Influenza and Sickness

Yesterday evening at 7 o’clock I started my first paramedic night shift for this year.

Besides the fact that we had our first mission already at 7:10 p.m., the night went pretty easy.

After the first mission, we had time to eat something at Mc Donalds nearby. Sometimes I ask myself what the other people think if two ambulance vehicles show up to eat something.

Anyway, then we had to drive to Graz (about an hour away) to collect a dialysis patient. The patient also carries influenza A, so special handling was required. Face masks, gloves (obviously) and the car needed to be cleaned afterwards.

After we left the patient at home we drove back to our home base and started cleaning our car. As I’ve written, nothing special. I had a few infectious types of transport in the past and it probably won’t be the last one.

Luckily as the driver, my exposure to the viruses isn’t hight normally as the front and the back of the vehicle are air-conditioned and heated separately. Though there is still a chance to get infected. In the past years, I had at least once a year stomach intestinal flu after I transported such a patient.

Self-protection is the most important thing as a paramedic, but we are humans and humans get sick also. :)