It’s tough, sometimes gruesome work, but emergency team keeps stiff upper lip
Print Edition
The Minhang Emergency Center has won first prize in the Shanghai government’s evaluation of district first-aid services. Small wonder. The center has consistently won accolades for its professional services and emergency services teamwork.
How do they do it? Shanghai Daily decided to find out by spending a day with some of the staff at the center.
Many people underestimate the role of dispatchers, who are at the front line of emergency phone calls. Their job involves more than just picking up the phone.
“A dispatcher needs to have some medical knowledge, skills in telecommunication systems and a cool head to deal with the flood of emotions that accompany calls for help,” said Liu.
It’s not uncommon to find that some callers are too stressed to give out the basic information a medical response team needs, such as the nature of the emergency and an exact address. Liu said she often has to calm callers down to get that information.
“Sometimes callers are so panicked that they shout at me,” Liu said. “But I don’t take any offense. I try to remember how I might react in their situation.”
When a call first comes in, Liu asks for symptoms so she can help the caller administer some preliminary first aid if necessary. While she’s doing that, she also dispatches an ambulance. In the case of multiple callers for emergency, she has to ensure that everyone stays calm and there is no confusing duplication of responses.
“To us, time is life,” she said.
An emergency response team member for 14 years, Ding admits that his job is stressful, but he deflects family suggestions that he find less demanding work.
Ding said he hasn’t kept count of all the people he has saved from death. One recent case occurred two months ago.
The center received a call, saying that a woman had drowned under the Henglijing Bridge on Humin Road.
When he and emergency medical team arrived, they found the woman drifting in the water. They quickly calculated the current and where they needed to be to try to pull her out.
When the woman was finally hauled onto the bank, she had stopped breathing. Ding administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and revived her breathing. She was rushed to hospital, where she remained for two weeks before discharge.
“The case is actually routine in my work,” said Ding. “It leaves me with bittersweet feelings.”
Ding said the stress of the job may be affecting his own health. He suffers stomach problems because of irregular meals and from a lumbar disc hernia from hoisting patients onto gurneys.
“We have an extreme scarcity of emergency response doctors,” Ding said. “In busy months, we may handle up to 200 cases.”
Travails aside, Ding retains a strong sense of duty and responsibility that keep him going.
“Every time a patient is saved, I feel a sense of pride,” he said.
As an anesthesia student originally from Hunan Province, Jiang began working in emergency medical response when he was 19. He is now the director of the Hongqiao station of the Minhang Emergency Medical Center.
Jiang worked as a stretcher-bearer before obtaining his medical license.
“I think our job requires coping skills, quick reflexes, medical knowledge and a certain amount of psychological training,” said Jiang.
Emergency medical teams have to handle some pretty gruesome call-outs, such as serious car accidents and violent crime scenes.
“I remember once, when we were lifting an injured person into an ambulance, a bunch of thugs armed with weapons rushed towards us,” he said.
One case he remembers more clearly than others involved an injured cyclist in downtown Qingpu. Jiang administered first-aid and sent the injured man to hospital. Several days later, while was waiting a bus, he saw a missing person notice pinned on a street board. It was the injured cyclist. Jiang contacted the family and helped them find the man, who had been sent to a shelter after leaving hospital.
“It was a remarkable coincidence,” said Jiang. “But luck is always beautiful.”
Wu joined the Minhang Emergency Medical Center as an ambulance driver three years ago after leaving the army. This is no ordinary driving job. It requires fortitude and caution.
“When I receive a call, I need to figure out the fastest route to the scene,” he said. “Once there, I have to help the doctors if they need assistance with first-aid. Once the person is in the ambulance, I need to keep checking on his condition in a rear-review mirror.”
Wu said his workdays are always different and unpredictable. Last spring, his team received a call about a woman trying to commit suicide from a bridge on Lianhua Road. The woman had a deep cut on her wrist. When the doctor tried to administer first-aid at the scene, she became hysterical and jumped into the river from the bridge.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Wu jumped in after her. He managed to get her onto the riverbank, where she was transferred to an ambulance and rushed to hospital. Wu said he didn’t realize until later that he had injured his ankle in the rescue attempt.
“I’m the youngest on the team and the best swimmer,” he said.
“It was logical that I should be the one to try to save her.”
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