RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

October 24, 2005

I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

appreciated for what we do and respected as a

profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

will live to see that day.

For decades, police officers and firefighters

were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

respected as professionals in their fields. Did

that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

occur without some hard work.

Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

street over who got to fight the fire while the

house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

it's different now, but changes (and respect)

didn't happen quickly.

Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

as we have people and agencies who are happy to

meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

from those we serve or with whom we work, either

individually or as an industry.

We have to be better educated. We have to set

our own standards higher than outside regulators

set them. As professionals, we have to expect

ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

standards.

Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

to increase minimum educational standards for

beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

take that much time off work.

Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

college; they just have to drive farther. Big

city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

education. And volunteers are some of the most

motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

what they need to do to help their neighbors.

In order to be respected, we must first be

respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

professionals like physicians and nurses...and

the entry fee for respectability in their

professions is higher education. That's a fact

of life.

I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

from the citizens we serve because, after all,

somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

has been traumatized, either physically or

emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

profession. As far as that goes, we've all

characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

" drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

probably karma getting back at us. There are

worse things to be called than " ambulance

driver " .

I guess the bottom line is that there's no

shortcut to respect, folks.

stay safe - phil

__________________________________

Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page!

http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

October 24, 2005

Damn skippy!!! F I D O!!

Crosby

EMT-B

RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

appreciated for what we do and respected as a

profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

will live to see that day.

For decades, police officers and firefighters

were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

respected as professionals in their fields. Did

that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

occur without some hard work.

Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

street over who got to fight the fire while the

house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

it's different now, but changes (and respect)

didn't happen quickly.

Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

as we have people and agencies who are happy to

meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

from those we serve or with whom we work, either

individually or as an industry.

We have to be better educated. We have to set

our own standards higher than outside regulators

set them. As professionals, we have to expect

ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

standards.

Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

to increase minimum educational standards for

beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

take that much time off work.

Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

college; they just have to drive farther. Big

city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

education. And volunteers are some of the most

motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

what they need to do to help their neighbors.

In order to be respected, we must first be

respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

professionals like physicians and nurses...and

the entry fee for respectability in their

professions is higher education. That's a fact

of life.

I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

from the citizens we serve because, after all,

somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

has been traumatized, either physically or

emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

profession. As far as that goes, we've all

characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

" drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

probably karma getting back at us. There are

worse things to be called than " ambulance

driver " .

I guess the bottom line is that there's no

shortcut to respect, folks.

stay safe - phil

October 24, 2005

Damn skippy!!! F I D O!!

Crosby

EMT-B

RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

appreciated for what we do and respected as a

profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

will live to see that day.

For decades, police officers and firefighters

were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

respected as professionals in their fields. Did

that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

occur without some hard work.

Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

street over who got to fight the fire while the

house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

it's different now, but changes (and respect)

didn't happen quickly.

Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

as we have people and agencies who are happy to

meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

from those we serve or with whom we work, either

individually or as an industry.

We have to be better educated. We have to set

our own standards higher than outside regulators

set them. As professionals, we have to expect

ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

standards.

Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

to increase minimum educational standards for

beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

take that much time off work.

Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

college; they just have to drive farther. Big

city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

education. And volunteers are some of the most

motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

what they need to do to help their neighbors.

In order to be respected, we must first be

respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

professionals like physicians and nurses...and

the entry fee for respectability in their

professions is higher education. That's a fact

of life.

I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

from the citizens we serve because, after all,

somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

has been traumatized, either physically or

emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

profession. As far as that goes, we've all

characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

" drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

probably karma getting back at us. There are

worse things to be called than " ambulance

driver " .

I guess the bottom line is that there's no

shortcut to respect, folks.

stay safe - phil

October 24, 2005

" I hear that train whistle blowing............ALL ABOARD " ? Kudos' to ya

Phil, If that isn't the " writing on the wall, I don't know what is.

Berry Ingram, EMT-P

Crane Texas

<http://www.wtest.org> www.wtest.org

Being " over the hill " is much better than being under it!

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Phil Reynolds

Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 10:07 PM

To: ; Paramedicine

Subject: RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

appreciated for what we do and respected as a

profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

will live to see that day.

For decades, police officers and firefighters

were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

respected as professionals in their fields. Did

that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

occur without some hard work.

Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

street over who got to fight the fire while the

house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

it's different now, but changes (and respect)

didn't happen quickly.

Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

as we have people and agencies who are happy to

meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

from those we serve or with whom we work, either

individually or as an industry.

We have to be better educated. We have to set

our own standards higher than outside regulators

set them. As professionals, we have to expect

ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

standards.

Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

to increase minimum educational standards for

beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

take that much time off work.

Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

college; they just have to drive farther. Big

city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

education. And volunteers are some of the most

motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

what they need to do to help their neighbors.

In order to be respected, we must first be

respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

professionals like physicians and nurses...and

the entry fee for respectability in their

professions is higher education. That's a fact

of life.

I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

from the citizens we serve because, after all,

somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

has been traumatized, either physically or

emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

profession. As far as that goes, we've all

characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

" drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

probably karma getting back at us. There are

worse things to be called than " ambulance

driver " .

I guess the bottom line is that there's no

shortcut to respect, folks.

stay safe - phil

__________________________________

Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page!

http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

October 24, 2005

A humble suggestion: invite the media to do ride a longs during EMS

week. They can get a feel for what really happens in the trenches.

Even have them ride out with privates and see what the transfer

business is all about though that would probably put us back to the

ambulance driver mentality again.

Eddie

>

> " I hear that train whistle blowing............ALL ABOARD " ? Kudos'

to ya

> Phil, If that isn't the " writing on the wall, I don't know what is.

>

> Berry Ingram, EMT-P

>

> Crane Texas

>

> <http://www.wtest.org> www.wtest.org

>

> Being " over the hill " is much better than being under it!

>

> _____

>

> From: [mailto:texasems-

l ] On

> Behalf Of Phil Reynolds

> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 10:07 PM

> To: ; Paramedicine

> Subject: RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

>

> I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

> appreciated for what we do and respected as a

> profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

> will live to see that day.

>

> For decades, police officers and firefighters

> were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

> jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

> after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

> cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

> firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

> respected as professionals in their fields. Did

> that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

> occur without some hard work.

>

> Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

> but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

> street over who got to fight the fire while the

> house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

> it's different now, but changes (and respect)

> didn't happen quickly.

>

> Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

> ***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

> starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

> as we have people and agencies who are happy to

> meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

> from those we serve or with whom we work, either

> individually or as an industry.

>

> We have to be better educated. We have to set

> our own standards higher than outside regulators

> set them. As professionals, we have to expect

> ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

> standards.

>

> Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

> to increase minimum educational standards for

> beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

> dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

> opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

> departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

> take that much time off work.

>

> Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

> college; they just have to drive farther. Big

> city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

> Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

> education. And volunteers are some of the most

> motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

> what they need to do to help their neighbors.

>

> In order to be respected, we must first be

> respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

> seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

> professionals like physicians and nurses...and

> the entry fee for respectability in their

> professions is higher education. That's a fact

> of life.

>

> I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

> from the citizens we serve because, after all,

> somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

> has been traumatized, either physically or

> emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

> driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

> profession. As far as that goes, we've all

> characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

> " drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

> derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

> probably karma getting back at us. There are

> worse things to be called than " ambulance

> driver " .

>

> I guess the bottom line is that there's no

> shortcut to respect, folks.

>

> stay safe - phil

>

> __________________________________

> Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page!

> http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

>

October 24, 2005

A humble suggestion: invite the media to do ride a longs during EMS

week. They can get a feel for what really happens in the trenches.

Even have them ride out with privates and see what the transfer

business is all about though that would probably put us back to the

ambulance driver mentality again.

Eddie

>

> " I hear that train whistle blowing............ALL ABOARD " ? Kudos'

to ya

> Phil, If that isn't the " writing on the wall, I don't know what is.

>

> Berry Ingram, EMT-P

>

> Crane Texas

>

> <http://www.wtest.org> www.wtest.org

>

> Being " over the hill " is much better than being under it!

>

> _____

>

> From: [mailto:texasems-

l ] On

> Behalf Of Phil Reynolds

> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 10:07 PM

> To: ; Paramedicine

> Subject: RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

>

> I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

> appreciated for what we do and respected as a

> profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

> will live to see that day.

>

> For decades, police officers and firefighters

> were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

> jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

> after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

> cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

> firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

> respected as professionals in their fields. Did

> that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

> occur without some hard work.

