Here's a big hint. If you need people quick. And I wouldn't do it if it wasn't true. Anaphylactic reactions at the ER seem to get lots of people to help quick.
When I was a kid we were on a first name basis with the EMTs.
@MrMark true. That does. Being pregnant and in an accident even faster. But going in with someone in anaphylactic shock gets all kinds of people quick.
Twice. Once when I was hit by a car at age ten. And again in my mid-twenties when I had kidney stones. I thought I was dying. (Not literally, but I'd never felt as horrible as that before.)
Once. Broken Tib-Fib during a soccer practice in 8th grade. A slide tackle from a friend twice my size took me out. Casts suck - 7 months with a coat hanger trying to find that itch.
Also twice. I was stuck in a moving escalator when I was ten. Then in 1992 we rode to the hospital in the same ambulance as the drunk driver that hit our car.
I got to take a ride in January when I superman'd off my motorcycle. Safety glass in a turn + pothole are not a good mix. I had to replace some gear, and had a pretty wicked concussion but my damage was pretty minor - wish I could have said the same about the bike.
Everyone in the ER practically refused to believe my fiance when she told them it was a motorcycle accident. The nurses and doctors kept asking if her if she was really sure. She was - she had the pics to prove it.
I've been in a mostly complete ambulance many many times. It was significantly modified for use as a museum exhibit at a local "Hands On" science museum. In addition to adding ramps and making it easier to walk through, it seems the museum staff removed all of the messy bits, like the engine and transmission. Some years the flashing lights worked, some years they didn't. I think they may have annoyed the staff and volunteers.
A 3 year old with a vivid imagination and a steering wheel, doesn't need a motor under the hood to rush to the imaginary emergency. Likewise, a 3 year old emergency medical technician doesn't need to open the compartments with the medical supplies in order to use them on their patient. As an adult who was willing to lay down in the back of the ambulance, and get wrapped with imaginary bandages, I was frequently a patient.
Museum memberships are great when you have small children. I've never been in an ambulance with a functional siren.
With broken bones, sever ankle sprains, full blown appendicitis, pneumonia, and general ability to rack up scars - you'd think my number of ambulance rides would be higher than 1. That one was from the story where my dumb ass ricocheted off of an office chair and into a chandelier.
Twice, but I wish it had been for myself. Our 8 year old had febrile seizures from 18 months until he was 6. Only they were atypical, each one was very different from the last. He died with the first one. The one time a neighbor asked us to go with her to the zoo with her family and he ends up purple and with zero vitals in the back seat of her van. Luckily an RN was in the lot and came and assisted. Within about a minute he was back. But we never got invited back to the zoo. I drove my own ass to the hospital when I had my embolism. Maybe not the best thing.
Once. The hospital whose ER I'd gone to wasn't equipped to diagnose/treat lung lesions so I got transported to a larger hospital. While still in the larger hospital, I received a questionnaire regarding my treatment/ambulance ride from the original hospital. Interestingly enough the mailing address was PO Box 911. 🚑 ☺
Once after a motorcycle vs left-turning car. First thought: "That's cool. There are fluorescent lights in this ambulance... Wait. I'M IN AN AMBULANCE!!"
This was back in 2007, two of my friends and I saw the original 300 movie opening night at midnight. We were driving back home on the freeway at about 3:30am, talking about the movie and having a good time. Now my friend who was driving had a horrible habit of wanting to look at you when he talked to you while he was driving.
I'm in the back behind the passenger seat and I had just put my seatbelt shoulder strap behind my back, turned sideways and put my feet up on the other seat. All of a sudden my friend sitting in the passenger seat starts yelling "look out, look out!" I turn just in time to see a car completely stopped in the middle of the freeway not very far in front of us and we were going about 85mph since there were no other cars on the road. My friend also happened to be driving a Four Runner, so when he spun the wheel hard to the right to avoid the car we started to tip, he spun it the other way to correct and overcorrected. We ended up flipping and rolling across 4 lanes of traffic to end up upside-down in the breakdown lane on the right side.
All of the glass in the car was gone, the roof was crushed, it was a mess. Basically it looked like a car that had just rolled at 80mph 5 or 6 times. My friend and I got out pretty quick and pulled our other friend out, he's bleeding from his head a little bit so we call 911 and an ambulance shows up pretty quickly.
Pro tip: if you need an ambulance ride and they ask you if you have insurance DO NOT SAY "I don't know". That caused them to take us to the nearest downtown LA hospital, which was also the sketchiest hospital I've ever seen. My friend ended up needing a handful of stitches in his head but other than that, we were all miraculously okay. Later we had to pick up some stuff from his car (he left his keys in the ignition) and I took a bunch of pictures because it was crazy to me that we walked away from a car that was basically totaled.
Oh, and he was charged $1,500 for that 2 mile ambulance ride. "Luckily" the hospital was shut down before he was able to pay his bill.
TL;DR: flipped car a bunch of times @ 80mph, friend hurt his head, rode in ambulance to a sketchy hospital that was shut down a few weeks later, we should have died, didn't die.
First: My friend flipped his brother's pickup truck with me in it. 3 rolls and an endo. Walked away with minor scratches, but spent some time in the ambulance while they checked us out. Second: Wifey and I almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Ambulanced to the ER for O2. Lived!
tl;dr Twice. Always slow down before curves in the road and make sure your CO detectors are installed properly and working.
Three times I think. Once as a kid when my mom started hyperventilating on the freeway (luckily she had just enough sense to pull over). Twice more recently because my dad is a stroke patient.
Opening shot: I was dressed in a 9-1-1 red ball costume and they called the ambulance because I was choking on a candy cane.
@mcanavino… what the hell is a "9-1-1 red ball costume"???
@haydesigner Just a giant red ball with "9-1-1" printed on it. My city had recently got 911 service and i was helping the police promote it.
@mcanavino i hope they knew what number to dial.
My brother has had two free helicopter rides thanks to air ambulance service. Not a family record I want to beat
@saodell free? Does he live in Canada?
Here's a big hint. If you need people quick. And I wouldn't do it if it wasn't true. Anaphylactic reactions at the ER seem to get lots of people to help quick.
When I was a kid we were on a first name basis with the EMTs.
@sohmageek Being pregnant is one that gets you in real quick too.
@MrMark true. That does. Being pregnant and in an accident even faster. But going in with someone in anaphylactic shock gets all kinds of people quick.
@sohmageek So does chest pains.
@Pavlov I knew this was familiar:
As an EMT who has to get up in 7 hours for a 14 hour shift. I like Rescue knives but I like https://www.leatherman.com/raptor-51.html way better.
Twice. Once when I was hit by a car at age ten. And again in my mid-twenties when I had kidney stones. I thought I was dying. (Not literally, but I'd never felt as horrible as that before.)
Once. Broken Tib-Fib during a soccer practice in 8th grade. A slide tackle from a friend twice my size took me out. Casts suck - 7 months with a coat hanger trying to find that itch.
Also twice. I was stuck in a moving escalator when I was ten. Then in 1992 we rode to the hospital in the same ambulance as the drunk driver that hit our car.
Only 4 times ...... the 5th time I went to the hospital they ran out of rigs and took me in a Police squad.
I got to take a ride in January when I superman'd off my motorcycle. Safety glass in a turn + pothole are not a good mix. I had to replace some gear, and had a pretty wicked concussion but my damage was pretty minor - wish I could have said the same about the bike.
Everyone in the ER practically refused to believe my fiance when she told them it was a motorcycle accident. The nurses and doctors kept asking if her if she was really sure. She was - she had the pics to prove it.
I've been in a mostly complete ambulance many many times. It was significantly modified for use as a museum exhibit at a local "Hands On" science museum. In addition to adding ramps and making it easier to walk through, it seems the museum staff removed all of the messy bits, like the engine and transmission. Some years the flashing lights worked, some years they didn't. I think they may have annoyed the staff and volunteers.
A 3 year old with a vivid imagination and a steering wheel, doesn't need a motor under the hood to rush to the imaginary emergency. Likewise, a 3 year old emergency medical technician doesn't need to open the compartments with the medical supplies in order to use them on their patient. As an adult who was willing to lay down in the back of the ambulance, and get wrapped with imaginary bandages, I was frequently a patient.
Museum memberships are great when you have small children. I've never been in an ambulance with a functional siren.
The "0" people should be happy.
@mfladd and richer.... a ride in that fancy van is like $1200.
With broken bones, sever ankle sprains, full blown appendicitis, pneumonia, and general ability to rack up scars - you'd think my number of ambulance rides would be higher than 1.
That one was from the story where my dumb ass ricocheted off of an office chair and into a chandelier.
@Thumperchick oh wow. Chandelier... really? It wasn't suspended from a high ceiling?
