Story Market Day

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
And, I wish you were training our local EMS!

My training was back in the day when try as they might, "realistic" scenarios were anything but realistic. Students couldn't even convince instructors to move the later hands-on practice lessons outside onto the grass, parking lot, and in ditches... they wanted it all to be in a classroom on a clean floor. Things have really improved in the last 40 years.

Thank you, again. If you haven't done it, I hope you consider writing similar novels from the EMS perspective without the SHTF aspects. I suspect that will also be a big seller, and help newbies advance their attitudes and skills.

you would be amazed at what you can do in a nice clean classroom. We were doing a TCCC class in a hospital. We had no lab area for the hands on final. Every Thursday they had a new mom class where they would teach the new mothers breastfeeding and a bunch of other things. We grabbed all the CPR infants, some red duct tape, the two adultdummies and an instructor to be the three adult casualties to go with the 13 infant patients, turned the lights out in the room the did it. We called it an active shooter scenario, they had to treat and stabilize in the room while the cops prepped an evacuation corridor and hunted the shooter. All of this was in a full sized active duty hospital conducting business as usual.

it’s all aboutgetting the students brain to take it seriously
 

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
you would be amazed at what you can do in a nice clean classroom. We were doing a TCCC class in a hospital. We had no lab area for the hands on final. Every Thursday they had a new mom class where they would teach the new mothers breastfeeding and a bunch of other things. We grabbed all the CPR infants, some red duct tape, the two adultdummies and an instructor to be the three adult casualties to go with the 13 infant patients, turned the lights out in the room the did it. We called it an active shooter scenario, they had to treat and stabilize in the room while the cops prepped an evacuation corridor and hunted the shooter. All of this was in a full sized active duty hospital conducting business as usual.

it’s all aboutgetting the students brain to take it seriously
There was a scenario similar to that. Kid, think he was on drugs or it may have just been excessive stupid. He was in a mussel car speeding on country roads into the back of a van filled with Anna Baptists. Bunch of kids got airlifted to area trauma centers, too many victims for one center.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
One of my coworkers helps do that. Definitely not my gig. I appreciate the complement but it takes a really special mind to do that, and mine isn’t it!
REALLY glad to hear we'll have minimal distractions as you take us on this ride .....
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The first thing Angelique saw was blackness. The huge room was dark. The stink of cordite was in the air worse than in the little tunnelway firing range under the house. There was a ton of noise as well, including sounds of gunfire and screaming. The darkness wasn’t complete, however. Flashing lights reflected off of a low haze or fog.

Moving shapes in the far side of the room attracted her eye. As she tried to make them out, a ripping sound went off beside her. Bekka was beside her now, a fountain of brass streaming from her weapon.

“Get your head in the game! Kill the bad guy so we can save the casualties!” Bekka dumped the rest of her magazine towards the moving shapes in the distance. Angelique brought up the carbine hanging from its sling. She started engaging the enemy as she moved forward.

As Angelique’s eyes adjusted, she saw the moving shapes drop between her and Bekka’s gunfire. She kept moving forward, Bekka beside her and Allyson behind them. Ahead, they could hear screaming. She saw people down on the floor. She turned to Bekka.

“Bekka, keep the bad guys back. I’ll start on the casualties.” She moved up to the first one. It had to be Garen but it was hard to tell with all the moulage. There was a lose eyeball dangling against his cheek, but that wasn’t a life threat and could wait. Through his shredded uniform Angelique could see lots of blood and burned tissue. None of that was workable on the point of wounding. Bekka might not be able to keep them away from here. A quick sweep showed no massive bleeding from any limbs, and since he could scream, he was breathing. Time to check the other one.

“Face, neck and torso trauma on the first one. Moving to the second one now. We need to move under some cover before I can work on the first one.”

