Rescue Squad Duty in Guatamala

Heidy, one of my language school's administrators, offered to show me the local volunteer rescue/fire squad in Antigua last Sat. She said she was good friends with most of the squad members, and that from time to time she brings medical professions to the squad house. When Heidy called to make the arrangements, she was told to remind me to bring my nursing license with me. When I asked why it was needed, she said because the squad sometimes gets called to dangerous situations that include things like battles btw gangs using guns, and the cops were not going to think I was a member of the squad. I'd need to show my license so that I wouldn't get thrown into the crowd where it was even more dangerous. OH!! Wish I hadn't asked! Ginny, my good friend in Guat said," Didn't you just make a promise to God that after getting off the dangerous volcano mountain at night, that you wouldn't do anything else stupid for at least a month?" Ooops

They're are so many differences that I'd hardly know where to start. I guess first let me tell you about the pictures that I just put on the blog. The first is of the dispatchers desk. The second is of the "alarm lights" and the 3rd is me in front of the ambulance I'll tell you about shortly. If the dispatcher gets a call for something important, then he turns on the green light and he sets off a loud alarm in the building. Various lights and tones have various meanings. I asked the dispatcher what happens if there's no electricity (which happens often). He said that somebody just runs around shouting.

Both men and women work here. They're title is "bomberos" which means fireman. But in actuality, they're equally trained in both fire and rescue, and they have fire and rescue vehicles at the squad house. They severity and type determines which type of vehicle(s). I should also tell you that they have very crude quarters (their bunk room, kitchen and locker/bathroom areas).

After only being there for a little while, a man near the squad house yelled for help for his friend (that was with him) that had a head injury. Apparently he was drunk (at midday), had been in a fight, and had a rock thrown at him that hit him in the head. He had a nice flap of skin layed open on his head. Probably no big deal, but as usual with head wounds, he was bleeding like crazy. It seemed someone was reading my mind, and they pulled a pair of gloves out of their pocket for me to use. Once we had his head bandaged, we put him on the stretcher in the back of the pick-up truck. No kidding...a pick-up truck! See my picture in the previous blog to see this modern ambulance. And notice that there is no tail gate or chain or rope across the back end of the truck! The stretcher was "locked in", but the guy wasn't strapped onto the stretcher, and as we bumped and zig-zagged on the road to the hospital, this guy started to become a little combative. I was really glad when we got to the "public" (free) hospital. The difference btw the waiting room and the emergency room was a sheet pulled across a room. As we left the hospital, I noticed the 2 other squad people carefully removed their gloves and put them in their pocket for next time. I did likewise, figuring it might be all I had for the day. For one reason or another, I was never in the right place at the right time to go on any other interesting calls that day. Or, then again, maybe I was in just the right place at just the right time so that I was protected from more calls.