lifa-cobex
Member
I work in funeral care and decided to cover the ambulance side of things over Christmas during the days.
Three days (Sat, Sun and Monday)
12 hour shifts (10am till 10pm).
I've worked the ambulance side of things a couple of times to cover for people but I mainly do the funeral side. However I thought I would give folks with kids a break and it helps top up my bank account.
Rant start.
I don't really recall Saturday aside from it being really long. Me and my partner had four callouts during the day. The last callout taking a really long time. I didn't get home until about 12.
I just mostly recall being shattered and hoping the next two days weren't going to be as hard work.
(Don't read on if you don't like reading about gore/blood or such)
Sunday.
We had two call outs. The first was for an elderly gent. Real nice family and all very straight forward. It was somewhat emotional though. However it was very straight forward but a hour or so drive to the residence and then back again.
The second was later in the evening. We arrived to a bit of a rough area to where I live. The home was very rough and a smell instantly hit you as you walked through the door. A very large family and friends were gathered in the kitchen.
My partner was talking to them as I talked to the police officers outside. He had warned me it was very gruesome upstairs where he was resting. They wanted to place him in a better position but didn't have the stomach for it. I remember thinking that wasn't a good sign.
I walked into the bedroom to the deceased sat on his bed but slumped over. Opposite him was an open window that was absolutely dripping in blood. It was all over the window, the window sill and down the walls.
He himself was covered too.
He was yellow skinned and stank of urine and faeces.
We worked out that he was an alcoholic that had gone to throw up out the window but had ruptured something internal in the process.
My partner went to clean the blood off as I was trying to position him ready to be transferred onto the trolley. Unfortunately as I was shifting him. He had purged and made a mess.
One of the officers bolted downstairs. The second stayed and gloved up. (Absolute legend).
Eventually we transferred him onto the trolley and attempted to our absolute best to bring him downstairs. The corridors and stair case was so small. It was an absolute mission that took all my strength. The officer couldn't help as their simply wasn't enough room for him to
maneuver around to give us a hand.
Needless to say that we were absolutely mentally and physically fucked after this.
The family were in tears (understandably) in tears the entire time so we were doing our best to reassure them.
Monday (Today)
Yay Christmas.
We had four callouts again throughout the day.
To start we had a 27 year old that had clearly decided to party to hard the night before.
Again it was a very rough home. Various family members from all parts had gathered. The place absolutely stank of weed to the point of making me feel sick. I don't mind weed at all but that was way too much.
The two officers turned a blind eye to it I guess given the circumstance. The paramedic was also still on the scene too.
This one was an absolute nightmare. Everybody was either screaming, shouting or crying into hysterics.
Various neighbours kept coming over to claim that they could calm everybody down. Basically being fucking noisy and wanting in on the drama.
One of the brothers had asked if the family could say one last goodbye before we took him away to which we agreed. We positioned him as peacefully looking as we could and cleaned up his face. He was bleeding from his noes and teeth.
However rigor mortis had set in so it proved to be quite challenging.
After we had set everything up, we explained that we would be waiting in our van to when they were ready for us to proceed and take him away.
After 20 or so mins had gone by. A family member would come out to explain that another family member wanted to see him for one last time and could we wait longer for them to arrive.
Obviously this is fine but other calls were coming through as we waited. It's very difficult as you want to give the family all the time in the world but other family's are also waiting.
An hour had passed by this point and we had two other pickups waiting. Eventfully everyone had said their goodbyes and we had permission to take him away.
We were in a bit of a mad dash after this. However the next to were in retirement homes and were very straight forward. Having said that we were absolutely broken. Too many tears and too much lifting. We were at the end of our rope.
The last callout seemed like it was also going to be pretty standard. Another retainment home and by this point it should have been our last one of the night.
The guy was 66 years old and over 30 stone (420 pounds).
His two sons were really great. They could see the difficulty we were going to have and wanted to help. The pair of the were obviously hitting the gym pretty regularly.
Myself, my partner, the two sons and a nurse all successfully lifter him into the trolley and took him up to the van.
(A quick side note about these trolleys. Underneath a pair of legs with wheels on each corner. You can pull a handle underneath the bed of the trolley to release the locks that allow the legs to lower the bed to ground lever. When you are placing the trolley onto the van,
You have to take the weight of the bed with the deceased in order the for it to slide into the van whilst pulling the handle for the legs to unlock.
That's the best I can describe it. I'm slightly drunk.)
The two sons and myself braced the weight so we could do this. We had got him half way through the van until It was unsuccessful as he was too big. We had to make adjustment in the van in order to make room.
As we brought him back out of the van. The legs of the trolley failed to release and the deceased fell onto the ground and rolled onto his front.
This fucking moment was what it took to snap me. I was absolutely horrified and broken beyond repair. I don't even like typing this but I feel I've just got to shear.
Their was other moments throughout this three day fun filled adventure.
One of the deceased started bleeding in the mortuary.
Not having the correct equipment.
Pissed up people jumping out in front of the van whilst on rout to.
That was my weekend,
cheerio!
