The VOMIT ROOM
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Before we arrived, the Firefighters had been trying to dislodge this huge man from the stall. They were having a tough time because there was no room to get to him and lift him out. Also, because of the vomit on the floor, they were slipping all over the place and had no leverage.
So now, as we arrived, they were using one of their saws with a big, round blade to cut away the green wall of the stall. When they finally had it cut, the door came with it. In the meantime, without being asked, my partner brought two white sheets from our ambulance and spread them on the floor to provide some needed footing. I was working with a good EMT partner.
When the side wall and stall door were finally gone, the man was pulled off the toilet and laid on the vomit-covered floor. I used “pulled” because five big Firefighters could not lift him.
Instead, they lowered him off the toilet and slid him from the stall using his slippery vomit on the floor. When they had him out enough so we could get to him, his head was in front of the toilet where the stall door used to be. They had him on his back with his face upward so we could treat him.
Then he vomited again.
It was like a fountain. The vomit stream went about a foot-and-a-half straight up above his face. In the process, he sprayed those of us closest to him with fluid and chunks from his breakfast. My uniform was hit hard.
It was an ugly thing, and the smell was suffocating.