Re: [ems-l] Re: whats NOT wrong here

[Guest guest]

From a different point of view: Re: Debbie Carver's post

I understand what Debbie says very well. I have witnessed much the same sort

of attitudes by fire service EMS people in several places. But yesterday I

had a totally different kind of experience.

I went to Longview, TX to help staff an ambulance while the regular

FF/Paramedics attended the funeral of a retired Chief. Firefighters and

FF/Paras from many surrounding cities such as Tyler, ville, Kilgore,

Marshall, and other cities participated in helping out. There were also

regular Longview personnel present since none of us had a clue where we were

geographically and couldn't have found an address in less than a month.

While I was there I had the opportunity to visit with these public safety

professionals and can tell you that I was most impressed with both their

commitments to firefighting and also to EMS. There was not one single person

there who didn't support the fireservice's EMS program, although many of them

were not Paramedics. But they all first-respond and all view EMS as an

important and interesting part of their jobs.

The attitudes toward patients that I observed were absolutely professional,

caring, friendly and helpful. Our only transport was an elderly gentleman

who had had a leg amputation due to circulatory problems. He was going from

a rehab facility back to the hospital because of swelling and possible

infection at the stump.

The lead paramedic, a firefighter/Paramedic with plenty of experience, a wry

sense of humor, been there, done that, got the T-shirt and the mug, conducted

a complete and thorough PE of the patient and obtained the Hx from the

patient's own mouth, even though he could have simply accepted the patient

from the nurse at the transferring facility and not even read the records.

He chose not to do that. He established an immediate rapport with the

patient and let him know that we were going to take great care of him, and

that we were concerned about him. The other member of our crew was one of my

ex-students who has always exhibited a love for patient care. He is new to

firefighting, but he loves all the aspects of his job, whether they be

firefighting or EMS.

Our next call was to a possible overdose on a " frequent flyer. " At the same

time we arrived on-scene, the regularly assigned paramedics also arrived,

still in their dress uniforms from the funeral and insisted on taking this

patient so that we could go back home. They easily could have let us run the

call and spend another hour there, but they were so professional and

dedicated that they wanted to run the call. Besides, they said, they knew

this patient and had a rapport with her, and she would be more comfortable

with them. Not a single hint of burn-out, GOMERism, or any of the other

negative attitudes that we see. These people are genuinely interested in

their " customers " and have no problem with these aspects of their job. I

think that's very KEWL!

Folks, if you're ever in Longview, TX, you're in good hands. That's one

Fire/EMS service that's performing at the top of the " best practices " list.

Gene Gandy