Report From Ladder Company 40 Disaster!!

April 25-May 1st, 2010   Days 217-223

Hi Team!

It was a long week and I didn't post this over the weekend because, well, I just didn't get to it.  It isn't like I haven't been busy or didn't need to rest!  In fact, I got sick Friday night.  Nothing too serious, just light headedness, nausea and generally feeling crummy!  All I wanted to do was crawl under a nice warm blanket and sleep... and I did!  In fact, I slept a lot this weekend.  Now I am feeling better.

Here are the grades for the week:

Rest and Relaxation: C+

PT:  C

Health:  B+

Study Hall:  B

Overall Grade:  B-

I did not have to study so hard this week, other than the intense studying at the beginning of the week for Wednesday's test.  Speaking of which, I aced the patient assessment practical for a medical patient (32/32) and I missed only one point on the patient assessment for a trauma patient (43/44) -luckily it was not a critical fail point!  I never once completed a trauma assessment without a critical fail in practice!  The written exam went extremely well.  I scored a 92 bumped to a 96 after class discussions.  What a relief to have that all behind me.  Well, sort of.  All of those skills will be put to the test and more in my very near future.  This class isn't over yet! 

I got my mid-term grade report too.  Here is how it looks:

Test Score:  92 (x 0.60) = 55.5
Quiz Score:  94.67 (x 0.05) = 4.733333
Attendance:  100 (x 0.20) = 20
Practical:  100 (x. 0.15) = 15

Mid Term Grade:  95.233333  = A

Grading Scale:

94%-100% = A
87%-93.99% = B
80%-86.99% = C
<80% = E

Another interesting thing happened this week.  I discovered that I was on television!  Remember the Housing Ceremony for Engine 10 I mentioned a while back?  Well, it seems it was filmed and used for an edition of "Behind the Shield" which is a program put out by our city on the municipal network (I guess... I don't watch television or get cable so I can't speak intelligently to this.)  Anyway, in the last part of the segment, it shows Engine 10 being "pushed" into the bay by firefighters and community members.  I am pushing on the passenger side bumper, but I am surrounded by tall people so you can't really see me.  Once the pushing stops however, the crowd around it starts to disperse and I can be seen backing away from the Engine.  Looking at it now, I cannot figure out why I was backing away but in anycase, I took several steps backward on local television and for that I owe my Battalion icecream!

You can copy and past the address below into your browser then check out the May 2010 edition.  It is approx. 13 minutes long.  (only if you are  so inclined. )

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cityoftacoma.org%2FPage.aspx%3Fhid%3D10045&h=aa1eb

On Saturday, the CERT teams from my town and a neighboring town got together for a joint drill in disaster management.  The setting was an abandoned middle school.  The scenario was a large scale earthquake occuring during school hours.  CERT teams were deployed to deal with the aftermath.  The drill was made as real as possible with good moulage (make up artistry of injuries) and even a smoke machine was brought in to simulate a fire.  I volunteered to be a victim for this drill.  My assignment was to play a walking wounded who was crying and scared but cooperative.  Boy can I cry!  I pretended to be very scared and I cried and cried until my left eye actually started leaking!  Later people told me they thought I sounded very realistic and one victim, who was supposed to be beligerent and uncooperative said my annoying crying was real enough to help him get into his role!  (I think he meant it as a compliment.  LOL)  I only fell out of character once when a rescuer asked me if I was warm enough.  The abandoned school was very cold inside and we were there for quite a while.  I was in triage when she inquired and it was so much warmer outside that I actually laughed.  Oops.

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.  (pictures follow)

  (My usual self)

  (Left wrist scrape)

(Right Wrist scrape and badly bruised or broken thumb)

  (Bruised jawbone, beginnings of a shiner)

(Bruises complete)

(Bruises complete, view two)

Other Victims  from minor injuries to major....









(If you can't handle, gore, DON'T LOOK ANY FURTHER!!)


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