“Gotcha covered.” Bekka moved up past Angelique as she started working on Kara. Bekka forced herself to keep looking at her sights and the space the bad guys were in. She couldn’t look down at Kara. She could still see her, blasted and screaming, covered in Christian’s blood and brains, as Garen started working to save her.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Allyson was right behind Angelique and Bekka as they moved into the building. The transformation in this room was remarkable. Canvas tarps were hung as backstops for the simunitions. The bad guy targets were t-shirts with a thin piece of cardboard for shape and filled out with a helium balloon. Tied by a string to a jug of water, they floated and wobbled in the air, blown some by a small fan. The simunitions were strong enough to punch a hole in the balloon, and then the ‘bad guy’ would fall.

Some fog machines they brought back from the Center had vision a bit fuzzy. Some rescue strobes threw shadows and intermittent light all around. Some cookie sheets with scattered black powder was lit and flashed into smoke, spreading cordite smell and adds another level of smoke to the room.

Kara and Garen’s moulage was extensive and great! Allyson was especially surprised at the extent Kara went to. Blood, goo, urine, all for the scenario. She couldn’t wait to see the whole thing underway. Part of her felt a little bad for Angelique being thrown into this complex and immersive scenario. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to work through this complex of a problem before she started teaching at the Center and got more training.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique felt fractured into several people at once. She was looking all around for bad guys. She was packing a wound. She was remembering learning to pack a wound blind while laying on her belly behind the casualty. She was hearing Kara’s voice teaching her how to apply a tourniquet. She was hearing Kara screaming in pain next to her as she dragged her to the other room. She was shooting the two targets one handed as they came popping up near her as she made her way towards the doorway. Finally, they were all in the room at the end of the hallway. In front of her was the bigger kit she had packed for an ‘operating location’ kit. Allyson’s voice broke into her focus.

“You’re at the team house and secure, work your patient’s.”

Angelique looked around the room with her headlamp. The room had been stripped of the furniture she was accustomed to. Instead, there were a couple cots and boxes. Most importantly, there was room to work and no more bad guys to worry about in the scenario right now. She needed to get wounds packed and sealed, fluids underway, antibiotics and pain meds on board. So much to do!
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Once they were in the room, Bekka could breathe a little easier. She was all amped up out in the bay. Now she had to help Angelique treat the casualties. She could do this. She had done it for real that day, she could do it for training today. She was glad Kara and Garen had only cranked things up to ‘9’ and not ‘11’. There weren’t four other bodies blasted to pieces, screaming and dying on scene. There was no sharp shrapnel poking and stabbing you. There was, however, the smell of burned flesh and diesel fuel. They had taken the carcass of the thanksgiving turkey, doused it in some diesel and set it on fire in a burn barrel in the bay. It would take a serious airing out after they were done to clear out that smell.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique worked her patients hard. Starting with chest seals, wound packing and IV access, she kept driving down her whole algorithm. She could repeat it in her sleep, and according to Allyson, she had been.

SMARCH-E-PAWS-B-RAVINES-SHEEP VOMIT

-Shoot back

-Massive Bleeding (+Muzzle if K9)

-Airway

-Respirations

-Circulation

-Head Injury, Hypothermia & Helo

-Eye Injuries

-Pain Control and Sedation, Drugs

Then baseline vitals and secondary, head-to-toe exam.

Start to make a prioritized care plan.

-Antibiotics/Antimicrobials

-Wounds

-Splints

-Burns

-Resuscitation and Reduce Tourniquets

-Airway care

-Ventilations and Oxygenation

-Initiate Early Telemedical Consult if available

-Nursing Care

Skin Protection: clean, moisten, protect (urine, feces, irritants), sunscreen, insects)

Hypo / Hyperthermia

Elevate Head (upper body)

Exercise (Active / Passive Range of Motion ROM)

Pad Stretcher / Pressure points

Vital Signs (and trend your vitals)

Oral (and Nasal) Hygiene

Massage (DVT prophylaxis)

Ins & Outs (Diet & Fluids)

Turn/ Cough/ Deep Breath

-Environmental Considerations

-Surgical Procedures

Angelique, with Bekka’s help, had the immediate wound care done in a reasonable amount of time. She had IV access for the drugs, but didn’t want to waste all her IV fluid, so both got nasogastric tubes. Through these she could give oral drugs and liquids even if they were unconscious. Foley caths for fluid resuscitation and patient hygiene since both were too injured to walk to a bathroom. Serial vital signs were a constant thing, helping her keep track of any improvement or degradation of their condition. All of this took time. Angelique didn’t know how long they were in there, and she didn’t know how long it was going to go.

