Saturday, February 14, 2009

In case of emergency...

My partner and I responded to a man down call on Main St. near the local shelter. On arrival we found a fifty year old male who was well known to us for his alcohol abuse problem. He had fallen and suffered a suturable laceration over his right eye. He didn't want to go to the ER but we convinced him to go and get sutured.
It was a rather busy afternoon in the ER so we were directed to triage where he was assessed by the nurse. She then directed us to registration before we were to take him to the waiting room. I need a copy of his demographics, so I stayed with him for the process.
The registration secretary asked all of the usual questions, name, address, etc.. Then she asked him, "Who do you notify in case of emergency?" Without hesitation, he points at me and slurs "These guys." I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard.