My adventure in Boston today

going to an appointment in Boston today - was talking to the driver about scanners - he has friends and acquaintances who are cops and boston firefighters - he had an old programmable scanner that he hadnt used in a while - I told him about $25 Baofengs - (and later showed him the BaoFeng that I had in my backpack)

we get off onto Melania Cass Blvd from the highway - he says - welcome to methadone mile - I say - I was gonna say something; I know that the fire companies around here respond to a lot of ODs - he says - see those 2 fences along the road to the left? - yes - and see those 2 fences along the road on the right? - yes - they put up those 2 fences, they used to be along here all the time - now there are not as many - look at those people there - they are shooting up right on the street - hey, are they doing CPR? - they are doing CPR on that guy - they are going thru his pockets

I see a young black guy run to the corner and go right - we are stopped at a red light - black guy comes running back - looks like someone is following him  - I break out my cellphone and finally get to 911 after the phone reboots

 "911 where is the emergency? - melania cass and mass ave - pause - whats going on there? - cpr in progress on the sidewalk - OK hang on, I will connect you to EMS; stay on the line - in 1 second - EMS, whats the location of the emergency? - Melania Cass at Mass ave" - whats going on? (or something like that) - "CPR in progress in the sidewalk" - looks like some medical people running up - maybe with an air bag - (I think I was asked about a bed or stretcher) - I said - "there is no police, no fire, no EMS on scene" (but maybe some health people) - 'OK we are sending units' (words to that effect)

 (they didnt ask if it was a heart attack or shooting or anything - they knew what it was without even asking)

 the driver is somewhat upset - he says - we just watched a guy die or he got killed right there - something like that - I said something like - I dont want to sound cold, but there is 8 billion people in the world; "I cant save them all" - I actually said that I think - what I meant was - I just cant expend lots of empathy about all the people I hear dying on the scanner and in the news and by the roadside - it is just TOO much

 There were approx 4 people down on the sidewalk at the location - maybe - out of 15 people there - one guy I saw right next to the CPR case seemed to be staggering or holding himself up on a post

 On the good side - the woman I talked to at my appointment was wonderful - she said she loved her job - she has a college degree in health psychology iirc - she told me she had recently seen a young woman shooting up on a nearby street - she told the young woman that lots of bad things could happen to her shooting up like that

 I just looked at the BFDalerts twitter page - I didnt see any call for the location - maybe BFD didnt dispatch any units - I should check the BEMS tape - good idea - lets do it - (see below)

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 driver also said - there is an ambulance right there but they wont do anything - I didnt see the ambulance - traffic was heavy - it must of been ahead of us in the intersection somewhere

this happened as I was dialing 911 or thereabouts

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 I saw the driver later - he was joking with me a little bit - not about the cpr case - he was having trouble with a passenger - she had back surgery - didnt want to ride in van - wanted a car - several people told her she had to use the van - there was no other option - interpretor was on the phone - woman was very uncommunicative actually - she finally went with the van driver

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 checked the BEMS tape from Broadcastify - 156 pm tape - 7:29 on the tape - P2 and ?A2? to cardiac arrest at Cass at Mass - A20 says - we are right here - is it on the inbound side? - we see them - we are onsiting it - 9:56 on tape - A20 cancels P2 - 'they' are conscious - 17:20 on tape - A20 taking 1 to BMC - we need city to do a needle cleanup - quite the mess there

 maybe I played a small part in getting A20 to the scene quick - I suspect that the health people had already given Narcan before A20 arrived

 this all happened right at or across the street from Boston Medical Center - I am not sure what building the medical people came out of - it must have been the first bld as you turn right off Cass onto Mass after getting off the highway

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I dont go into Boston very often. Oh well - whatta ya gonna do.