"staff to triage for assist out of car"

Its that dreaded page: "staff to triage for assist out of car"...you never know what your gonna get when you head to the car.  Could be some goofy person with back pain.  Could be a woman giving birth.  Somebody shot...

Anyway, its a typical day, the teeming hordes presenting with their various tales of woe.  I have a moment of respite, sit down for a moment.  I get a call.  Somebody is calling before they get there to say they will need a wheelchair for their friend.  Yeah...whatever buddy..

So they get there and a couple of people go out to get the friend. Friend gets up, sits in the wheelchair and promptly dies. Ride provider/wheelchair requester has already left. Why, who knows?

When I first saw Friend, they were being rushed down the hall by a nurse, almost losing limbs the nurse wase going so fast.  They legs were swinging out to the side, bumping into things.  Friend had that DEAD look.  No color.  He was in cardiac arrest. Uh-oh.

Friend was put in the bed.  CPR was started until we could get the CPR device (automatically gives compressions). I started an IV and we started the meds.  It went on for an hour.  Meds, shock when he came back with a shockable  rhythm. On and on and on. Like we always do.  Finally he was declared dead. He was 53.

And thats how life in the ER can change in an instant.