An EMT Story

This story is fictional. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. This story didn’t happen to me, but it’s a good one.

We were dispatched non emergency to a residence to pick up two patients in need of transport to the hospital. That was all dispatch had for us. We arrived minutes later to find a very upset mother of two. She told us her two teenage children had come into contact with a raccoon that tested positive for rabies. At this point, you have my attention.

We gathered the teenage brother and sister and asked them to get in the back of the truck. After everyone was belted in safely, I took a set of vitals. Then it was story time. I asked them what happened. Here’s what they told me.

They were walking home from their after school jobs at a local greasy spoon (where their mother happened to be the manager). During the short walk home they saw a raccoon get hit by a car. It was still daylight, and if they had thought about it, that would have been their first warning sign. Raccoons are nocturnal. Raccoons you see during the day can usually be considered to be ill.

The two animal lovers stopped to give the raccoon aid. The boy had his gym clothes with him and wrapped the raccoon up in them. They began to take the raccoon home where they intended to nurse it back to health.

They were only a few houses from home when the raccoon died. The teenage brother and sister decided to take their heroics to an even higher level by performing CPR. A neighbor witnessed this and asked them as politely as she could; what the hell were they doing?

The teens relayed their story to the neighbor. She smartly called their mother, who promptly called animal control. The tests came back positive for rabies, and the mother called 911 wanting the kids to be taken to the hospital by trained personnel.

When you get a call like this, you have a choice to make. You can get angry over peoples ignorance, or you can see the humor in it and enjoy the experience. I started my career in EMS for two reasons. 1. My desire to do something worth while. 2. I love a good story.

I feel like some of my best calls come after my patient says “Hey! Watch this!!!” You just have to remember to treat everyone with respect. Treat them well even if they are ignorant, or undereducated.

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