Sleep well Gaf,
I won't be.
Three days (Sat, Sun and Monday)
12 hour shifts (10am till 10pm).
I've worked the ambulance side of things a couple of times to cover for people but I mainly do the funeral side. However I thought I would give folks with kids a break and it helps top up my bank account.
Rant start.
I don't really recall Saturday aside from it being really long. Me and my partner had four callouts during the day. The last callout taking a really long time. I didn't get home until about 12.
I just mostly recall being shattered and hoping the next two days weren't going to be as hard work.
(Don't read on if you don't like reading about gore/blood or such)
Sunday.
We had two call outs. The first was for an elderly gent. Real nice family and all very straight forward. It was somewhat emotional though. However it was very straight forward but a hour or so drive to the residence and then back again.
The second was later in the evening. We arrived to a bit of a rough area to where I live. The home was very rough and a smell instantly hit you as you walked through the door. A very large family and friends were gathered in the kitchen.
My partner was talking to them as I talked to the police officers outside. He had warned me it was very gruesome upstairs where he was resting. They wanted to place him in a better position but didn't have the stomach for it. I remember thinking that wasn't a good sign.
I walked into the bedroom to the deceased sat on his bed but slumped over. Opposite him was an open window that was absolutely dripping in blood. It was all over the window, the window sill and down the walls.
He himself was covered too.
He was yellow skinned and stank of urine and faeces.
We worked out that he was an alcoholic that had gone to throw up out the window but had ruptured something internal in the process.
My partner went to clean the blood off as I was trying to position him ready to be transferred onto the trolley. Unfortunately as I was shifting him. He had purged and made a mess.
One of the officers bolted downstairs. The second stayed and gloved up. (Absolute legend).
Eventually we transferred him onto the trolley and attempted to our absolute best to bring him downstairs. The corridors and stair case was so small. It was an absolute mission that took all my strength. The officer couldn't help as their simply wasn't enough room for him to
maneuver around to give us a hand.
Needless to say that we were absolutely mentally and physically fucked after this.
The family were in tears (understandably) in tears the entire time so we were doing our best to reassure them.
Monday (Today)
Yay Christmas.
We had four callouts again throughout the day.
To start we had a 27 year old that had clearly decided to party to hard the night before.
Again it was a very rough home. Various family members from all parts had gathered. The place absolutely stank of weed to the point of making me feel sick. I don't mind weed at all but that was way too much.
The two officers turned a blind eye to it I guess given the circumstance. The paramedic was also still on the scene too.
This one was an absolute nightmare. Everybody was either screaming, shouting or crying into hysterics.
Various neighbours kept coming over to claim that they could calm everybody down. Basically being fucking noisy and wanting in on the drama.
One of the brothers had asked if the family could say one last goodbye before we took him away to which we agreed. We positioned him as peacefully looking as we could and cleaned up his face. He was bleeding from his noes and teeth.
However rigor mortis had set in so it proved to be quite challenging.
After we had set everything up, we explained that we would be waiting in our van to when they were ready for us to proceed and take him away.
After 20 or so mins had gone by. A family member would come out to explain that another family member wanted to see him for one last time and could we wait longer for them to arrive.
Obviously this is fine but other calls were coming through as we waited. It's very difficult as you want to give the family all the time in the world but other family's are also waiting.
An hour had passed by this point and we had two other pickups waiting. Eventfully everyone had said their goodbyes and we had permission to take him away.
We were in a bit of a mad dash after this. However the next to were in retirement homes and were very straight forward. Having said that we were absolutely broken. Too many tears and too much lifting. We were at the end of our rope.
The last callout seemed like it was also going to be pretty standard. Another retainment home and by this point it should have been our last one of the night.
The guy was 66 years old and over 30 stone (420 pounds).
His two sons were really great. They could see the difficulty we were going to have and wanted to help. The pair of the were obviously hitting the gym pretty regularly.
Myself, my partner, the two sons and a nurse all successfully lifter him into the trolley and took him up to the van.
(A quick side note about these trolleys. Underneath a pair of legs with wheels on each corner. You can pull a handle underneath the bed of the trolley to release the locks that allow the legs to lower the bed to ground lever. When you are placing the trolley onto the van,
You have to take the weight of the bed with the deceased in order the for it to slide into the van whilst pulling the handle for the legs to unlock.
That's the best I can describe it. I'm slightly drunk.)
The two sons and myself braced the weight so we could do this. We had got him half way through the van until It was unsuccessful as he was too big. We had to make adjustment in the van in order to make room.
As we brought him back out of the van. The legs of the trolley failed to release and the deceased fell onto the ground and rolled onto his front.
This fucking moment was what it took to snap me. I was absolutely horrified and broken beyond repair. I don't even like typing this but I feel I've just got to shear.
Their was other moments throughout this three day fun filled adventure.
One of the deceased started bleeding in the mortuary.
Not having the correct equipment.
Pissed up people jumping out in front of the van whilst on rout to.
That was my weekend,
cheerio!
Sleep well Gaf,
I won't be.
