Re: EMS Leadership

September 20, 2002

Quite a gloomy post. Thank goodness I'm only the piano player.

Donn

EMS Leadership

It's been my experience that EMS leaders are not revered ... they're

lynched! And, the EMS constituency often behaves like swine who kill

their own offspring out of fear, suspicion or post partum rage.

Those who step up to the EMS leadership " plate " should understand that

there are inherent risks. Attempting to change the way EMS behaves,

acts, thinks or believes is professionally perilous and most often

completely unrewarding. In my EMS lifetime, I have witnessed the

" lynching " of many such leaders by a once admiring and appreciative EMS

community. There have been many, but the ones that come to mind include:

Rocco Morando, Norm Mc Swain, Boyd, Jim Page, Bill Roush, R A.

Cowley, Kimball Maull, Don Trunkey and Ken Maddox. One of the few to

escape the angry mob and retire gracefully was Leo Schwartz.

The common characteristic among these EMS leaders is that they are never

satisfied with the status quo; they always push the envelope; they're

not concerned with their popularity; and, they always ask " why? " . Their

presence on the EMS scene was challenging and invigorating for those of

us who were unafraid to question conventional thinking. But for the

majority, their presence eventually led to fear, suspicion and rage

because they held nothing scientifically or materially sacred. They saw

no " givens " or " absolutes " .

Eventually the tide of EMS public opinion began to turn against them. As

the EMS people carried them on their shoulders through the streets of

town heralding their names - they were completely unaware that they were

actually being transported to a tall tree on the outskirts of town, from

which the EMS industry lynches its' leaders.

I have known and interacted with all of the EMS leaders listed above.

While they are all proud of their accomplishments, I believe that they

would all attest that it just isn't worth the effort and personal

sacrifice to attempt to turn 700,000 EMS people into critically

thinking, forward looking and progressive creators of change.

Whether you're Bledsoe, Gene Gandy, Kathy Parkins,

or Donn - you can rest assured that there's a rope waiting at the

end of town with your name on it! If EMS history continues to repeat

itself, it'll not be a matter of " if " , but " when " .

Bob Kellow

September 20, 2002

Leadership... interesting!

But, if you cannot gain the respect of those you wish to lead, how effective

can you be as a leader?

September 20, 2002

Donn,

It does not come easy.

By being a leader... a true leader can take the many different viewpoints and

bring the group to work towards them. There is something more to being a

leader than a given title or some degree or position... leadership is EARNED

not given.

And, I can tell you this... you don't gain the respect of people by making

them feel like you are RIGHT about everything or making them feel like they

are LESS than you.

I cannot give you the formula for it, but the 2 top folks in our organization

[J. Sneed and Dr. S. Benold] have my respect and are looked upon as great

leaders [for our service]. They know how to bring folks together and get them

going on the same game plan, but they have NEVER made it appear as if their

way was the ONLY way. They are both very open to hearing the other side of

the discussion.

WilCo is alot smaller than the STATE, but the one that believes in their

leadership talent will show it... get the right ones to pitch their

objectives and achieve their goal.

Good Luck,

Junior

September 20, 2002

I wonder if the reason we historically crucify (lynch) our elders isn't due

to the method these elders chose to teach us our trade. Perhaps they are

responsible for their own demise and set the stage for our seemingly

self-limiting trade.

They needed medics, so they chose expediency over quality education. We are

(or used to be) taught skills by rote memorization in amazingly short

periods of time. It was monkey se, monkey do. If you see symptom A, you

quickly perform procedure B. If you see symptom C, you immediately push drug

D. They verified our " knowledge " with cursory skills exams and

multiple-guess tests containing three dumb answers and one obvious one.

Later these same mentors came to us saying that there was new evidence

proving we were wrong to do this procedure or that, and that we should be

doing procedure X when we see symptom A instead. In our blitzkrieg training

programs we were never expected to be critical thinkers, so these changes

were difficult for us to understand or accept. We didn't want to believe

that the experienced care we had been providing for our patients for all

these years hadn't been beneficial, or might even have been harmful, so we

planted our feet and argued with the very people who taught us our skills in

the first place. If enough of us resisted, we managed to march the deposed

leader to the edge of town and Bob's proverbial tall tree, and we maintained

status quo.

A example of this mentality occurred recently when Dr. Bledsoe questioned

CISM. He was blasted out of the water by the devotees regardless of

the possibility that evidence exists to prove him correct. To paraphrase one

post, " I used to respect you, but now you do this! " If he is wrong, prove

it. I'm sure he will be mature enough to accept the fact. If he is not

wrong, it is you who should have the maturity to accept the facts. EMS is

not a cult, it is not a religion. It is para-medicine, and medicine is an

evolving science. When are we going to learn that just because we believe

something to be real does not make it so? If the research proves something

to be wrong, it is probably wrong regardless of our personal experience and

anecdotal evidence. If we do not possess the maturity to consider alternate

realities we do not have the right to complain when the rest of the

healthcare professionals treat us poorly. We cannot continue to worship at

the altar of the past if we expect to transcend into the healthcare

realities of the future.

The deposed leaders Bob mentions tried to tell us this, but we didn't want

to listen, so we lynched them instead. Perhaps that is why we remain the

(almost) leaderless rabble we are today, and why new, dynamic leaders fear

to step up to the plate. When are we going to wake up? Those who do not

remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

Regards,