<p>Today, at one of my jobs, I had to role-play an ambulance technician in a medical emergency simulation, a catastrophic situation. Earthquake and devastation in Montreal where a ferris wheel collapsed at an amusement park. </p>
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<p>Another technician and I had to bring in a little boy (lifelike mannequin) on a stretcher who had been trapped under heavy machinery. We suspected a broken pelvis. His BP had dropped and he had lost peripheral pulse before arrival at the hospital so we administered CPR. We wheeled him into "triage at the hospital" where they tagged his body. He was coded BLACK and I was asked to stop bagging him (trying to resuscitate him). <strong> He was dead.</strong> I had to repeat this exercise 8 times for all the groups of students.</p>
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<p>My ambulance partner and I had not been told that the boy would die, and it hit us like a shock the first rep of this exercise as we'd thought that we were bringing him in to be <em><strong>saved</strong></em>. But as actors, we could not show our personal feelings. Worse though, with each new group of students, I had to re-live over and over again the fact that ambulance technicians and doctors had tried to revive my son for 45 minutes, and one of the technicians had probably done to Gustav what I was doing to that "little boy", trying futilely to resuscitate him.</p>
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<p>Sorry if this is too much information, but it's been an extremely hard day. And that was only the morning ... the day only got more difficult ... lawyers, social workers, T-man fighting again with me ...</p>
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<p>I'm so exhausted ... thanks everyone for your support, it means so much to me. So wish I had someone here in Montreal to come take care of me, hold me, and tell me that things will get better ...wish someone else could be the strong one for me...</p>
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<p>Another technician and I had to bring in a little boy (lifelike mannequin) on a stretcher who had been trapped under heavy machinery. We suspected a broken pelvis. His BP had dropped and he had lost peripheral pulse before arrival at the hospital so we administered CPR. We wheeled him into "triage at the hospital" where they tagged his body. He was coded BLACK and I was asked to stop bagging him (trying to resuscitate him). <strong> He was dead.</strong> I had to repeat this exercise 8 times for all the groups of students.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My ambulance partner and I had not been told that the boy would die, and it hit us like a shock the first rep of this exercise as we'd thought that we were bringing him in to be <em><strong>saved</strong></em>. But as actors, we could not show our personal feelings. Worse though, with each new group of students, I had to re-live over and over again the fact that ambulance technicians and doctors had tried to revive my son for 45 minutes, and one of the technicians had probably done to Gustav what I was doing to that "little boy", trying futilely to resuscitate him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sorry if this is too much information, but it's been an extremely hard day. And that was only the morning ... the day only got more difficult ... lawyers, social workers, T-man fighting again with me ...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I'm so exhausted ... thanks everyone for your support, it means so much to me. So wish I had someone here in Montreal to come take care of me, hold me, and tell me that things will get better ...wish someone else could be the strong one for me...</p>
