Re: Just a thought

March 24, 2004

Well put . I totally agree.

Just a thought

Today I sit here, thinking to myself how we (myself included)as a

profession have lasted as long as we have. I have refrained until

the last week or two from posting on this list for nearly a year.

The reason being that I got tired of all of the BS. I have been

once again watching the list, and replying in a very restrained

manner. What saddens me is how we as a whole profession can put our

feelings aside and come together in a supportive manner when a great

tragedy happens to our fellow public safety bretherand such as the

MCH Care Star crash, yet we cannot come together and support each

other as a group when it matters professionally, politically, etc.

Everyone is able to set their egos aside when a tragedy comes about,

but when there is something else that matters, everyone has to go

swinging their egos around and letting it get in the way of their

better judgement. We are smarter than that, better than that, more

professional than that. Although, you would never know it from

reading the posts on this list most of the time. The reason that

nobody takes us seriously is because of the bickering that goes on

in this field. Even nurses (No offense) can set their differences

aside and fight for one cause when they need to. Physicians can do

the same. One would think that we were just in this business for

ourselves if they read some of the posts. Have we forgotten why we

are in this business? I know for myself, it's not for myself, not

for the money! It's just sad that a tragedy has to come about

before any of us can come together on any one thing. We face big

changes in our state right now with the reorganization of the

Bureau, and fee increeses, and decreased services for those fee

increases, the changes in medicine which are occuring every day, pay

issues, etc........need I say more? We all have differing opinions

on things. That will never change. That's what makes us

individuals. We need to set aside the petty differences and save

those for " BS sessions " when we sit around drinking beer, and come

together on the important issues which face us now. Just food for

thought.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 26, 2004

Have to agree with you there . Problem is that we are a collection of

highly individualistic people whose only real common ground is EMS. SOme are

fire based and have the fire mentality, some are third service and are

highly independent, and some are tranfers and only have that perspective.

Like the three blind men trying to identify an elephant. Some of us see the

whole animal but can't persuade others that is one due to their limited

perspectives. Waddya think?

Tom Fuller EMT-I(P STUDENT)

>

>Reply-To:

>To:

>Subject: Just a thought

>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 16:01:18 -0000

>

>Today I sit here, thinking to myself how we (myself included)as a

>profession have lasted as long as we have. I have refrained until

>the last week or two from posting on this list for nearly a year.

>The reason being that I got tired of all of the BS. I have been

>once again watching the list, and replying in a very restrained

>manner. What saddens me is how we as a whole profession can put our

>feelings aside and come together in a supportive manner when a great

>tragedy happens to our fellow public safety bretherand such as the

>MCH Care Star crash, yet we cannot come together and support each

>other as a group when it matters professionally, politically, etc.

>Everyone is able to set their egos aside when a tragedy comes about,

>but when there is something else that matters, everyone has to go

>swinging their egos around and letting it get in the way of their

>better judgement. We are smarter than that, better than that, more

>professional than that. Although, you would never know it from

>reading the posts on this list most of the time. The reason that

>nobody takes us seriously is because of the bickering that goes on

>in this field. Even nurses (No offense) can set their differences

>aside and fight for one cause when they need to. Physicians can do

>the same. One would think that we were just in this business for

>ourselves if they read some of the posts. Have we forgotten why we

>are in this business? I know for myself, it's not for myself, not

>for the money! It's just sad that a tragedy has to come about

>before any of us can come together on any one thing. We face big

>changes in our state right now with the reorganization of the

>Bureau, and fee increeses, and decreased services for those fee

>increases, the changes in medicine which are occuring every day, pay

>issues, etc........need I say more? We all have differing opinions

>on things. That will never change. That's what makes us

>individuals. We need to set aside the petty differences and save

>those for " BS sessions " when we sit around drinking beer, and come

>together on the important issues which face us now. Just food for

>thought.

>

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March 26, 2004

> Have to agree with you there . Problem is that we are a

collection of

> highly individualistic people whose only real common ground is

EMS.

I agree Tom. And as you know. You and I have known each other for

a long time. We have not always agreed on everything, but yet the

same basic ideas still exist. We both have one thing on our mind

when we are on a call, and our same basic desires for the direction

which we would like to see our profession moving are the same. I

don't think a single person in this field wants to see everyone

fighting amongst themselves. I don't think we want the whole

profession to be seen as a bunch of bickering children. What a few

individuals do, or a group does, effects ALL of us directly and

indirectly in many ways. Especially in the public's eyes who don't

know what we know.

