Seeking Relief

Racing Against Time

Jake jumps out of the ambulance. He runs to the door to the apartment the dispatcher directed them to. There are 2 officers there already, they broke the door down. He dashed through the doorway with the officers. Right there, in the living room floor just inside the door of a small apartment, is a young woman laying on the floor. Her neighbors walking by with their dog, saw her through her patio doors. They knew immediately something was wrong and called 911.

Jake did a fast precursory evaluation. Pill bottles opened and laying on the table next to the couch. A quick glance up, he saw through the open floor plan, the bottles of alcohol on the counter. Dried tears streaked her cheeks and there was a small amount of vomit on the floor by her mouth. Even with a little vomit on her chin and cheek, Jake could see that she was a beautiful woman with classic looks. She wasn’t one of supermodel beauty that followed societal standards, but a beauty that would be carried gracefully as she aged.

As Jake checked her pulse and vitals, he wondered what would drive her to do this to herself. Using the name the couple gave the dispatch, that the dispatch then relayed, he tried to revive her. He put his hand on her neck checking the heartbeat in her artery.

“Jade?! Jade, can you hear me?” He rubbed his knuckles hard across her sternum. No reaction. He put his fingers back on her neck. 

Weak pulse. With drug overdose and possibly alcohol overdose.

shit.

He started administering CPR.

As they loaded her onto the stretcher, with a breathing mask, and starting an IV for her, Jake barked at one of the officers. He told his friend, Mitch, to grab her med bottles, names of the alcohol she took, and to text him the names of everything that is suspected that she took.

“Then meet us at the hospital.”

He and his EMT shift partner, dashed out with her, loaded her into the ambulance and immediately made their way to the hospital.

Jake sat in the back still administering CPR and attending to her vitals while Emmett drove the 5 minutes to the hospital. It felt like an hour to Jake. For some reason, this hit him harder than the usual. Something was very off about this. The dispatcher came across the radio. Mitch had informed the team of what possible meds and alcohol she’s taken, the ER team has been informed and are waiting for her. Sounds like acetaminophen and alcohol overdose, with a few schedule II painkillers.

God. Girl, what happened to you? Why did you do this to yourself? Jake agonized.

When they reached the hospital, the ambulance’s doors were thrown open. Emmett hopped up and grabbed the foot end of the stretcher. Like the well oiled team that they are, they ran the stretcher into the emergency department, barking information to the nurses, passing on important information. Mitch was also there running alongside the hospital staff passing information. Usually Mitch gives it to a couple nurses off to the side then leaves, and lets them handle it. Apparently, something about their Jade tonight doesn’t sit quite right either. Their Jade. He shook his head of that thought. He’ll give it time later when seconds aren’t precious right now.

They wheeled Jade’s stretcher into a trauma bay. Jake and Emmett like many times before, grabbed hold of the sheet under her, and with the count, worked with the other staff to move Jade to a hospital bed. He and Emmett backed out of the way to let the doctors and nurses do their job. Emmett wheeled the stretcher out of the way. With a sigh of relief, he caught sight of Adam amongst the doctors attending Jade. Adam was a doctor he, Emmett, and Mitch greatly admired. They’ve frequently gotten together outside of the hospital to unwind. He knew Adam was on call tonight, but wasn’t sure if he’d be the one attending the patient they brought in. Jake stood next to the nurse’s station with his arms limp at his sides. He should move and follow Emmett. He should get on with his night. But he couldn’t move. His feet were frozen to the ground as he watched the staff cut through her clothes and rip them off her body. He watched as a pair of nurses took care of her air and CPR. They paused while they pumped her stomach. He watched them take blood and get fluids in the IV that was started while he and Emmett were with her. During the whole time he heard Adam bark out what drugs to administer her and orders given to nurses. He jumped when a hand came on his shoulder.

“Come on. Adam’s got this. He’ll give us a call when he can.” Mitch said, coming from behind and to stand next to him. Jake nodded. Then he sighed.

“Mitch, you have a gut feeling, too. Something wasn’t right about this.” Mitch nodded.

“Let me look into it some. We at least know who she is thanks to her neighbors. Come on. Let’s grab a coffee before we head back out.”

As they turned to walk to the cafeteria, they spotted Emmett standing at the end of the hall. The trio walked to the cafeteria together. The only words exchanged were vague phrases about something not adding up with the overdose patient they brought in. They got their coffees to go then walked back out to their vehicles.

“I’ll give you guys a call later.” Mitch said as he got in his cruiser. Emmett and Jake hopped in the ambulance and followed him out of the parking lot. They discussed whether to drive around or go park for a bit. They opted to do a little bit of both. For a few hours they passed the time in mostly silence with snippets of small talk.

At 2 am, while they were parked in a dim parking lot at a donut shop, Jake’s cell phone rang.