We remember, not the days, but rather the moments…

My last two nightshifts on the job were crazy – just insanely busy, the kind of nights that when you finally stop to catch your breath, it is already 4:30 a.m. However, Friday night, I had the rare experience (I can count on my hands the moments I’ve had like this in my five years with the RCMP) of actually coming away feeling like I had touched someone and had made their life better. In this case, it may have even saved someone’s life. These times are what make all the insanity of dealing with belligerent, intoxicated jerks all night long worth it. There was a young man who had drunk a bit too much and was lost in a strange town with nowhere to go on a cold wet night. He first called me on 911 and his voice already sounded weak as he pleaded, “Please help me.” He only knew that he was in front of a Safeway but no idea which one. His cell phone was broken and he could call out but not receive calls. I dispatched to an already over-taxed police force, which were out dealing with more “serious” crimes in progress, knowing his plea was low on the list of response. After his second call came in, with no more info than the first, I asked and a member said he’d checked both the Safeway stores in town and no one was around. Andrew (name changed) continued to call but talked less and less as the time went by. I pled with him to keep talking, to stand up and walk, to do anything so that we could somehow find him. His conversations were becoming more and more one-sided as all I heard was his rapid shallow breathing and his mumbled pleas for help. I really feared he was slipping into unconsciousness and his shivering and chattering teeth confirmed that he was becoming hypothermic. I went back on the radio and asked the members to please keep checking as I thought Andrew wasn’t going to make it if he wasn’t found soon. Their previous load lightened by now, they started to look in earnest as I tried to keep Andrew on the phone, begging him to talk to me and look around for signs, etc. The members even turned their sirens on and asked me to see if I could hear them on the phone but nothing. Then, suddenly, on the other end, I heard someone talking to Andrew – “You okay? How long have you been out here, buddy?” I checked on the radio and sure enough, he had been found and an ambulance was soon on its way to take him to the hospital. It is calls like Andrew’s that make me realize why I love to do what I do so much. Sorting through the abuse and picking out the real needs of real hurting people. I come away remembering the moments….