Job Talk: May's Story

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Submitted by FF/EMT Richard (Ret.)

Back in the late 1990s, a non-emergency call came in to our engine crew to assist a nursing home in lifting a 500–600 pound patient. Upon arrival and entering the front doors of the facility, the three of us were greeted with “Where is the rest of the crew?" The captain said, "This is all you get." Receptionist says, "You three can't lift this guy." Captain replies "You are right, find us some men."

This engine crew consist of myself 5’5” 160 pounds, 5 years on shift and the smallest, a 25-year driver and a 28-year captain both much bigger than myself. As we enter the room I am standing between the other two, none of us say a word. This guy is HUGE!! I look left and up, I look right and up, looking for orders on what to do. I repeated this 2-3 times. Not a sound being made. I notice a medical bed in the room about 28-30 inches off the floor. I ask the nurse if this room belonged to the patient. She stated, "Yes."

I then asked if he was able to get out of bed by himself. Again, the answer was, "Yes." About this time two men entered the room, one was a cook, the other a janitor. I turn and tell the two that I wanted 2-3 mattresses. Go get them now! The two leave and the captain asks me what we are doing, I say, "We are cribbing him up, not lifting." Captain says okay. Patient is conscious and can help a tiny bit.

Mattresses arrive, roll him to right side, slide one mattress in place, roll him to left side, now two mattresses are under him. Slide medical bed into place, roll him back to right side and continue to place him in bed on his back. Now we rotate him 90 degrees, sit him up with his feet on the floor. We medically elevate him, no medical need needed from the engine crew. Call completed.

As the three of us are walking out of the facility, the captain turns to me and says, "You not only taught me something, but you showed the girls here that they could have done this by themselves." All I could say was, "None of us was going to get hurt by lifting this guy, and no one did get hurt!” Slow down and think is always better then to rush in and assume the only option is lifting all patients on the floor.

A little about the Hero:
"I was an auto mechanic before being hired as a firefighter. I'm also a 2nd generation firefighter and worked for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. I retired in 2016 after 25 years of service."