The multiple chest wounds were problematic. Angelique put in chest tubes (using the rack of ribs provided for that element). This meant she had a more definitive treatment than just letting the air out with a needle.

Casualties this destroyed needed blood. Angelique drew a unit of blood from Garen and then put it right back into him. This proved she could draw from a field donor and administer whole blood, including the added calcium needed to counteract the citrates in the collection bag.

At one point she could feel her energy was just drained. This set off warning bells in her head. If she was low, her casualties were too! She mixed a slurry of honey, peanut butter and electrolyte powder in a bottle. This she drew up in a large syringe and administered it to her casualties. She wasn’t concerned about taste since she was bypassing the mouth and going straight to the gut through the NG tube.

Angelique pulled out some more snacks for herself and Bekka. When Allyson asked where hers was, Angelique’s reply caught all of them off guard.

“You’re not here, you’re an observer. If you’re hungry, end the exercise and go eat.”

This was one of the few times she, or anyone else broke character.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Late in the night or early in the morning, Angelique couldn’t tell, Angelique was finishing another vital signs check when Allyson walked over to the taped down light switch.

“Alright everybody, EndEx. Exercise end.” She paused a moment or two then flipped the switch. “Angelique, why don’t you unhook and untube Garen and Kara.”

Everyone squinted in the bright room lights. They had all become accustom to the low light provided by the cylume and the headlamps. Angelique’s brain had a hard time shifting gears back. Somewhere during the hours of treatment and procedures, she had locked in on caring for these ‘casualties’. Now in the bright room light, Kara and Garen were back.

The first thing both Kara and Garen did was pull the nasogastric tubes out. This included some gasping and gagging. While Angelique was removing the Foley from Kara, Kara was removing Garen’s. The next big step was the IVs. All of this accomplished, Allyson removed the wound dressing from Garen’s head so the moulaged dangling eyeball could be removed, permitting him use of his other eye. All of this was accomplished in near silence.

Allyson looked at the rest of the interventions in the bright lights as they were removed from Garen. As soon as he was undone, he began removing Kara’s.

While all of this was going on, Angelique was helping and waiting for feedback, a critique, a something! How did she do?

Garen looked around the room, locking eyes with everyone in turn. Each nodded a small and affirmative motion. His gaze finally fell on Angelique. She felt like a bug on a tablecloth under that intense look from that haggard face. She had no idea what it meant.

“Angelique, you did good. We are all too worn out to debrief tonight. Let’s all get showered and cleaned up and some sleep.” As he was talking, Angelique saw Kara leave the room wrapped in a blanket, tears in her eyes. What was that all about?

When Garen started to follow Kara, as he came even with Angelique he stopped for a moment, his hand on her shoulder. Angelique could feel some trembling in his hand. “You are the medic I wish I was that day.” Garen’s hand slipped from her shoulder and he left.

Bekka was standing close enough to hear what Garen said. Tears leaped to her eyes. She looked at Angelique. “Kid, I’ll be on your team any day you want me.” A brusque hug almost squeezed the air from Angelique, and then she was gone, out the door after Garen.

Angelique looked over at Allyson, really confused now. Allyson was looking at the door the other three just went out.

“Allyson, you want to tell me what that was all about? Did I pass?”

Allyson was a bit choked up as she sorted through all the implications in what Garen and Bekka had said. It took her a minute or two to find her voice.

