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A Hero By Any Other Name

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Just now, at 0430 in the freaking morning, I walked a little old lady to the bathroom, step by laborious step. It was a tedious, agonizingly slow, old-person shuffle, with numerous breaks to catch her breath, reassure her that we wouldn’t let her fall, and listen to her apologize ceaselessly for calling us when we surely had better things to do with our time, and sicker people than she in need of help.

And when we got there, I held her gown up while RP gently lowered her adult brief, and we ever-so-gently lowered her onto the toilet, and then politely stepped outside while she tended to business. Five minutes later, she summoned us back into the bathroom. Apparently, it was a no-joy in the turd hunt, and she again apologized profusely for the false alarm as we repeated the agonizingly slow shuffle back to bed.

Now, this wasn’t quite one of the intrepid acts of lifesaving they promised me way back in EMT school, and I’m reasonably certain our little old lady doesn’t appreciate my encyclopedic ACLS knowledge or the fact that I am an Airway Samurai.

But for an 87-year-old woman who feared she would have to poop on herself tonight, I looked pretty damned heroic nonetheless.

Hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Posted by Ambulance Driver on November 20, 2009 • Filed under: Uncategorized
  • Rachel
    You are a good good man AD.
  • Beaker
    I'll ride in your ambulance any day :) (either as patient or as partner)
  • love the blog. keep it up. by the way, i stole your line from a previous blog about us not saving lives and used it in a class at work. one question. did you get as many snarls and whines as i did?
  • Kathy
    I agree with Rachel, you ARE a good man!!
  • Linda
    As you mention the old folk shuffle, I think of my Mom who is 82 with altheimers. Thank God for you and you patience.
  • Old_NFO
    It was just as important to that little ol lady as an airway may be to the next patient... Ya done good :-)
  • Divemedic
    There is an old couple in my first due, they are frequent flyers, and have no family in the area. He is an insulin dependent diabetic, she has Alzheimer's. One night, she called 911 because hubby's blood sugar was down. We go there, got his sugar up, and then I stayed there and cooked them dinner from supplies that were in the kitchen. My partner was aggravated and said we should just go. Problem is, if we transported him, the wife would be left unsupervised. Gotta have a LITTLE compassion.
  • Geoffrey
    It's the little things that matter the most. And being there to allow her the dignity of not soiling herself (even if it was just a false alarm) is arguably more precious to her than any ALS you could perform. Good show.
  • You go right ahead and define hero one way and I'll go on defining it another. Heroism is in the eye of the beholder as you so (extremely well) pointedly proved here.

    Heroes don't sit back and think about what heroic act they can commit today and the accolades they'll receive, they just get on with the doing of what's needs done.

    thank you for being a hero.
  • theflyingmonkey
    In light of the three funerals and one memorial service I attended this week for my friends killed last week I've been thinking a lot about heroes and what makes a person one and here's what I came up with:
    A hero is someone who gives of themselves freely without any expectation of accolade or even acknowledgement. They give their time, their restful night's sleep, their warmth, their money, their sanity, and sometimes their lives.
    While escorting an old lady to the bathroom is by no means glamorous, it's certainly heroic. Especially if you're that old lady.
  • workinwifdakids
    "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
  • theflyingmonkey
    Amen, and Amen.
  • I always appreciate those people who have been in EMS for as long as I've been alive (sorry..) and still have compassion like that. Its a rare find... and helps keep a lot of us going. I hope RP appreciates it as well
  • Yes, you are a good man indeed. God bless you for that kind deed. :-)
  • I will bookmark and continue reading your blog in the future! Thanks alot for the informative post!

    Thanks
    jenny martin
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