Page 67 of Five Alarm Love
“Get the KED,” Mav said, sending Hunter to the ambulance.The KED, the Kendrick Extraction Device, was the semi-rigid upper body and neck brace that allowed for safe removal of a patient from a seated position to the backboard on the gurney.
Hunter ran back with the device.
The victim moaned as they worked the KED between his back and legs and the seat.Despite temps in the fifties, in the enclosed stuffy space, Lou had to duck her chin to wipe sweat on her shirt.
“Need help?”Tuli asked, taking off his helmet and peering into the vehicle.
“Sure.”
She scooted forward as he wormed in behind her through the back door.Then he removed the passenger headrest, draped himself over the seat, and slithered a hand forward to reach a lever.He then lowered the passenger seat.“There.Much more room.Luxurious.”He glanced at her with a rakish wink that triggered a warm flush of her skin.
Hunter added a helping pair of hands next to Mav.They moved the front seat back, making space between the steering wheel and the victim.With the access Tuli had gained on the passenger side, all three of them secured the patient into the KED.By the time they finished, Lou’s back ached from the awkward angle where she maintained control of the patient’s neck.
One quick check of the equipment before getting the guy out, and then Mav nodded.“Good enough.”He looked at Lou, reached up, and said, “I’ve got C-spine.”
“You’ve got C-spine,” Lou answered as she slid her hands away and scooted herself out of the car.Pushing the gurney as close as possible, she then extended the backboard from the gurney to the car seat.
With a few careful, coordinated lifts and pushes, they had the unconscious patient seated sideways on the end of the backboard.In another maneuver, the four of them lowered the patient to the backboard and then eased him up the board and onto the gurney, all with a minimum of movement to his neck and back.
The man moaned softly but gave no more cooperation than that.Had they been here minutes?Hours?Time meant nothing and yet everything in these situations.
All of them quickly removed the KED so that the patient lay flat on top of the backboard.They secured him with straps to the backboard and gurney and then placed padded bolsters around the neck and taped everything securely in place.
Tuli and Hunter dropped off their helmets and jackets on the back of the truck and then returned to help further.
Lou reassessed the man.
Lungs clear, heart rate rapid.She quickly ran a new set of vitals.Blood pressure 80/40 and saturation was only 90% despite supplemental oxygen.Time to go.Now.The man’s left leg was shorter than the right and internally rotated.“Looks like left hip fracture,” she said.
“Likely chest wall trauma, based on where the steering wheel hit him,” Mav said.“He’s satting slightly better on ten liters of oxygen, but it’s not great.I’m not going to do a full exam out here.He’s protecting his airway and responded to my voice, so I don’t need to intubate him.Doesn’t look like I need to do a needle decompression right this minute.Leave any of that for the ER.This guy needs a hospital with a doctor, some nurses, and a scanner.”
One day, Lou would have the training to perform those advanced paramedic skills like Mav.This situation made her want to study even harder.She pressed her hands to her tight lower back before grabbing the gurney.
“I’ve got it, Louise,” Hunter said.
“Not arguing.”She followed behind the gurney to the ambulance.
“You okay?”Tuli came up beside her, thick hair standing up in strange directions.Yet somehow it made him look even more handsome.
She couldn’t help leaning toward him.“Great work getting that car opened up.”
“Literally our job.”He glanced at her.“That’s not the answer to my question.Did you tweak your back?”
“I’m fine.”
He grumped, “Again, not an answer.”They moved to the driver’s side of the ambulance.
Mav and Hunter secured the gurney.Hunter closed the back doors with Mav inside.
Tuli asked, “Hey, Lou.Are we still good?Us.Together.With your condition and all?I mean, I’m fine with everything.”
Lou froze.There were onlookers.
Sure, the bystanders were a distance away, and no one had heard him.
Except for Hunter, who stuck his head out from around the back of the ambulance.
His face shifted into an avid grin.“What condition?”Hunter’s eyes narrowed as he darted a glance between Lou and Tuli.“You have a condition?That doesn’t sound good.Your parents know about this?”