“Yeah, I think you passed.” She paused to take another couple deep breaths. “This wasn’t just some made up scenario we cooked up for you. It was recreating one, or in their cases, reliving it. I don’t know all of it. I’m kinda scared to ask with as painful as it was for Garen to tell me the injuries they were simulating.”

“You see, Kara’s wounds that day were exactly as you were treating them tonight. The extra shrapnel and all the blood and brains splattered on her torso, those were what was left of her fiancee. Garen let it slip to me in case Kara had to bail at any point in the scenario. Garen was playing the part of another survivor of the ambush he had to keep alive for over nine hours until the medivac got to them.”

As Allyson explained this to Angelique, Angelique felt herself fracturing again. The horror of this nightmare scenario actually playing out. Kara willingly putting herself back through it for Angelique’s training. Wait, she just said ‘he’ had to keep alive. That meant he was the medic! That meant SHE was playing the part of Garen! And what was it he said when he walked by? ‘You are the medic I wish I was that day’. Allyson was saying something else to her. “What was that?”

“I said, switch out your weapons and magazines, leave the rest down here, we will clean and reset all of this tomorrow. We all need showers and sleep.”
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
After swapping out her weapons and ammo, Angelique and Allyson started the slow walk back up to the house. Each were silent, deep in their own thoughts. Over their boots on the gravel, Angelique heard something in the still air. She thought she knew who it was and where they were.

As exhausted as she was, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep right away. She had to go see.

“Allyson, I’ll catch up with you. I need to go do something.” Without waiting for a reply, Angelique turned off the road down another trail.

“What? Where are you going?”

“I have to do something. I’ll be at the house in a few.” Angelique replied over her shoulder as she kept walking.

The sound got louder as she got closer to the pond. Angelique could see Kara sitting on the huge granite slab where she met her before all those weeks ago. She was sitting slumped over, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Kara was having a sob-choked conversation with someone.

“Kara?” Angelique spoke softly. She wanted Kara to know she was there before she got close.

Kara stopped talking. She sat still, looking across the pond as Angelique approached.

“I heard some of what you guys did for me tonight. I couldn’t imagine reliving the gunfire and running out of my Grandfather’s store again. Of looking down on the burning remains from the hillside. That doesn’t even compare one tiny bit to what you guys did. I don’t know how to ever repay you guys for what you are doing for me, what you are putting yourselves through for me.” She ran out of words.

Kara took a couple big deep breaths. “I got you hurt, almost killed because I ****ed up. That is a karmic debt I don’t know if I can correct. My pain over something that happened years ago? If it benefits you for me to go through it, then at least it helps someone.”

Angelique didn’t have a good answer for Kara. She didn’t blame Kara for how she got hurt but it was obvious Kara did. She didn’t know how this conversation was going to go when she turned off the road and came here. She just had to come. When in doubt, change the subject. She reached into the bag slung across her shoulder.

“Want some hot chocolate? I will share”
 
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Sportsman

Veteran Member
Thank you. Of course, now we're addicted to at least two chapters per day :).

PS:
As exhausted as she was, she knoEw she wouldn’t be able to sleep right away.
 

ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The smell of food woke everyone up. Garen was up first, cooking a hardy brunch for everyone to recharge from last night’s scenario. Everyone wandered through the kitchen, filling plates. Sitting at the bar in the kitchen, everyone was quiet except for the clank of silverware and plates as they shoveled needed calories into them. When most of the coffee and all of the food was gone, Garen addressed the group about the plan for the day.

“I think we will reverse the order of things I had in mind for today. We need to clean up the training building and put away the stuff from the exercise, we need to go back through the details of treatments some, and then there’s that other thing.”

“We should do the other thing before we go down to the training building.” Bekka said from one end of the bar. Allyson and Kara nodded enthusiastically. Finally Angelique had enough. They were all talking about something she had no clue what was, and doing it intentionally.

