They hurt for the people they help…
The 911 call came into dispatch. The voice on the other end was hysterical and not making sense. “Help me, please send someone right away, my stepdad beat my mom and I think she is dead”. The dispatcher calmly spoke to the boy on the other end to calm him down and asked what happened, meanwhile, she told him help was on the way. He told her he heard them fighting again, they always did but for some reason this time, it was different. His stepdad was in a fit of rage and he was terrified to go downstairs. He heard his mom’s screams and cries and covered his ears to drown out the noise. He felt so helpless, he wished he was bigger so he could help her but all he could do was cry. When the door to the house slammed shut and silence filled the house, he slowly crept downstairs and saw her. He grabbed the phone and called 911.
With anxious relief he could hear the sirens and thanked God they got there quickly. He rushed to open the door and waved them to his house. They walked in and saw the place was in shambles and realized she was in trouble. She lay lifeless in the kitchen room floor bleeding and unrecognizable. As the tears ran down his face, he told them she hadn’t moved and he thought she was dead. He then looked at her and said “mom help is here, its going to be ok now”. The firefighter gently led him away so the EMS could take her vitals. The left right side of her face was damaged the most and her eyes were swollen shut. Her fingernails were broken and bloody which showed how hard she fought back. The markings on her neck were conducive to strangulation therefore the team worked together and put her on a spinal board. After their assessment, and preservation of the evidence, they carried her out to the Ambulance…
Hurt people hurt people and when a call comes in, it’s a first responder’s job to be on the scene as quickly as possible. When that happens, the adrenaline takes over and all senses are kicked into high gear.
At the end of the shift, some calls have a way of going home with them. The calls that involve children and the suicides are the hardest to handle. They aren’t immune to the pain they see day in and day out and that takes a toll on a heart. It’s difficult because when their thoughts are their own, there is a struggle to have balance. They hurt for the people they help and there is rarely any closure after they have done their job, only a wish they are ok.