What is a paramedic? According to Joanna Sokol, author of “A Real Emergency,” it’s “some combination of field doctor, social worker, and street sweeper.” Her job is to make sure she administers immediate medical aid called in by emergency callers before whisking patients off to the nearest hospital.
Who Does She Serve?
One action-filled night could mean “two cardiac arrests, a stabbing, and a high-speed car chase.” However, being stationed in the Bay Area, with one stint in Reno, Nevada, meant Sokol got all sorts of calls: from a drug overdose to asthma attacks and, in some cases, someone who just needed a ride.Sokol recounts how one 30-year-old woman who ran out of medication didn’t want to pay the bus fare downtown to have it filled.“I know you guys have to take me. You can’t say no,” the lady casually remarked, as she hopped into the ambulance for a ride downtown. And she wasn’t wrong, either. Throughout the book, Sokol laments this fact, as they end up ferrying non-emergency cases from home to a hospital.
