The Medic Dad Chronicles

I am going to start this one off with...Amber Mac. I met Amber through my good friend Kimmy. Amber and Kimmy worked in the x-ray department together and Amber would see me talking to Kimmy. After Kimmy left I would still go by x-ray and if Amber was there I would stop and talk to her. Amber is an amazing young lady with 2 super cute kiddos who are the love of her life. I follow Amber on FB and see all the things that she does with her kids and I know that they are living the dream. I know that Amber is very active in her church, she is a dancer and super happy to be around. Amber, I miss seeing ya! Now for a really cool young lady, Amy LeFleur. I have known Amy for many many years, I first met her when she came to do a ride-along for EMT school. As I remember, it was for a major event downtown. As luck would have it, we didn't have too many calls that day so we got to talk a lot. Amy has done several things in her life and she was looking for that one thing to settle into. EMS didn...

 I am going to change it up for this one. I want to tell y'all about some people from calls I have ridden.  There is an assisted living facility in town that I have been to more often than I care to admit. At this facility, there was Frank who worked at the front desk. Frank was such a cool guy, he would always ask us if we wanted something to eat or some coffee. We normally would tell him no, but when we did say yes he had it ready as we were going out the door. Frank also always gave us great information on the patients we were there to get. He would let us know if the patient was prior military or prior public safety. He always had something to tell us, that gave us a way to connect with the patient which in turn made our jobs easier. Being in EMS having a good rapport with your patients makes it easier to assess them and makes them more likely to give you the information you need. Over the years we got to know Frank better, he told us that he was retired from not only the ...

 This is a neat group of people... I am starting with a young lady who I worked with at Hunter, Mrs. Brittany Murphy. I used to call Brittany "My work wife" when I was at the hangar, even Angie knew her as that which I thought was funny. Brittany and I would get lunch together, bring it back to the hangar, and eat. One day we ate at the place where we got food and ran late getting back. As we were in the turn lane to get on post I looked over and saw our boss in the lane next to us...Busted! He didn't look over but he saw us and we got a talking to when we got back. Brittany and I had lots of conversations about family, kids, and church. It was so awesome to watch her get married, start a family, and get involved in church. On several occasions, I have stopped by her house so her kids can get in the ambulance and ask me a bunch of questions. Brittany is very talented, she likes to paint, she paints on canvas and she'll paint the house. She has started a little busines...

 This is a wide-ranging group... I will start of with my friend Alli Walker. I met Alli when I was working at United, she has been a dispatcher for them for a little while now and she does a terrific job. Alli loves to make people happy and loves to make her puppers even happier. She occasionally brought her puppy to work with her, and that made my shift. I could take him for little walks and we were both happier after that. When Alli went to Germany she asked me if there was anything she could bring me from there. She was going to Oktoberfest and one thing I always wanted from there was a German farmer fest hat. Alli not only got me one, but she got me 2 different ones. When she was on a trip to Montana she brought me a coffee cup from a Starbucks there(she collects Starbucks cups). Both were sweet gestures and that shows the type of person Alli is. Alli has had some rough times in her life, but she gets up, dusts herself off, and keeps going. Alli and I talk all the time just to ...

 Today we have... I will start today with the sweetest young lady who was working in an assisted living facility. I met Alissa when I was picking up a patient from her facility. She told me all about the patient physically and mentally but wasn't able to tell me much about their medical history. I was super impressed by how well she knew the patient and how sweet she was with the patient. It was almost like I was there picking up Alissa's own mom. Come to find out, Alissa wasn't a nurse, wasn't even a CNA, she was the activities director. I went to that facility often, but after meeting Alissa I made it a point to see her when I was there. She always gave me great information on the people I was there to get and she was just so nice. As we walked through the place she talked to everyone we encountered, you could tell that she was well-loved there. I caught her one day away from work and met her dogs, Alissa's car was one big hairball. Alissa is married and she moved...

 More friends... Let us start with Alex Farlow. I have known Alex since he worked at Chick-fil-A, as a matter of fact, he hooked me up with a roll of stickers from there. We discussed EMS, and he told me he was going into that field one day. Lo and behold he showed up as a student. Alex had a lot of questions and he was super cool to have ride with us. The next stop was paramedic school and he rode with me again. Alex is super smart, he interacts well with patients and worked well with us on the truck like we all belonged there. After Alex was on the street for a while he moved on to nursing school. As a seasoned medic, you love to see people progress and you also hate to see people progress. Alex was what I like to call "one of the good ones", it was sad to see him leaving the EMS field. Alex is now an RN, he is a husband and a father. It has been a privilege to see him mature personally and professionally. Alex, I know we never see each other or talk anymore but I do think ...

 I thought of doing these posts while sitting in my little boat fishing. I have met some amazing people in my life, and I have a few of them as friends on FB. Others don't have FB and I will add some of them in this series. Some of the people in this series are no longer with us but they should also be remembered. Also,  I think this is going to be a lot of posts. Tell me what you think in the comments, should I do them all or narrow the list down a little? I am going to start with a guy that I was in the Army with, his name is Rodney "Hot Rod" Keyes. Rodney was in my first Army unit and he was a hard-working dude.  He was an E-5 working in the position of a higher rank and he got his butt ran off. He tried to make everyone happy but it was not an easy task. Rodney had bright red hair, he was a super nice guy unless you failed at something which he needed you to do. He was a tall scrawny dude who was a funny guy and would do anything he could for you. Rodney was involved ...

 Continuing on.... First, we have Adrian Lewis. I can't see a Pooler fire truck, or even be in Pooler without thinking of my funny encounter with Adrian. When you work in public safety you get used to seeing people in uniform, and when someone isn't in uniform you just don't recognize them. So, I was out to dinner with Angie and she went into the restaurant to see how long the wait was. I parked the car close and waited for her to text me to come in or not. Next thing I know Angie is calling me. Angie says you've gotta get in here, there's a girl in here having a seizure. So I run inside and as I do I can hear the fire dept coming up the road. I get inside and I care for the young lady as best I can, the next thing I know the firefighters walk in behind me. One of the FFs (Adrian) says "ok sir we've got it from here". I turned and looked at him in the face, and said "Really?" He replied back, yes sir you can step aside now. I said to myself, ...