Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 602, Calling for an Ambulance.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 602.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It will give you all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes and a complete transcript of everything we say.
This episode is called Calling for an Ambulance.
An ambulance is a special truck or car that takes sick people from where they are to a hospital.
Let's get started.
Are you all right?
What?
What happened?
You lost consciousness and someone called 911.
My name is Brad and I'm a paramedic.
Can you answer a few questions for me?
I'll try.
Have you ever blacked out before?
No, I don't think so.
Do you have a history of medical problems?
Do you have any allergies to medication?
Not that I know of.
Okay.
Where are you hurt?
Are you in any pain?
I think I hit my head when I fell down.
Oh, it's bleeding.
Oh my God, I'm bleeding.
Stay calm and let me examine the wound.
Oh my God, I'm going to bleed to death.
Try to stay still.
The wound doesn't look too serious, but we'll get you to the hospital to get checked out.
We'll get a stretcher so we can get you into the ambulance and take you to the emergency room.
Try to stay calm.
Calm?
How can I stay calm when I'm bleeding to death?
I need a helicopter to take me to the hospital right away.
Call Medivac.
Ma'am, you don't need a helicopter.
I'm just going to give you a little injection to help you with the pain and to help you relax.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to... Our dialogue begins with Brad asking Lydia, Are you all right?
Are you okay?
Lydia says, What happened?
She seems confused.
Brad says, Can you answer a few questions for me?
Brad is a paramedic.
P-A-R-A-M-E-D-I-C
A paramedic is a person whose job it is to provide emergency medical services and treatment, but who is not a doctor or a nurse.
They are usually people who go out when there's an accident, for example, and someone is hurt or injured.
The paramedic will go in the ambulance, which is a special car or truck that we use to transport to move people who are sick and injured in an emergency to the hospital.
With the ambulance, then the paramedic will try to help the person who is hurt or injured, and that's what Brad is doing here.
He says to Lydia To lose consciousness means to become unaware of where you are for some period of time, often because you have been hit on the head or perhaps you have been drinking too much alcohol.
Another way of saying to lose consciousness, a little more common, is to faint F-A-I-N-T or to black out.
Brad says someone called 911.
In the United States, if you have an emergency, something that you need help with either medical help or police help You pick up any phone and you dial 911.
Everywhere in the United States, that is the emergency telephone number.
Brad asks Lydia if she can answer some questions for him.
Lydia says, I'll try.
Brad says, have you ever blacked out before?
To black out is a two-word phrasal verb that we just defined.
It means to lose consciousness, to become unaware of where you are.
The word black has several different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Lydia says, no, I don't think so.
I don't think I have ever blacked out before.
I don't think I've ever blacked out either.
Or maybe I did and I don't remember.
Brad says, do you have a history of medical problems?
A history of here means past occurrences, past events. a record of things that happened in the past.
My father had a history of heart attacks, meaning he had several heart attacks in the past.
Or you could say, she has a history of mental illness.
She's not thinking correctly.
She's a little crazy.
That would describe my neighbor.
Brad says, do you have any allergies to medication?
Medication is just another word for medicine or drugs.
Allergies are physical reactions that occur.
That happen when you eat something or touch something or, in this case, take some sort of medicine.
Some people have allergies to certain plants.
Some people have allergies to cats.
Some people just don't like cats.
It just depends on who you are.
Lydia says that she doesn't know of any allergies that she has.
She says, not that I know of, meaning no allergies.
We use not that I know of when we don't think it's true, but we may not know for sure.
Brad says, Lydia says, Oh, it's bleeding.
To bleed, B-L-E-E-D, means to lose blood.
Your red blood comes out of your skin and you are therefore bleeding.
If you cut yourself, for example, you will bleed.
Lydia says, oh my God, I'm bleeding.
She's getting very excited now that she knows that she's been bleeding.
Brad tells her to stay calm.
Don't get excited.
He asks her to let him examine the wound.
W-O-U-N-D.
A wound is an injury when you hurt yourself, especially if your skin has been cut and you are bleeding.
That is often what we mean when we say someone has a wound.
Wound can also be a verb.
To wound someone means to hurt them.
Lydia says again oh my God, I'm going to bleed to death, meaning I'm going to lose so much blood that I will die.
Lydia is panicking.
She is not staying calm.
Brad says, try to stay still, meaning don't move.
Stay in this position.
Try to stay still.
The wound doesn't look too serious, but we'll get you to the hospital to get checked out.
To get checked out in this case means to be examined, to be searched for problems or anything unusual.
Here it means the doctor is going to examine her to make sure she is okay.
Brad then says we'll get a stretcher so we can get you into the ambulance and take you to the emergency room.
A stretcher is a special bed on wheels that they use in hospitals to move people who cannot walk on their own.
They're going to put her on a stretcher and put her into the ambulance and then go to the emergency room.
The emergency room is the part of the hospital where people go when they need to be treated right away.
If they are shot or cut or having a heart attack, you would take someone to the emergency room.
Brad then says again to Lydia, try to stay calm.
Lydia says, calm?
A helicopter is something like an airplane, a machine, but it goes straight up in the air and is able to fly.
Lydia is asking... for a helicopter to take her to the hospital.
She thinks she is seriously hurt.
She says, call Medivac.
Medivac stands for medical evacuation.
It's an emergency service that moves people very quickly using helicopters, usually because they are a long way from the hospital.
This is not a situation where you need a helicopter, but Lydia is panicking, and so that's what she says.
Bram says, ma'am, you don't need a helicopter.
I'm just going to give you a little injection to help you with the pain and to help you relax.
An injection is also called a shot.
It's when a doctor or a nurse puts a piece of metal into you what we would call a needle and uses that to inject or put into your body medicine or drugs.
Lydia is very excited.
Brad calms her down by giving her something to relax her and to help her with the pain.
She says, I'm going to die.
I'm going to... And then she falls asleep and Brad expresses relief, happiness.
He says...
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Are you all right?
What?
What happened?
You lost consciousness and someone called 911.
My name is Brad and I'm a paramedic.
Can you answer a few questions for me?
I'll try.
Have you ever blacked out before?
No, I don't think so.
Do you have a history of medical problems?
Do you have any allergies to medication?
Not that I know of.
Okay, where are you hurt?
Are you in any pain?
I think I hit my head when I fell down.
Oh, it's bleeding.
Oh my God, I'm bleeding.
Stay calm and let me examine the wound.
Oh my God, I'm going to bleed to death.
Try to stay calm.
The wound doesn't look too serious, but we'll get you to the hospital to get checked out.
We'll get a stretcher so we can get you into the ambulance and take you to the emergency room.
Try to stay calm.
Calm?
How can I stay calm when I'm bleeding to death?
I need a helicopter to take me to the hospital right away.
Call Medivac.
Ma'am, you don't need a helicopter.
I'm just going to give you a little injection to help you with the pain and to help you relax.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to... Our script was written by someone who always stays calm, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
