Memorable Patients and the Lessons They Teach

I’ll never forget his name. John. I’ll never forget the way he carried himself as he shuffled up to our ambulance in a proud posture that hid his 94 years. I recall his pressed shirt and slacks, something from the J.C. Penney catalog, and an out-of-fashion Members Only jacket that didn’t suit him. I guessed it to be secondhand, possibly a bargain item from the local Goodwill. I was 19 years old, a new EMT, and I remember thinking—and this is hard to admit—that I’d rather not have anything to do with the old man.

I was working a double EMT car, assigned primarily to interfacility transfers around San Jose, CA. John needed a ride to an appointment with his doctor in Redwood City. The trip would take us around 45 minutes. John was a “milk run.” He took his seat in the captain’s chair and stared out the window at the neighborhoods passing by. I got the feeling he didn’t get outside much. I started some small talk with a question that seemed appropriate for the moment. “Have you lived in the Bay Area long?”

John turned from the window and smiled at me. “All of my life.” And with that, we began one of the most memorable conversations I have ever had with a patient.

John’s great-grandfather had been a local legend in California’s frontier days. John’s immediately recognizable surname lent credibility to the somewhat dubious-sounding claim. He told me about his memories of his great-grandfather as a child. He spoke of orchards and ranch lands now covered by the neighborhoods I grew up in. It seemed that there was nothing he didn’t know about the history of this place of my youth.

As the neighborhoods passed by, I came to know my home in a whole different way. John was the first in a long line of patient teachers who have mentored me. He taught me an essential lesson: Patients, young or old, can be amazing teachers if we are willing to learn from them.

I got to thinking about John the other day and realized he’s still my most memorable patient. I wondered how many other EMS providers had stories about patients like John who entered their lives and helped them redefine themselves, leaving an indelible mark upon their lives or careers. Sometimes these most memorable patients change the way we see patients in general; sometimes they change the way we see the work we do; and occasionally, they change the way we see the world.

I decided to ask some of the caregivers who have left a legacy in EMS about the patients who have influenced them along the way. I asked them to tell me stories about candid moments in their lives when they allowed the patient to become something more. I wanted to know about the patients who challenged them to think differently about themselves, their jobs and their roles in the world as caregivers. These are their stories.

Dr. Bryan Bledsoe

Most paramedic students will find at least one textbook authored by Dr. Bledsoe in their required reading syllabus. A former paramedic, Dr. Bledsoe is an ED physician with a lifetime of EMS experience. He is a speaker, author, event organizer and advocate for prehospital services. Coincidentally, two of Dr. Bledsoe’s most memorable patients were victims of house fires.

I was working in my hometown of Ft. Worth, TX, in 1975. We ran six ambulances back then, and we ran constantly. My fiancée was a receptionist at the local hospital, and I had just finished my paramedic training.

I went out early one morning on a house fire. We had one patient. She was burned on the face, the upper neck and torso, and on parts of her upper extremities. We loaded her up and transported her to the hospital. It was a pretty simple call to me. I didn’t find out until afterwards that the patient was my fiancée’s mother—-my future mother-in-law. I had never met her.