>

> Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

> but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

> street over who got to fight the fire while the

> house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

> it's different now, but changes (and respect)

> didn't happen quickly.

>

> Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

> ***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

> starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

> as we have people and agencies who are happy to

> meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

> from those we serve or with whom we work, either

> individually or as an industry.

>

> We have to be better educated. We have to set

> our own standards higher than outside regulators

> set them. As professionals, we have to expect

> ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

> standards.

>

> Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

> to increase minimum educational standards for

> beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

> dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

> opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

> departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

> take that much time off work.

>

> Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

> college; they just have to drive farther. Big

> city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

> Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

> education. And volunteers are some of the most

> motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

> what they need to do to help their neighbors.

>

> In order to be respected, we must first be

> respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

> seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

> professionals like physicians and nurses...and

> the entry fee for respectability in their

> professions is higher education. That's a fact

> of life.

>

> I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

> from the citizens we serve because, after all,

> somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

> has been traumatized, either physically or

> emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

> driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

> profession. As far as that goes, we've all

> characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

> " drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

> derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

> probably karma getting back at us. There are

> worse things to be called than " ambulance

> driver " .

>

> I guess the bottom line is that there's no

> shortcut to respect, folks.

>

> stay safe - phil

>

> __________________________________

> Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page!

> http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

>

October 24, 2005

A humble suggestion: invite the media to do ride a longs during EMS

week. They can get a feel for what really happens in the trenches.

Even have them ride out with privates and see what the transfer

business is all about though that would probably put us back to the

ambulance driver mentality again.

Eddie

>

> " I hear that train whistle blowing............ALL ABOARD " ? Kudos'

to ya

> Phil, If that isn't the " writing on the wall, I don't know what is.

>

> Berry Ingram, EMT-P

>

> Crane Texas

>

> <http://www.wtest.org> www.wtest.org

>

> Being " over the hill " is much better than being under it!

>

> _____

>

> From: [mailto:texasems-

l ] On

> Behalf Of Phil Reynolds

> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 10:07 PM

> To: ; Paramedicine

> Subject: RE: Spreading the word about EMS.

>

> I'm sure the day is coming in which we'll be

> appreciated for what we do and respected as a

> profession, but I'm not confident that any of us

> will live to see that day.

>

> For decades, police officers and firefighters

> were the immigrant lower class citizens doing

> jobs nobody of proper breeding would do. Now,

> after literally hundreds of years of hard work,

> cops and knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing

> firefighters (I is one of the latter) are

> respected as professionals in their fields. Did

> that respect occur overnight? No, and it didn't

> occur without some hard work.

>

> Mother, Jugs, and Speed may have been fiction,

> but Fire Companies fighting each other in the

> street over who got to fight the fire while the

> house burned to the ground is fact. Thank God

> it's different now, but changes (and respect)

> didn't happen quickly.

>

> Nobody will ***give*** us respect; we must

> ***earn*** it. Respect for the EMS Industry

> starts with respect for EMS people, and as long

> as we have people and agencies who are happy to

> meet minimum standards, we'll never earn respect

> from those we serve or with whom we work, either

> individually or as an industry.

>

> We have to be better educated. We have to set

> our own standards higher than outside regulators

> set them. As professionals, we have to expect

> ourselves and our peers to ***exceed*** minimum

> standards.

>

> Every time somebody posts a letter about the need

> to increase minimum educational standards for

> beginning EMS folks, the list lights up with

> dozens of naysayers. There aren't enough

> opportunities in rural areas. Big city fire

> departments can't afford it. Volunteers can't

> take that much time off work.

>

> Hogwash to all of it. Rural citizens go to

> college; they just have to drive farther. Big

> city fire departments (like mine, the Austin Fire

> Dept.) provide educational incentives for higher

> education. And volunteers are some of the most

> motivated people I've ever seen, and they'll do

> what they need to do to help their neighbors.

>

> In order to be respected, we must first be

> respectable in the eyes of those from whom we

> seek respect. We seek respect from other medical

> professionals like physicians and nurses...and

> the entry fee for respectability in their

> professions is higher education. That's a fact

> of life.

