Uptown

In Jan. 2008, I transferred to a new station with a new crew in a new neighborhood. I also get to ride on the pumper(fire truck) more often and get around on EMS calls in a squad (Ford Excursion staffed with two paramedics) instead of an ambulance. I am assigned to a/the station in River Oaks which is one of the million dollar home districts in the city. Every day I am amazed at how big, and nice, and extravagant the affluent live. The servants quarters are bigger than my own home. We often ask ourselves what the heck to so many people do to make so much money, as I know I can't even afford the taxes on the homes in this neighborhood. You must also understand that most of our calls are not in our territory, because the wealthy seem to keep up with their Dr.'s appointments and have the best construction and fire prevention systems in their homes. The other thing I have realized is that no matter how much money we as people have, we still have problems. So here are a few of the calls to the rich and famous.

An older middle aged woman who happens to live a shopping mall of the home all by her lonsesome. Her brother came by to check up on her and found her some what altered and bruised and cut from head to tow. She had been on a drinking binge and had stumbled across her bedroom knocking over furniture and bruising herself from head to toe.

Another older middle aged woman who lives in a highrise condo/townhome/penthouse on my shift has contacted 911 at least twice. Once she called to report the building on fire. Upon arrival, we found out she just burned a cake. About two weeks later she called again because she "didn't feel right." All of her vitals were normal and she then seemed to feel better and think that maybe she didn't need us. She was looking for attention. Again.

An on air radio personality was found unconscious in the parking garage of her radio station. She sustained some injuries from a fall which was caused by low blood sugar or a cardiac issue. She awoke and was not alert and oriented enough to refuse treatment and transport. So we convinced her to go to the ER. At the ER she became shrewd and began using racial slurs and profanity. She was moved to a private room and shortly afterwards she ran out of the room and pulled out her IV as she was leaving a trail of blood out the front door. The nurses chased her down and took her back to her room. As soon as they left her alone in her room, she bolted again and was successful.

On two occasions I have had the privilege of meeting one of the most demanding rich old ladies in town. She tells us how to do our job, complains about the drive, our care, bosses around her hired help who have been with her for decades. Yells out in pain whenever she is touched. Tells us to shut up when we are talking to each other because she doesn not want to hear our conversations. She was told by the hospital the after the first time we took her to the hospital not to come back. She pushed their patience to the max.

On two other occasions we made calls to a new high rise penthouse in which the owner has had way too much to drink and has fallen on his marble floors and split his wig. He then became beligerent and violent with the first responders. They had to call for a firefighter assist over the radio, which sends more staff, a supervisor, a district chief, and HPD. He calmed down before we got to put the smack down on him. Lucky for him. A couple of days later he was drinking again, and we were called out again, because he fell again and the staples from his original wound broke free.

We were recently called out to one of the bigger homes in the neighborhood for an unconscious 19 year old boy. The house cleaners found him snoring really loudly and could not wake him. When we got there he was on the floor barely breathing and he was blue in the face. I started an IV and we gave him D50 for a low bloor sugar and Narcan for a possible overdose. He had a ton of hard liquor in his room and drug paraphernalia:pipes, bongs, and beer bongs. The home belonged to him and his brother, paid for by his dad and fully staffed with security, house cleaning, the works. Also furnished with several cars including a Bentley for the 19 year old lad.

As you can see people are people. Loneliness, depression, drug addiction, and disease know no color or economic status. It is apparent that money can buy you the nicest things the world has to offer, but it doesn't buy you happiness. It is more evident that we all are in need of love and acceptance. More importantly we see the condition of man who is far from God. The signs and symptoms are obvious and are all the same. It is encouraging to know that a relationship with God cannot be bought and is available to all mankind. Thank you Jesus for the Cross!