Page 30 of A Sudden Response

“Holy shit!” Greg gasped. “Weren’t they supposed to stop?”

“Yup,” Eric said, switching the sirens, letting the cars in front of him know that he needed them to move out of the way. “You’ll find that most people have enough common sense to move out of the way or stop at intersections so we can go, but there are others-”

“Assholes,” Teddy added, and for once, they were in complete agreement about something.

“-who will refuse to move out of the way or will rush through the intersection whether or not they had the green, and my personal favorite are the assholes who ride on our tail, hoping to use us to beat traffic.”

“Those are the ones who usually get hit,” Teddy pointed out.

“Seriously?” Greg asked.

“It usually happens when they try and follow an ambulance through an intersection,” Eric explained, pulling into the long driveway of Sunflower Home.

“That sucks,” Greg mumbled distractedly.

“Echo seventeen on scene,” Eric said into the mic as he pulled to a stop at the front entrance.

He shut the ambulance down and pulled the keys out. Some crews left the trucks running or the keys in the ignition. He’d be the first one to admit that he used to make that mistake until a really pissed-off patient stole an ambulance left running outside of an emergency room a few years ago.

The patient didn’t damage the ambulance, but she did have a hell of a time. Three hours later, the police found the ambulance parked behind an abandoned building with the crew’s lunch smeared all over the inside of the ambulance. Thankfully, no one had been hurt, but it could have easily gone the other way.

“What did you mean about all the falls being unwitnessed?” Greg asked when Eric opened the doors to the back of the ambulance.

“It usually means that whoever witnessed the fall or caused the injuries doesn’t want to get written up, so they usually report it as an unwitnessed fall,” Eric explained as he jumped into the back of the ambulance and loaded the stretcher with the backboard and the trauma bag.

“And they get away with that?” Greg asked in disgust.

“Every fucking time,” Teddy said, grabbing a handful of gloves to stuff in his pocket.

“Are we going to report them?” Greg asked.

“Can’t report them unless you have clear proof or you witnessed the incident,” Eric explained, hoping to calm the kid down.

“So, they get away with it?”

“No,” Eric said, shaking his head and wishing Joe was here. She usually answered these questions and did a hell of lot better job than he was doing. “You have to remember that not every injury is abuse, especially when you’re dealing with the elderlypopulation. A lot of the calls you get that claim the patient fell and no one was around are true. A lot of patients, young and old, are bullheaded and hate asking for help or get sick of waiting for help and try to do things on their own that they know they shouldn’t. So, don’t go jumping the gun and assuming abuse every time you get one of these calls.”

“But you said-”

“I know what I said,” Eric said, cutting him off. “The only thing that you can do is write down every detail of the call and that includes the scene and what the staff says. Don’t ever voice your opinion on a run sheet. That’s the fastest way to find yourself either fired or facing a lawsuit. Stick to the facts. It will not only cover your ass but provide your patient with evidence if they need it.”

“I hate to admit this, but he’s right,” Teddy said, helping Eric pull the stretcher out of the ambulance. “If you go around writing up staff members, you’re going to find your job a lot harder to do when the staff snubs you.”

“Just mind your own business, take care of the patient, and cover your ass and you should be fine,” Eric said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone, but judging by the nervous expression on Greg’s face, he’d fucking this up.

Actually, upon closer inspection, he noticed Greg was starting to look a little under the weather.

“You’re going to puke, aren’t you?” Eric asked, even as he pulled the stretcher out of the way. Teddy must have noticed the look on their third rider’s face because he quickly moved back.

“No, I’m not-oh, shit!” Greg said, covering his mouth and making a mad dash towards the bushes.

Eric and Teddy shared a look before they headed for the front door as he made a mental note to make the kid carry breath mints from now on.

CHAPTER 13

“What do you think you’re doing, young lady?”

Pasting a smile on her face, Joe turned around and tried not to wince under the glare that was being sent her way. She seriously wondered when that look would lose its effect on her. Probably never, she thought with an inward groan.

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