Just when your day seems boring Amanda Martorelli, a sophomore nursing student in the College of Nursing, found this out when she least expected it—on July 4th, a day she was initially feeling anything but independent. With no time to overthink, she was called upon to put into practice everything she had been taught in order to save the life of a man for whom some thought it was already too late. Making it all the worse, she was on-call as an EMT for her local volunteer ambulance squad on Fourth of July weekend while all her friends were taking in the waves and sand of the Jersey shore.
I love being an EMT, but honestly, I never got to do the really exciting stuff. Most calls were for elderly people who had minor chest pains or trouble breathing. I have a big interest in trauma situations.
We have ongoing training for every possible scenario, but you never really get to do most of it. A year-old man was unconscious on Route His car had hit the divider. By the time Amanda and her team had arrived the man was blue, and the first responders had already attempted to resuscitate him using the AED pads on his chest. It suddenly occurred to Amanda that she may be dealing with her first fatality on the job. Nevertheless, they continued to attempt diagnosing a man who was alone and who could not and would not respond in an attempt to save his life.
A drug overdose? Amanda had only recently been certified to administer Narcan, a drug that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose. However, it would have no effect on a person who has not taken opioids, since there is no overdose to reverse.
She had never actually done it on a real person, but her crew chief decided to give her the opportunity. Normally, it should only take approximately five minutes to take effect if the diagnosis is correct. It was well past that.
