If you would have told me while I went to EMT school that I would first work in a pandemic that would last over a year, I would never believe you. If you then told me that I would work in the coldest temperatures Texas had ever endured and with a snowfall more than in many many years, I would probably been rolling on the floor laughing at your stupid joke. But yet, here we are.

The last two days at work has been… I don’t know what to call it actually. Crazy, Weird, Dangerous, Amazing, Fun, Exhausting, Humbling. I have been in situations I never ever would imagine. I am so grateful that I learned to drive in Sweden and have years of experience driving 18-wheelers in this kind of weather so for me, driving an ambulance in snow is nothing unfamiliar.

We came out on our first call Monday morning, it is 4:30am. A possible cardiac arrest. Out on a county road. I could barely see the road. Maximum speed I could drive was about 30 mph. Snow is coming down in huge flakes. The landscape is beautiful but cold. It is -8F (-22C), a new record for Texas. The address leads me in through a gate and I have to guess where the long driveway was by looking at the GPS. I could figure it was straight ahead and then I saw the curve. Dispatch advised me to cross a creek and the house should be up the hill and on the right. And then we came to this

I stopped and walked out to look to determine if I dared to take a huge, heavy ambulance over. Nope. I wouldn’t even do it in the summertime! My partner and I had to take the jumpbag and the monitor and start hiking. I had to tell my mind that this is why I walk 5 miles a day. To be prepared for this. I could do this. My mind is stronger than my body.
Sadly there was nothing we could do for the patient. The patient had already passed away several hours before we were even called. We now had to wait for law enforcement to come and hold the scene for us. Well in this weather we knew it would take time before they arrived. In the meantime we tried to get the ambulance out of this driveway. That meant that I had to back up about half a mile of the driveway, trying to follow my own tracks that had almost covered up by snow again.

After 1.5 hour, the sheriff’s department finally showed up. It turns out that he had 2 wheel drive on his vehicle! I was so surprised, you would think that they would have 4 wheel drive considering what they could come up on even in the summertime. But nope. And guess what, he got stuck right in front of us so we had to help him push his car out.

From there the calls just went on and on and on. Non stop. My partner Rance and I guessed when we would be able to go home Monday night. He guessed 8pm, I guessed 9pm.
A patient needed to go to Tyler and we arrived there just after lunch. We had not stopped for five minutes. At one point we had over 15 calls holding in the system. We dropped off our patient and when we came back to the truck we found two plastic bags with warm food. The staff from our headquarters had made sure we got some food in us. It was amazing! They also helped us brush off our truck since it was quite covered in snow…

Monday got closer to an end. Both me and Rance had at this point had to hike to three patients. The fire department had to come and help us extricate one patient out of a house and through the snow to the ambulance. We had met so many cold patients. We took both humans and dogs to the hospital, tried to find warm shelters for people and did whatever we could to help out! We were physically exhausted. Surprised that we could clock out at 5:15pm, only 75 minutes later than scheduled!

Tuesday morning came around. We both knew that we were in for a round #2. At this point people had been without power and water. Some of them over 24 hours. More snow had fallen over night and we could barely drive faster than 25-30 mph still. It took us at least an hour to make it to the call and we were often diverted to higher priority calls. It then took at least 1.5-2 hours to make it to the hospital. At one point there was over 20 emergency 911 calls and 35 transfers holding. Trucks were breaking down at the side of the road because of the cold. Even our CEO went out to pick up stranded crews because it was too cold.

The day was exactly as crazy as we expected it to be. But we had some calls that was beyond stupid. Why… why do you have to go to the hospital on a day like this, when it is the coldest in years, major snow, you are one of the lucky that has power and water in your house… for a chronic back pain that you’ve had for 3 (!!!) years! I am so sorry but I will never understand that. And we can’t refuse to take you. But don’t be angry when the nurse and the doctors asks you over and over again “WHY TODAY???”

In the beginning of the post I wrote that this time has also been amazing. How on earth can I say that it’s been amazing. Never have I ever experienced people come together as I’ve seen now. Law enforcement, fire, ems, towing, hospital staff, linemen. We were all in this together. Our dispatchers has been so amazing keeping everything on top. On Tuesday the gas stations ran out of gas if they had any power and our awesome dispatchers kept track of what stations had gas for us. Several of our ambulances were stuck and tow trucks had to come and pull them out. Other units had to come and pick up their patients. Fire responded to several calls and were able to give us an update, sometimes they even took the patient to the hospital when the waiting time was too long. They helped us get the patients out in the snow. Law enforcement responded to welfare concerns and could tell us more information. Neighbors with tractors helped pull out the poor law enforcement when they got stuck. Our headquarters came out with food to us both days and they didn’t just make sure we got food but also crews from other companies that was tired and needed some energy. It has been an unity within the first responders that made me honored, humbled and proud to do this job. I am truly so grateful to be able to put on my uniform and head off to work, every single shift!

I am off today, truly needed a recovery day. I am scheduled to work on Friday next. Don’t know if I will go in tomorrow or stay home with the dogs. I slept 12 hours straight and my muscles are sore today. I am so blessed that I have had power and water most of the time. Not been affected of the rolling blackouts significantly. But the rest of the day today will just be a very calm and slow day!