The Greatest Generation

A Guest Post By: Matthew Bergland

Matthew is a street paramedic from Colorado Springs, Colorado. I first met Matt well over a decade ago when he was an EMT for Pridemark Paramedic Services. Today he is a flight medic for Memorial Star Helicopter and also works with American Medical Response. I think Matt’s story deserves a place in “The Big Get It” category here at the spot.

In this piece Matt expresses the frustrations that many of us working in EMS feel each day, as well as an insightful revelation about the value of human beings and the meaning of service.

The Greatest Generation

I have been in EMS for fifteen years. I say this not to evoke in the reader some undeserved sense of awe in my longevity, rather to illustrate the depth of my ability to be exceedingly grumpy and “burned out” when it comes to the more routine aspects of pre-hospital EMS. To expand on this sentiment I’ll provide you with what is, most likely, a common thread throughout our industry.

I work long hours and I am expected to stay past my off time should the EMS system be busy. The pay is less than glamorous and I am routinely forced to sacrifice time with my family to spend time at work to make ends meet. Many times it is very difficult to even eat because we are so busy. To add insult to injury the lion’s shares of my “emergency” patients are drunks, psychs, sore throats and headaches. That being said, I also routinely stand witness to people that have been devastated by illness or injury and the impact that it has on their families.

Many people take advantage of the fact that we provide the care we do. They have no room in their criticisms for the understanding of our sacrifices and the constant training and hardship that we endure to bring our skill to their side. The expectation of those that we serve is, many times, far too high. When you fall short of those unreasonable expectations people tend to take it out on you in a personal manner. We all endure these high prices for our commitment to humanity.

It is easy to become cynical by these long hours and lack of sleep, food, family contact and human suffering. The sound of ambulance tones indicating another call no longer excites me. It merely means more work, less sleep and the potential to take on more of other people’s problems or misery. Many times it means another assault or traffic accident. Often it’s another gang banger that has been shot or stabbed. But more often it is a nursing home patient. It is with this patient population that I have found myself becoming very frustrated at the prospect of another sick, elderly person and have struggled, at times, shore up my compassion so as not to inadvertently treat these patients from the context of that frustration.

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Patients Define Their Emergencies

What if I told you that you could adopt one simple, yet powerful belief that would improve your happiness at work immediately and forever? What if I could tell you one simple truth and, if you were willing to accept it, you would feel less stress and bring more joy and well being to your job starting right now? Would you be interested? Read on.

Carl Jung was the first psychologist to put fourth the theory of the collective unconscious. He recognized that an individuals behavior was driven, not only by their personality, but by the myths, ideas and beliefs held collectively by their culture.

It’s worth recognizing that when you came to emergency services you arrived with some of these beliefs.

You had an idea in your head of what an EMT, a paramedic or a fireman was. It’s probable that your beliefs were based more in the myths of the collective culture than reality, but the industry could take some blame as well.

We did nothing in your training to convince you that your job would be anything different than what you had seen on TV and in the movies. We may have even used some of these images in your recruitment process. 

If you endured a fire academy you were taught each day about structures on fire and victims that needed to be dragged to safety and turned over to imaginary medical personnel. In EMT class you spent each day learning about the various medical emergencies that befall humans. From aneurysms to zygomatic fractures and everything in between, we drilled you on how to recognize those sick patients and how to intervene appropriately. And you learned. You diligently studied for the day when you would be the one responsible for caring for the sick and bringing calm to the chaos.

But the instructors didn’t say much about headaches. Blinding migraine headaches that make the patient so photophobic they can’t see to drive their car. They didn’t talk about stubbed toes either. They didn’t mention that many of the patients would be depressed, abused, addicted and homeless. Nothing was said to prepare you to kneel before drunks and criminals and people with mental imbalances, social dysfunctions and minor yet overwhelming needs that have nothing to do with your training.

In all your training nobody prepared you for emergency services. We may never have even mentioned that emergency services has much less to do with the real, life threatening emergencies than the collective myths told you. Instead, it has everything to do with caring for people and their problems. Welcome to EMS.

But here’s the kicker … none of this is a bad thing.

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