“In Germany they first came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me – and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
- Rev. Martin Niemoller
Yesterday an Action Care ambulance covered my station while I was at a training. Action Care is the local private ambulance service. I know, the name always seemed a little silly to me. If a super hero ever created an ambulance service, he would most certainly call it Action Care. I joke about the name, but they’re the real deal. If you’re going to work as a private service EMT, you could do worse than Action Care. And if that doesn’t work out, there’s always the medical billing and coding field.
I’m glad we have Action Care. They help cover our district when we are low on resources. They are always professional and polite on scene. They give good care.
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Our department recently offered an early retirement buy-out option. I understand a half-dozen or so people took it. So next month, 6 or so of my colleagues will run their last call and close the door on their career. Six people will write the final chapter and be done.
It makes me wonder. I wonder what that’s like, to hear the tones go off and say, “Yup, this is probably it, the last call of my career.”
What will people say about your EMS career when you’re all done? For many of the readers here at the spot, retirement is a long way away. It’s hard to imagine what is will one day be like to not be in EMS anymore. Yet, it’s worth considering, because you never really know when your last call will be.
Consider Elizabeth Ann Mitchell.
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Short answer: Yes.
Score one for EMS. A study published last January in the American Heart Journal evaluated transport and treatment times of patients who called 911 for their chest pain and patients who sought private transportation.
They found that patients who transported themselves to the emergency room arrived at the hospital in 35 minutes while patients who called 911 arrived in 39 minutes. (On average.)
Hold the phone. Before you tell grampa to forget the phone call and jump in the car, consider this; The study also concluded that the patients who dialed 911 received initial stabilizing treatments faster AND definitive treatments faster as well.
Those who called the ambulance received initial care like oxygen, aspirin and nitro in approximately six minutes as opposed to the self transporters who took 32 minutes to receive these interventions.
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In the span of a generation, NASA has lost two spacecraft and 14 pilots in the collective disasters of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Can you tell me why? Trust me, it’s worth exploring.
The space buffs in the crowed might recall that faulty O-rings in the Challenger’s solid rocket boosters failed and allowed supper heated gasses to escape. The result was a catastrophic explosion and a sullen announcement from my school principal in the middle of sophomore science class. In his quiet monotone, we learned that the mighty Challenger, moments before, had been destroyed and the crew was lost.
Our teacher didn’t know quite what to say, and in the silence that followed, my sixteen year old world got a little smaller.
More of you might recall that Challenger’s sister ship, Columbia, burned up on reentry returning from a mission in 2003. The Columbia’s heat tiles were damaged when a piece of foam insulation dislodged during takeoff and struck the tiles on the wing. Those tiles later failed under the heat of reentry and the craft burned up over the mid-west. Interesting right? But what does all this have to do with EMS? Follow me on this next part.
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