Things you don't forget in EMS(lifts)

 Lift assists

We get called for lift assists all the time. It’s part of the job. Someone falls, can’t get up, and wants to make sure nothing’s broken before trying again.

One night, we were sent to a residence for a woman who had fallen in the bathtub.

Anytime we hear that, our minds go straight to the worst-case scenario: a naked elderly person stuck in a tub. And sure enough, that’s exactly what we walked into.

An older woman was sitting naked in a bathtub that was still half full of water. Thankfully, a family friend had already given her a towel to cover up, which we all silently appreciated.

The real problem wasn’t the patient — it was the tub.

It had sliding glass doors that covered half the tub, no matter which way you moved them. I took one look at where she was sitting and immediately realized there was no way to reach the drain to let the water out.

So I did what seemed like the only option.

I sat down, took off my boots and socks, rolled up my pants, and explained to the patient exactly what I was about to do. Then I climbed into the tub with her.

Standing there in ankle-deep water, I helped her up to a standing position and held onto her until she told me she felt steady enough to stand on her own. Only then did I let go, wrap her up in a towel, and finally drain the water.

Once the tub was empty, we helped her out and into her bedroom so she could get dressed.

That’s when she casually mentioned that she had gone to take a bath the night before and hadn’t been able to get out on her own.

I’m pretty sure she wasn’t in the tub all night — but judging by how wrinkled she was, she’d definitely been there for a while.

ID Bracelet

It was the heat of summer when we were called to help an elderly man lying in the grass just off the sidewalk.

When we arrived, officers were already on scene. As we walked up, they told us they had just happened to notice him lying there. No one had called it in — they just saw him.

I asked him if he was hurt. He said no.
I asked him if he lived in the house nearby. He said no.
Then I asked him where he lived.

He told me he wasn’t sure.

While I was checking him over for injuries, I started looking for anything that might tell us who he was or where he belonged. Luckily, he was wearing a bracelet with a 1-800 number and an ID number.

I called the number. Sure enough, they identified him and told me he lived at a nearby assisted living facility. They asked if I wanted them to notify his daughter. I said yes.

A moment later, they returned and told me the phone number on file was no longer valid.

That didn’t sit well with me.

I called the facility directly and told them who we had. Their response?

“Oh… he got out again?”

Again?

That’s when they told me he had managed to leave their secure wing five times already.

I was not happy.

I told them the service attached to his bracelet had the wrong number for his daughter and that I needed the correct one. They said they would “take care of it.” I told them no — I had the service on the other line, and they were going to give me the number so I could make sure it was fixed.

They gave it to me.

I called the service back and updated the number. Then I called the daughter myself and explained what was going on. She was stunned — and understandably upset.

It was nearly 100 degrees out with humidity pushing 90%. This man was lying in the grass, confused, dehydrated, and alone.

We gave him water and got him back to where he was supposed to be.

But the whole thing stuck with me — not because of what we did, but because of how easily it could have ended much worse.