A busy day off - Andover Rescue call, Lakes Region dispatch and fire dept visits

Today was great despite the rainy weather, and reminded me how worth it the process of proposing my project was back in the late fall. Somehow I slept through both my roommates waking up for class and was woken up around 8:30 when my pager went off for a call. I changed and was leaving the dorm when Jason, my project sponsor, called me on my Blackberry. He was working at Proctor that day so we could carpool to the call. He was in his truck and picked me up in front of my dorm. We lit it up and turned on the siren and headed across town to get the ambulance. Along the way his siren was very helpful because of a lot of traffic on route 11 and construction work. We made it to the ambulance quickly and met up with Evan. Greg pulled in (Franklin C shift FF/EMT - I) in his truck and we headed back across town to the call, for a diabetic problem delta level, at an address close to Wilmot. On the way over I realized it was an all Proctor student/alumni crew. Jason and Greg both graduated in 2000. We got to the scene and I jumped into helping Greg with patient care. I carried in the monitor and set up a 4 lead EKG. Then I got the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope out of the In bag and took a BP. This is called a manual BP (blood pressure).  We used the stair chair to get the patient to the cot, then into the ambulance. It was a tricky maneuver getting the patient from the chair to the cot because of his mental status but we got it done slowly and safely. Once in the ambulance I applied the pulse oximetry sensor to the patient's finger then the blood pressure cuff to get a BP from the monitor (the cardiac monitor inflates the cuff and does all the work) I was pleased to find that it was very close to my manual BP. Greg showed me how program the monitor to take BPs at intervals so you don't have to time them personally. It was a little complicated so when I'm on shift tomorrow I'm going to ask one of the guys to show me again. On the way back from the hospital we stopped at the New London Fire Department, whose station is one of the nicest in New Hampshire. One of the greatest things about the fire service is that the service as a whole is a brotherhood, so we were welcomed there and they showed us around. Greg had never seen the station before. We all slid down the fire pole during the tour. After the call Evan and I met up at the Andover fire station and called Lakes Region to see if we could stop by. We ate lunch in the D hall then went to Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid in Laconia to meet Lieutenant Parker in Evan's truck. He showed us how their system works and how they tone departments, after they get the information from 911 (where I visited last week). On the way back we decided to stop at Laconia Fire Department central station, where a friend of ours, Brad, works. (Brad is a professional FF/Medic in Laconia, and volunteers in Andover in his spare time) Unfortunately he wasn't on duty but we got a tour from a probie of the equipment. They are the real deal. The first due ambulance there is the busiest ambulance in the state of New Hampshire. After that Evan and I headed back to Proctor stopping at Hannafords so I could buy food because I am on duty at Franklin tomorrow and its my turn to cook the shift dinner! I hope I don't screw up. Shout out to my roommate Mansfield.