You Know You Work Rural EMS When… (#12234)
June 25, 2010 | EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics | Ckemtp | 8 Comments

Today I overheard an ambulance service somewhere out in the sticks get dispatched to a “Car Vs. Pedestrian” on a rural backroad. This particular backroad is known to be a real rural speedway, where cars just fly down the road far from any prying eyes of the local traffic cops. Any vehicle/pedestrian interface on this road would be sure to be a real messy call and the rural ambulance service that got dispatched to the call made a pretty good turn-out time.

About ten minutes after dispatch, the county dispatcher came back over the radio and cancelled the response. Apparently the “Car Vs. Pedestrian” wasn’t Vs. a human pedestrian… it was a Car Vs. Deer. Sure, the deer was probably walking at the time it was hit, but even with as rural as this ambulance service is, they don’t handle veterenary emergencies.

To her credit, the dispatcher made sure to inform the ambulance crew that the “Patient has left the scene”.

Now, you may think that the rural dispatcher was just being cheeky and funny when she informed them that the deer scampered away. However, then you wouldn’t be in rural EMS. The dispatcher, who probably has known every crew member since Sunday School did the crew a favor by letting them know that the deer wasn’t there. Us rural folk know that fresh deer meat out of season is a rare delicacy and that the first person to get there gets the carcas.

I’m not incinuating anything… just sayin.

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  • Ambulance_Driver

    Hauled more than a few deer carcasses in body bags, strapped to the ambulance cot…

    …including a few that I shot while on duty.

    Gotta love rural EMS.

  • Aw, nuts, no deer jerky and deer steaks and…

  • Thehappymedic

    Aren't you and CK the ones who fish on post as well?

  • Hell yea I fish on post. I'm in Wisconsin and it's the law

  • Ambulance_Driver

    I've been known to wet a line while on duty, yes.

    And duck hunt.

    And squirrel hunt.

    Shoot deer with bows from the roof of the ambulance station…

    Prowl the local cemetery at night with flashlight and pellet gun, shooting rabbits…

  • Totwtytr

    It's not just rural. Well the part about taking the carcass home is. A few years ago one of units was sent for a pedestrian struck. The update was that it was a dog, not a human. The dispatcher actually had to think about it when the crew asked if that meant they were canceled. Really.

    OTOH, I know of two instances where are units were sent to assist the PD and Animal Control when animals had to be put down. One was a horse where the crew used all of their morphine and all of their valium to sedate the animal. The other was a deer that crashed through a window and had to be put down. That one was funny because both medics were hunters which spawned a lot of jokes. Management did not find my suggestion that one of them be sent home to get a rifle funny. Probably because it made way too much sense. Apparently the police in sort of big city are not authorized to shoot animals that are injured. Animal control is not armed and the state game wardens won't come into the city to do it. Which, as with every shit job that no one else wants, leaves EMS.

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  • Thanks for the report. That is very cool and definitely sustainable.

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  • Pascal

    Usually if an animal needs to be put down here the sheriff does it with a 40 cal. sedation.