Angelique tried to get clues by watching the others as they moved around. It didn’t look like dread or fatigue at facing a huge task ahead. It looked rather energetic, something which she herself didn’t feel after staying up most of the night and only having a few hours sleep.

“OK, guys, what is the ‘other thing’ we need to do?” There was more than a hint of annoyance in her voice as only a still tired and worn out teenager can have in her tone.

Kara laid her hand on Angelique’s arm. “Don’t worry. Just get dressed and meet us in the workshop downstairs.” At that, everyone else began cleaning up from brunch and heading to their rooms to get dressed, leaving Kara and Angelique sitting there at the bar.

“You doing ok this morning?” Kara asked Angelique.

“Still sleepy. I don’t know how you guys are so awake and chipper. I could use another six hours of sleep.” Angelique groaned.

Kara and Angelique had sat down on the rock for at least an hour last night, sipping hot chocolate and mostly not talking. This was a bit of a contrast to the last time she was here with Kara. About the most Kara had said was a simple statement.

“His name was Christian. I miss him so much, even after all these years.” She fingered her dog tags and ring as she spoke.

Angelique and Kara came back in the house. Everyone else had already showered and gone to bed. Angelique spent who knows how long just standing in the shower before dragging herself to bed. She was asleep before she hit the pillow.

Now everyone was up and awake and eating and moving around and being cryptic. Angelique was trying to figure what’s next? The only way to find out is to go forward. Angelique went to her room to dress for the day. There was evidently work to be done.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
your last post is backwards, they eat brunch before going to bed
your last post is backwards, they eat brunch before going to bed


Actually, they are having breakfast the next morning, Angelique is amazed/annoyed at how awake they are and she is remembering her and Kara staying up for at least an hour as they sat on the rock by the pond after the end of the scenario. Everyone is alluding to doing some "other thing" before they do a debrief and go clean up the training building from last nights session. This annoys Angelique because she has no idea what this 'other thing' they are referring to is. I will work on rewording it to make it less confusing
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Angelique was the last one down to the workshop/classroom. Up on the whiteboard was the familiar scenario review format with the two patients from last night filled in as far as injuries and problems. Her mind started the process of checking and matching up the interventions she did against the problems listed. She was so focused on this, she didn’t pay attention to what the other four in the room were doing. A noise behind her made her turn around.

All four were standing beside one of the workbenches along the wall watching her work.

“What?”

Garen answered. “Just watching you work. Come on over here for a moment. We will get to the debrief in a few minutes.” He had a smile on his face. They all did, she noticed. Angelique walked across the room to where they were. Garen started speaking again.

“When you got here, you told us you would do whatever you could to help out around here to make yourself useful in the efforts to get the men who attacked and killed your family, and make no mistake, you did and were quite helpful. When you were injured, we started looking for what we could teach you while you healed up. Combat skills were too physical for the most part, so we went with medicine. You attacked it with a gusto rarely seen by any of us. You still have a lot to learn about medical conditions and ailments, but right now, you are higher trained and much more capable than most combat medics. Last night proved it beyond any question.”

Bekka started speaking at this point. “From day one, we considered you an adult among us, in thought and in deed, an equal in most things. You did what you set out to do, and got hurt in the process. You threw yourself into learning, so you could still help us. It seemed like you were still trying to prove yourself useful because you had no place to go otherwise. Make no mistake, you are a full-fledged member of this team, this family of sorts. Most people in life have two families; the one they are born into and the one they choose to be in. The first happens, the second is a choice.” Now Kara took over.

“We don’t look at you as a ‘junior member or a tag-a-long. You are a valuable part of this group and it’s time you realized it if you haven’t already. Yes, we have been teaching you a bunch of stuff, but that’s our fault.” She pointed at Garen, Bekka and herself. “When you get a new person in a unit, you train them in the things you need them to know. That’s what we have been doing. The next step is to keep training, both in the skills you already know and in new ones. That’s where we are now. You are physically healed enough we can work on more things, go more places and train in more skills.” Allyson started speaking at this point.

