Story 1

During my clinicals in EMT school I had been assigned to ride with Rescue 1 from station 1.
This would be my first ever ride along experience, so needless to say I was very nervous. But at the same time I was super excited. Well I got there and they all introduced themselves, (well most of them anyways) showed me the rescue, and then they went back to talking and I went to studying while waiting for a call.

Well, eventually the tones went off, and off we went. We were responding for a person having trouble breathing. Not very specific. On the way to the call I thought my heart was going to beat out my chest or that I was going to die. My mind was racing through all the things I had learned in the airway chapters and all the practical skills I had learned. I was a sweaty mess. Well, so we pull up to our patient's house and while the paramedic goes on in to do the initial assessment, the EMT and myself starting getting the stretcher, medical bag, and the monitor. When we get into the house we find out that the our patient had nothing more that the flu. Which don't get me wrong, I know he must have felt terrible. I know I feel terrible when I have the flu. But it is not an emergency. He was more or less just milking it.

Well we get our patient on the stretcher and get him on O2 and get him in the back of the rescue. Here's the funny part. The paramedic and I go to the side of the rescue to get in, with me in front of him. I then proceed to open what I believe to be the door to the inside of the rescue, and make a hand motion for him to go in while I hold the door for him. He looked at me, smiled, and opened up the actual door that gets you into the rescue. It took me all of 2 seconds to realize what had just happened and when I did, my face went beet red. He smugly said to me, "I'll go with this door." I had opened a supply door.

I laugh so hard whenever I think of this story. I don't think I will ever forget it.