Paramedic Alexis - "Flowers"

“We meet so many people in a single shift and, after a while, it does accumulate, but we may be the only first responders someone sees, let alone the last person they see or the last voice they hear on this earth.” - Paramedic Alexis

Flower petals and stems lay strewn about the seats of the car Alexis was photographing – along with brain matter and blood. Her eyes scanned the car’s mangled interior, and she wondered how the call, dispatched as a low-level trauma, could’ve ended up being this: a man fighting for his life, his car wrapped inextricably around a light pole after being clipped and spun by another driver who fled the scene. Upon learning the flight team would be unable to fly because of weather, Alexis headed to help her team transport the man to the hospital – but not before noticing a small card that had been dislodged from the bouquet and plucking it from the wreckage.

Join former paramedic/firefighter and host Phil Klein as he welcomes returning guest Paramedic Alexis. She recalls the rainy day in rural Louisiana nearly a year ago, when she and her partner were blindsided by the severity of an accident that they initially believed could be no more than a fender bender. She shares the heartbreaking note scrawled on the bouquet’s card, her endeavor to find and share the message with its intended recipient, and how its sentiments prompted Alexis to share a very important message of her own with her husband.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this story from Alexis, be sure to listen to her other episode, “Two Floors Up” from season four! Please take a moment to give Stories From the Road a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or whichever platform you use to listen. Visit www.storiesfromtheroadpodcast.com for more content.