the other day at work a patient, after breaking open the fasteners that keep the windows from opening and kicking out the screen she jumped out of it. she landed on a padded roof 13ft or more below with minor damage, but then proceeded to go to the edge and eventually jumped another 25 ft to concrete and grass causing serious injury to herself. actually when the paramedics who were present on scene ran over to her she wasnt breathing :-( this was a truly unfortunate incident and the woman was odviously in crisis and clearly determined to kill herself.
now from the moment she 1st jumped out the window my dept go the call and me and my officers all responded quickly, so fast that many of us were on scene before she walked over to the 2nd ledge, we all scrambled to get air mattresses blown up and in place, to block off the area and keep the crowd away, and several of us, myself included rushed upstairs to gain access to that area of the roof where she had jumped. folks that know me know I have a fobia about heights, but I was able to remove a fastener and kick open a window and did climb out on the ledge and make my way over to the roof a floor above the woman. at the same time other officers had also gained access via other routes but before any of us could reach the woman she jumped. we were all very upset over this one incident but we continued to do our jobs and even consoled nursing staff and visitors who had also saw the woman jump. we all went out and dealt with it in our own ways after work. although in writing this may seem like there was a lot of time but the whole incident happened in a matter of 5-7 minutes
this is all part of the job and I can deal with it. what does bother me is that although we have been given some praise by those who were present and were aware of the details. we were actually blamed by so many who werent present or who read about it in the paper or heard on the news. judged and second guess by many who have no idea of the type of persons we are or our backgrounds or prior training for such events. by people who have no idea of the dedication and willingness of me and my officers to place ourself between those who judge us and those who attempt to harm them.
there is an old saying "joy shared is joy multiplied and pain shared is pain cut in half." so I figured I would give it a try ;-)