>

> I don't worry about the " ambulance driver " thing

> from the citizens we serve because, after all,

> somebody IS driving the ambulance. Anybody who

> has been traumatized, either physically or

> emotionally, because of a reference to " ambulance

> driver " probably needs toughen up or find another

> profession. As far as that goes, we've all

> characterized patients as " scumbag " , " doper " ,

> " drunk " , " gomer " , or any of a million other

> derogatory words, so " ambulance driver " is

> probably karma getting back at us. There are

> worse things to be called than " ambulance

> driver " .

>

> I guess the bottom line is that there's no

> shortcut to respect, folks.

>

> stay safe - phil

>

> __________________________________

> Start your day with Yahoo! - Make it your home page!

> http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

>

October 25, 2005

----- Original Message -----

A humble suggestion: invite the media to do ride a longs during EMS

week. They can get a feel for what really happens in the trenches.

Even have them ride out with privates and see what the transfer

business is all about though that would probably put us back to the

ambulance driver mentality again.

--------------- end of quote ---------------------------

No disrespect intended to the poster, but there *is* more to EMS than car

wrecks, GSWs, and cardiac arrests. If you try to hide that fact, you are not

only open to the media finding out about the " transfer side " of this field on

their own, but they are likely to misinterpret our purpose in running these

calls the same way as people have over so many years --- you will be labeled an

" ambulance driver " if no one else educates them otherwise.

Example: A *private MICU ambulance service* transports grandma 50 miles from a

rural ER to a cardiac hospital with O2 on her face, nitro and heparin dripping,

the monitor displaying those " rhythms " , constant VS checks, and onboard is the

experienced Paramedic whose older body is just plain worn out and weary of those

9-1-1 adrenaline calls. But, he has the opportunity to educate both the patient

and reporter on unstable angina and restenosis, something that is well beyond

the scope of any taxi driver. In that 50 miles, the media can learn so much

about the patient care we do for medical calls, which simply cannot be gained

during a hot 5 minute run to the local ER with an active bleeder.

Now take that same educational opportunity and explain the conditions and care

needed for those usually uneventful transports involving CVA, ORIF, trach

patients, etc. Now even those " boring " transports to the SNF reveal themselves

as a beneficial arm of EMS, and this level of care should not be hidden from the

media if presented by an educated and dedicated EMT/EMT-I/Paramedic.

You have to face it head on. Will it doom us to the " ambulance driver " sticker?

No. I've personally seen the jaw-drop effect from a reporter while my partner

explained both transports listed above, and the reporter had not even stepped

foot on our ambulance. In fact, the reporter wasn't there for us, but was

covering some other event at the hospital. There was obvious awakening for the

level of care we provide that she was not previously aware of, and after the

education, even fully understood and respected the needs for our " handle with

care " rehab patients. She viewed us in a new light, calling my partner the

" road doc " ... not an " ambulance driver " in only a span of 20 minutes sitting

around the ER with nothing else better to do but wait and chat.

The media needs to see all aspects of EMS under the guidance of experienced and

respected crews, both prehospital and transfer. Sweep the transfers under the

rug and you'll leave it to the media to learn about these calls on their own...

and all they'll see is " Taxi " .

Just my two cents,

Kim Pelletier

October 25, 2005

But media DOES ride with EMS. Most every company has this occur. Obviously

moreso in the larger cities. The reporters get convinced quickly. It doesn't

convince the public however. After years of TV depicting EMS (most favorably I'm

convinced...e.g. what's seen on the news and on TLC, etc.) there is enough

evidence that most informed citizens know paramedical personnel do quite a lot

and have a difficult job.

Phil is correct - It takes a long time for the public to think better of us and

we won't (I'm sure I won't) see it in our lifetimes. I'll hope for the younger

EMT's and medics however. It hasn't been a long time yet though. It really is

(still) a developing industry and is young.

I have a much bigger problem with the medical community maintaining a low view

of us. They should have much more interest in us but don't. Unfortunately, we

didn't evolve more from medicine. We evolved from funeral homes and " rescue

squads " . From college kids running station wagons and raised-roof vans in

exchange for free room and board. And the public can see that in one town you'll

get a crew that's so despicable, poorly equipped, and incompetent one has to

gasp and in another a crew that's so incredibly professional one is amazed how

they can be so good.

At least I know I'll die haven known EMS personnel who I couldn't possibly have

a higher respect for. And with the hope that sometime in the not-so-distant

future these folks have replaced all of the others.

Don

>>> kim@... 10/25/05 7:06 AM >>>