready by 6. When we arrived, there was limited power in the building, so our first quest was to make our way up the icy stairs to the second floor to our room. Our small bed (I am not a small fellow by the way) was there in the middle of the room and was very inviting. (Sarcasm) Luckily we had our “Mag Light” flashlights and made it to the restroom, and had a gift pack with soap, shampoo, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. The room was almost as cold inside as it was outside. The huge window in the room was leaking in the cold at a good pace.
Our next thing was to get a quick “Hot” shower and get some “shut-eye.” Guess what… no hot water. And of course, no heat! There were two blankets in the room, and several in our Ambulance. So again, down the icy steps and back up with our blankets from the ambulance. A really fun night, a quick nap, and then back on the street.
In Birmingham, ice and snow is a total show stopper, as well as a city stopper. Our average call was probably about five to six miles to get to the patient. It would take sometimes an hour to get there, another hour to get to the patient and get them in the ambulance, and then as much as two hours trip to the hospital, depending on which one we needed use. We had lots of rock salt, and a few of the units had chains… but mainly it was slow going. Another great thing about Birmingham is the hills or mountains I guess may be a better word. Thus, many of the homes were either in valley, or on a hillside. By the time the Ambulance would get as close as we could to the scene, we would then take all our equipment and place it on the stretcher and push it sometimes blocks in order to get to the residence or scene. Many times we would have a fire truck on the scene with five or six fire fighters to assist us to carry everything in and out and then try to roll the cot with a patient on board down driveways and streets that were iced and snowed over.
So, what happened? We got the forecast… and we got the snow… and everyone knew what was happening, but something happened! The answer… “People!”
Ok, here is an illustration of what really happened, and this had nothing to do with the 1% or 2% of the calls that were normal medical emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes, and the like. Why we were so busy all day for three days is because of pure ignorance.
Case in point… a sixty year old gentleman decides to go outside on the snow and ice and take a look around. He puts on his “slippers” and walks outside his back door and does what… slips! Then tries again if he is fortunate enough to do so, and what happens, he slips again! Most of these unfortunate events really caused problems. The snow is soft, but the ice is hard. There were many concussions, and fractures and a few people actually broke their necks and died because of their desire to “get out in it.”
Other brilliant people had to get out and drive around to see the sights! People who had seen very little snow and even less ice on streets and bridges were out playing tag with their cars on the street. Our ambulance came down one hill out in the county and actually twirled around three times before we reached the bottom of the hill… and yes it was lots of fun!
So what about the forecast. My wife is looking forward to having a possible day off from having to go to work. My daughter is thinking that she won’t have to go to school even though she will probably have to make up the day later. And I am worried about how to meet people for appointments! What will we all do?
The Answer… Hopefully we will NOT do something stupid that will interrupt our lives for more than a day. Take the forecast… take the weather… enjoy the change of seasons, but don’t do anything really dumb. You don’t want to find yourself on the “America’s Funniest Home Videos” television show. Nor do you want to want to be on the “Cops” show with all of America laughing at you! Enjoy! Relax! Have Fun!!!
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