Don’t worry, it’s not what it sounds like!!

After church on Sunday, an elderly man (aged 94) in our congregation had a bad turn and fainted. We have a couple of registered nurses who rushed over to check on him, and decided to call an ambulance. The paramedics arrived within minutes, but by the time they got inside with their equipment, Mr Oram was alert again. They still spent a good 20-30 minutes talking to him and monitoring him to make sure he was okay.

Ethan and Mum were outside looking at the ambulance as the paramedics packed their things away and got ready to leave. But before they left, the male paramedic asked Ethan if he would like to look inside the ambulance and have some tests done!
So Ethan happily climbed in and lay on the stretcher. The paramedic did an ECG to record the electrical activity generated by Ethan’s heart. By this stage Rob and I had come over to see what was going on! It was a bit strange seeing our little guy lying there with 4 electrodes attached to his chest!! We even got to keep the printout! He also wore a finger pulse oximeter to measure his blood oxygen levels. Then he had his blood pressure taken. The paramedic explained what it all meant:

Blood is carried from your heart to all parts of your body. Each time your heart beats, it pumps blood into your arteries. Blood pressure is at its highest when the heart beats, pumping the blood. This is called systolic pressure (the top number). When the heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is the diastolic pressure (the bottom number).

It was so cool how he explained it, never worrying about whether it was too complex or not, just talking to him like a normal person. I love it when adults do that with kids! Because I think kids are able to understand so much more than we give them credit for. Ethan was absolutely fascinated by everything and didn’t seem scared or frightened at all.

On the way home from church, Mum said something to Ethan about the ambulance being very interesting. Ethan said “Yes Nana, it really was. And I wasn’t very shy. Only just a very, very little bit at the beginning, but then I wasn’t!” Then they talked about how nice the man was to show him all the things, and that we were all very proud of Ethan for doing it.
Later on I told Ethan he was so lucky to have that experience, and if he ever needed to go in an ambulance one day he wouldn’t be afraid because he would know what to expect. And he agreed!

I think it is so cool that the paramedic took the time to show Ethan everything and explain it all to him. He was so willing to oblige, and he really seemed like he was enjoying himself. He didn’t seem in a hurry to get away. Obviously they didn’t have another emergency to go to! But it really does show how wonderful our paramedics are. They arrived promptly at the church to attend to Mr Oram, they were super friendly, they didn’t seem put out that their services weren’t really needed in the end, and then they took the time to do something special for a little boy who will remember it forever!

I only wish I had my camera with me because it would be SO cool to scrap this!