SOme are

> fire based and have the fire mentality, some are third service and

are

> highly independent, and some are tranfers and only have that

perspective.

You are right, different mentalities exist in all services, all

regions, all cities, counties, etc. No two are the same, and better

yet, no two people in the same service are alike. We are a

profession of individuals, with vastly different educational

backgrounds, experience, and opinions. However, I guaranty if you

sit everyone down in a room and ask them where they want EMS go to,

and what the main problems in this profession are, they would all

have generally the same thoughts. One of the biggest problems that

I see is that there is one vocal person who stands up for what is

right, says what they think, and isn't afraid of the controversy it

causes (I should know, as I have frequently been that

person)......and the others, who silently agree, let that person

stand alone, and take the heat and say what everyone else really

wants to say, but when it comes down to it, the masses remain

silent. The other big problem is the " fence stradlers " who go with

whatever idea seems to be popular or politically correct at the time

(Be damned if anyone has any independent thought).

Have you also noticed that alot of the people that get ahead in this

profession (by no means all of them) are the ones that keep screwing

their co-workers, don't care about their employees health and

safety, don't worry about anything patient care wise unless it

involves a lawsuit, or a billing problem, and they only care about

how visible they make themselves, usually while taking credit for

their employee's efforts or ideas. And they keep getting promoted,

and promoted, and always seem to be bulletproof when issues arise,

while the ones who are busting their asses for the service and the

patients, end up taking the fall for the bosses actions. My point

being.......how fast we forget our roots. We lose sight of what we

got into this profession for. We lose sight of what is ultimatley

right. We let our vision and thoughts get clouded by other things

that have no business in this profession. Further complicating

things is the reduction in reimbursement for services, the

increasing price of providing services, the unchanging pay that we

receive for doing this job despite increases in the cost of living

or increases in the cost of maintaining our licensure/certification

(CE and Re-cert costs). Many employers are no longer providing

uniforms for their employees, so, the employees are having to

provide them. This usually results in the employee having to shell

out hundreds of dollars before they even start working, and it takes

several pay checks to truly make any money. Add into that the

distance that alot of us have to drive to work, and the rising cost

of gasoline, depreciation on our vehicles, regular maintenance,

etc.

We are one of the most underpaid professions in the world, and yet

more people's lives depend on us than almost any other job. We work

unsafe hours, jeaopardizing our patients and jeaopardizing our own

health (i.e. how many of us are on HTN meds, have heart problems,

are on antidepressaants, have sleep disorders, etc.). We try to

provide the best service we can with the equipment that we have,

which is not always the newest or the best available because of

cost. We frequently drive ambulances which have hundreds of

thousands of miles on them, that break down regularly, that are

outdated, etc. We work in an inherently unsafe environment as it is

already......puting our lives on the line every time we get behind

the wheel, or walk into a house, or are standing in the middle of a

wreck scene............all things we rarely think about, however, we

don't need any other unnecessary dangers being added in there.

These are some of the problems that need to be addressed in this

field. A perfect way to sum this up just came to mind. What is the

first thing that you learn in EMT school? Give up? Crew safety!!

As my first EMS instructor said, if you get hurt, who is going to

take care of you. Well, if EMS doesn't start taking care of it's

own, who is going to take care of EMS? What are we going to do when

there isn't anyone to answer those 911 calls because nobody wants to

do this job anymore? We are at a very critical place in time. We

need to pick our fights carefully. We need to come together as a

group and set our differences aside. Coming together as a group

doesn't mean that we have to give up our individuality, after all, a

group is a bunch of individuals...........what we need to do is use

our individual talents and expertise to help compliment the other

individuals talents and expertise in the group.......all of this to

accomplish a common goal. Hope this all makes sense.

March 29, 2004

I agree, preaching to the choir. So what do " we " do?

Tom

>

>Reply-To:

>To:

>Subject: Re: Just a thought

>Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 17:22:18 -0000

>

> > Have to agree with you there . Problem is that we are a

>collection of

> > highly individualistic people whose only real common ground is

>EMS.

