The Night of the Christmas Angel – Guideposts

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Emergency medicine doesn’t take holidays off, but this was the first time I’d pulled an EMT shift on Christmas. Already we were racing to a studio apartment in an independent living community to answer the night’s first 911 call. I couldn’t help thinking this was supposed to be a night of miracles, not injuries.

 

The ambulance had barely come to a full stop when my partner, Dan, and I jumped out with a gurney. A staff member from the facility waited at the apartment door.

 

“Miss Lily had a fall,” she said as we knelt down around the elderly, white-haired woman on the floor. “She’s one hundred years old,” the staff member informed us with a note of pride.

 

Miss Lily’s studio apartment was neat as a pin. She’d even decorated for the holidays. “We’re going to examine you to see where you’re hurt,” I told her. Miss Lily nodded. She winced when Dan touched her hip but tried to hide it behind a smile. “Shortening and rotation of the leg and foot on the affected side,” Dan said. Miss Lily winced again. “Increased pain with palpitation to the hip.”

 

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