“This is the ‘learn more things’ stage. We all are training now on many topics such as improving wilderness skills and knowledge for one. I have less than everybody else, so in this I am the student, learning from them,” She waved her hand at the group. “And from you. I’ll be teaching more things in people watching and interaction, Bekka will be making all of us smarter on radios, Kara and Garen will be adding to what we are learning. In this, we will all teach each other, as a team does.” Garen spoke next.

“When you first got here, we threw some gear at you and took off to save the world. When you were hurt, we focused on your mind. Now, we will be doing more and more training in the physical realm, so it’s time to address some things.” He picked up something from the table behind him and held it out. “Although the Hi-Power you have been carrying is good, its better you have a pistol that matches everyone else’s. He holds out one of the custom 10mm 1911’s like the ones riding in everyone’s holsters.

Angelique turned it over and over in her hands. She liked the Hi-power she had been carrying these past months, but this was a work of art! It sank into her strong hands and settled just right!

Bekka was grabbing things off of the bench behind her, “With a new pistol, you need a new holster, mag holders and so forth. With your experience now, plus your newly acquired medical skills, here is a new battlebelt and pouches to set up your rig for you, not just what someone else thinks should work.” She held out a belt with holster and a bunch of other pouches half attached. It looked like the same basic parts everyone else was wearing now. Angelique looked back up when Allyson started talking.

“You and I have spent many hours killing Waldo down the hallway. You need a way to do more than just spot things. Garen can give you a rundown of its specs and build, but here is your long gun.” Allyson held out a classic looking tool of wood and steel. Bolt action, bull barrel, and a flat brown finish looking like age created instead of some new wonder coating. The only modern looking thing on it was the scope. The rest of it could be from the fifties.

Kara was next. “One of the things you found out in your fight in the town was you don’t have enough mass to slug it out toe to toe with bigger attackers. I understand. I have the same problem. We have to rely on speed and skill. The belt knife you have is great for all the general knifework and some fighting, but with your wingspan and narrow frame, you need an edge.” She held out a long blade, easily seventeen or eighteen inches in length. “A short sword will do things a smaller blade will struggle with. We are all going to be practicing and learning how to use the longer blades soon. I’ll be teaching since I was the one hanging out with the Renfaire people and learning. This steel is about a hundred years old and made back when lives depended on its strength.” She handed it to Angelique. A strange gleam appeared in her eyes as she held the blade.

Garen stepped forward again. “A team should work together, just like a family should. Let’s help her get things situated as we dissect last night’s medical exercise.”

There were heartfelt embraces all around. Although she had been comfortable here before, Angelique realized this truly felt like home, a feeling she was afraid she lost forever with the loss of her father and grandfather.
 
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ComCamGuy

Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
They all stood silent for a moment allowing Angelique to absorb the what had just happened.

Angelique was comfortable living with Garen and Bekka but she now realized this was truly her home. She buried any thought of belonging to a family deep when she was so consumed with revenge. She was afraid she would never be able to feel or want to after she her lost grandmother, grandfather and the possibility of never seeing her father again. But all of sudden things were different. She finally understood. In that moment as each one of them handed her their gift, she let go of all the hate she had been holding on to and decided as dysfunctional, weird, off kilter, PTSD, and intelligent group people she had every met they were going to be her family to love, standby and to die for if she had to.

Angelique broke the silence with “Yes I will.”

There were heartfelt embraces all around for there was no need for an explanation for her answer.
Garen stepped forward again. “A team should work together, just like a family should. Let’s help her get things situated as we dissect last night’s medical exercise. After which clean up so we can celebrate.”
 

Freebirde

Senior Member
Let's see if I have my story dates right.
Now in #4 it is right after Thanksgiving.
Number 2 stopped shortly after Christmas or New Years.
Number 3 stopped stopped the following spring.
 
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