@Thumperchick yeah, you're gonna have to make with the story. You can't just leave it at that.
@jimmyd103 @JonT - Oh, I've told this one already... I couldn't find it last night to link it. Sleepy google-fu is not great.
@Thumperchick Ouch! At least you were just a kid. If that happened at my age now. ...hospitalized. Having it on tape for posterity is a BONUS
Twice. Once when I broke & dislocated my ankle on a pair of Heelys and again when I fell off a ~50-75ft cliff along the north shore of Lake Superior.
@SpenceMan01 heely's... hah! Mediocre HQ is the former corporate office of heelys.
ER twice but never by ambulance
Twice, but I wish it had been for myself. Our 8 year old had febrile seizures from 18 months until he was 6. Only they were atypical, each one was very different from the last. He died with the first one. The one time a neighbor asked us to go with her to the zoo with her family and he ends up purple and with zero vitals in the back seat of her van. Luckily an RN was in the lot and came and assisted. Within about a minute he was back. But we never got invited back to the zoo.
I drove my own ass to the hospital when I had my embolism. Maybe not the best thing.
Once. The hospital whose ER I'd gone to wasn't equipped to diagnose/treat lung lesions so I got transported to a larger hospital. While still in the larger hospital, I received a questionnaire regarding my treatment/ambulance ride from the original hospital. Interestingly enough the mailing address was PO Box 911. 🚑 ☺
Thankfully zero. But my brother was a paramedic and the stories I have heard..... i only wish I could un-remember some of them.
my eye hurts
Shattered spine, kidney stones, broken ribs/radius, gall bladder, ACL, temporary blindness from MS....fun times!!!
@bbblooze You win.
Once after a motorcycle vs left-turning car. First thought: "That's cool. There are fluorescent lights in this ambulance... Wait. I'M IN AN AMBULANCE!!"
Three times in an ER for myself, but never by ambulance.
It was in a 4th of July parade, and we were throwing candy to the crowd out the back door.
I've only taken one and it wasn't really for me.
This was back in 2007, two of my friends and I saw the original 300 movie opening night at midnight. We were driving back home on the freeway at about 3:30am, talking about the movie and having a good time. Now my friend who was driving had a horrible habit of wanting to look at you when he talked to you while he was driving.
I'm in the back behind the passenger seat and I had just put my seatbelt shoulder strap behind my back, turned sideways and put my feet up on the other seat. All of a sudden my friend sitting in the passenger seat starts yelling "look out, look out!" I turn just in time to see a car completely stopped in the middle of the freeway not very far in front of us and we were going about 85mph since there were no other cars on the road. My friend also happened to be driving a Four Runner, so when he spun the wheel hard to the right to avoid the car we started to tip, he spun it the other way to correct and overcorrected. We ended up flipping and rolling across 4 lanes of traffic to end up upside-down in the breakdown lane on the right side.
All of the glass in the car was gone, the roof was crushed, it was a mess. Basically it looked like a car that had just rolled at 80mph 5 or 6 times. My friend and I got out pretty quick and pulled our other friend out, he's bleeding from his head a little bit so we call 911 and an ambulance shows up pretty quickly.
Pro tip: if you need an ambulance ride and they ask you if you have insurance DO NOT SAY "I don't know". That caused them to take us to the nearest downtown LA hospital, which was also the sketchiest hospital I've ever seen. My friend ended up needing a handful of stitches in his head but other than that, we were all miraculously okay. Later we had to pick up some stuff from his car (he left his keys in the ignition) and I took a bunch of pictures because it was crazy to me that we walked away from a car that was basically totaled.
Oh, and he was charged $1,500 for that 2 mile ambulance ride. "Luckily" the hospital was shut down before he was able to pay his bill.
TL;DR: flipped car a bunch of times @ 80mph, friend hurt his head, rode in ambulance to a sketchy hospital that was shut down a few weeks later, we should have died, didn't die.
Twice for me.
First: My friend flipped his brother's pickup truck with me in it. 3 rolls and an endo. Walked away with minor scratches, but spent some time in the ambulance while they checked us out.
Second: Wifey and I almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Ambulanced to the ER for O2. Lived!
tl;dr Twice. Always slow down before curves in the road and make sure your CO detectors are installed properly and working.
Three times I think. Once as a kid when my mom started hyperventilating on the freeway (luckily she had just enough sense to pull over). Twice more recently because my dad is a stroke patient.