>

>I agree Tom. And as you know. You and I have known each other for

>a long time. We have not always agreed on everything, but yet the

>same basic ideas still exist. We both have one thing on our mind

>when we are on a call, and our same basic desires for the direction

>which we would like to see our profession moving are the same. I

>don't think a single person in this field wants to see everyone

>fighting amongst themselves. I don't think we want the whole

>profession to be seen as a bunch of bickering children. What a few

>individuals do, or a group does, effects ALL of us directly and

>indirectly in many ways. Especially in the public's eyes who don't

>know what we know.

>

>SOme are

> > fire based and have the fire mentality, some are third service and

>are

> > highly independent, and some are tranfers and only have that

>perspective.

>

>You are right, different mentalities exist in all services, all

>regions, all cities, counties, etc. No two are the same, and better

>yet, no two people in the same service are alike. We are a

>profession of individuals, with vastly different educational

>backgrounds, experience, and opinions. However, I guaranty if you

>sit everyone down in a room and ask them where they want EMS go to,

>and what the main problems in this profession are, they would all

>have generally the same thoughts. One of the biggest problems that

>I see is that there is one vocal person who stands up for what is

>right, says what they think, and isn't afraid of the controversy it

>causes (I should know, as I have frequently been that

>person)......and the others, who silently agree, let that person

>stand alone, and take the heat and say what everyone else really

>wants to say, but when it comes down to it, the masses remain

>silent. The other big problem is the " fence stradlers " who go with

>whatever idea seems to be popular or politically correct at the time

>(Be damned if anyone has any independent thought).

>

>Have you also noticed that alot of the people that get ahead in this

>profession (by no means all of them) are the ones that keep screwing

>their co-workers, don't care about their employees health and

>safety, don't worry about anything patient care wise unless it

>involves a lawsuit, or a billing problem, and they only care about

>how visible they make themselves, usually while taking credit for

>their employee's efforts or ideas. And they keep getting promoted,

>and promoted, and always seem to be bulletproof when issues arise,

>while the ones who are busting their asses for the service and the

>patients, end up taking the fall for the bosses actions. My point

>being.......how fast we forget our roots. We lose sight of what we

>got into this profession for. We lose sight of what is ultimatley

>right. We let our vision and thoughts get clouded by other things

>that have no business in this profession. Further complicating

>things is the reduction in reimbursement for services, the

>increasing price of providing services, the unchanging pay that we

>receive for doing this job despite increases in the cost of living

>or increases in the cost of maintaining our licensure/certification

>(CE and Re-cert costs). Many employers are no longer providing

>uniforms for their employees, so, the employees are having to

>provide them. This usually results in the employee having to shell

>out hundreds of dollars before they even start working, and it takes

>several pay checks to truly make any money. Add into that the

>distance that alot of us have to drive to work, and the rising cost

>of gasoline, depreciation on our vehicles, regular maintenance,

>etc.

>

>We are one of the most underpaid professions in the world, and yet

>more people's lives depend on us than almost any other job. We work

>unsafe hours, jeaopardizing our patients and jeaopardizing our own

>health (i.e. how many of us are on HTN meds, have heart problems,

>are on antidepressaants, have sleep disorders, etc.). We try to

>provide the best service we can with the equipment that we have,

>which is not always the newest or the best available because of

>cost. We frequently drive ambulances which have hundreds of

>thousands of miles on them, that break down regularly, that are

>outdated, etc. We work in an inherently unsafe environment as it is

>already......puting our lives on the line every time we get behind

>the wheel, or walk into a house, or are standing in the middle of a

>wreck scene............all things we rarely think about, however, we

>don't need any other unnecessary dangers being added in there.

>

>These are some of the problems that need to be addressed in this

>field. A perfect way to sum this up just came to mind. What is the

>first thing that you learn in EMT school? Give up? Crew safety!!

>As my first EMS instructor said, if you get hurt, who is going to

>take care of you. Well, if EMS doesn't start taking care of it's

>own, who is going to take care of EMS? What are we going to do when

>there isn't anyone to answer those 911 calls because nobody wants to

>do this job anymore? We are at a very critical place in time. We

>need to pick our fights carefully. We need to come together as a

>group and set our differences aside. Coming together as a group

>doesn't mean that we have to give up our individuality, after all, a

>group is a bunch of individuals...........what we need to do is use

>our individual talents and expertise to help compliment the other

>individuals talents and expertise in the group.......all of this to

>accomplish a common goal. Hope this all makes sense.

>

_________________________________________________________________

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March 29, 2004