In the past two days I have done things I am definitely not used to doing. But I must say, I have gained a lot of respect for those that do it on a regular basis.
Once again today I worked a service car. It's actually quite odd to me to work an eight hour day...I don't think I'll ever get used to that. Today I actually only worked for eight hours...yesterday was ten. But anyway. I can't say this is something I would want to do all the time, but it is still rather interesting. I still hate the lift...I had a different vehicle today and the lift had a seat belt...well my thinking brain wasn't on and I couldn't figure out how to get the lift back up and folded....DUH the seat belt has to be secured. *sigh* They really need to dumb this down a notch for me or give me an ambulance.
Other than mass casualties and other atypical events, I'm only used to having one patient at a time in my rig. Even though I'm not providing actual patient care on the service car, it is definitely interesting when you have more than one patient in it at a time. Typically they end up ranting and raving for the majority of the ride and are not especially pleasant (at least not so far). I'm not sure why they will put two psych patients in one vehicle and expect them to behave appropriately. Today I felt rather like a school bus driver constantly having to look in the mirror making sure they were behaving and not throwing fists. It can also get confusing with multiple folders in a pile and making sure the right one goes with the right patient.
But I did get to go all over the place. I was on the far north side, the far south side, out west, and way the hell out of town southwest somewhere....it was in the middle of nowhere (they didn't even have a Starbucks!). I'm still quite amused with my dispatcher and I take every moment I can to confuse him or make him think. For example, he asked me what my location was when I was on the way to a call and I told him "I'm on LSD" He was like, "ummm....huh?" It seriously took him about five minutes to figure out what I was talking about.
I'm trying to find the positives in a crappy situation. I miss my partners like crazy. It's hard not having a partner all day. I especially don't like it when I have to drop someone off into a bad part of the city and I'm all alone. I know I'll appreciate being back to full duty and having someone to harass....and of course cursing at taxis and honking the horn just aren't as fun when you're by yourself.
The main thing I enjoyed today: listening to whatever radio station I wanted, having the windows down and enjoying the beautiful day, and looking at the lake and skyline and realizing how much I love it here. I also realized how much I don't truly appreciate my job and where I live...and I'm going to make it a point to stop and just observe more often.
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