Be Careful Out There.

Link 1.

Link 2.

Link 3.



I used to work for that company once upon a time, and I had the misfortune to wreck one of their trucks on the highway. It was NOT a good day for me, or for Atlantic Ambulance. Thankfully in the wreck that I was involved in, no one was seriously hurt. The truck shown in the pictures attached was one of the trucks that I actually worked and transported patients in.

Please keep the two EMTs, their families and the family of the patient in your prayers in this hard time for all of them.

And remember, be careful and safe out there.

--Jim

The only constant in life is change...

About 9 months ago I was hired to work for the local ambulance service. When I first started, I quickly realized that things were different then what I'd been exposed to previously. Not better, but not worse either. Different.

Perhaps the biggest difference was that at the local service there is a paramedic on every ambulance that responds to 911 emergencies. New Jersey (that place where I cut my teeth on the ambulance) is different. I've mentioned it before.

Anyway, the war stories at the new service always seemed to revolve around the paramedics, and the runs they'd be on. Their partners were very very rarely mentioned.

Initially, the fact that the EMT's in the story were glossed over annoyed me. "You've got to do BLS before you can do ALS." and "Paramedics save lives, EMTs save Paramedics." were quotes that I was known to use at home on a regular basis.

Well, things change. I'm 9 or so months into it, and I've realized (generally by talking to the different medics that I've had the chance to work with, but also through my own observations) that most of the EMTs working for the service are green. Like, fresh out of school, no street experience, never taken a blood pressure in the field green. Where in NJ I was an adequate EMT, at new job I have paramedics requesting me as a partner, because they think highly of me.

I don't think I've gotten better, I just think that the standards are different here. I know the emphasis is...

Nature....

While taking a hike in the woods, please be smart... don't walk across a fallen tree suspended 15 feet in the air above a creak.

If you insist on doing so, please try not to fall.

If you must fall, please fall where the EMS guys can get to you without a ton of issues...

The full story will come out sometime later.

"Don't worry....

....when you feel something, worry when you don't."

Capt. Cragian, Law and Order SVU

The same can be said about EMS, when you stop havi g feelings about the runs you're making, and the patients you're treating it's time to hang up the scope, or at least take a nice long break from it all.

-- Posted From My iPhone

EMS Training

It is my recommendation (though I be a lowly EMT-B) that after obtaining your EMT-B certification, you spend some time riding on the street (the slower the service, the more time you need) before you decide to go to Paramedic school.

You look like a fool when the questions you're asking the preceptor medic are things that as an EMT-B, you MUST know.

That is all.

Paramedic School

Tonight, I embarked on the epic journey that is medic school.

Baring any unforeseen issues (I decide to give up, or move away to find an engineering job), I should be starting my ambulance internship in about a year, and ready to test sometime just before December 2010.

Hold on for a wild ride.

Shit Magnets...

Anyone who has ever spent any time in EMS will know exactly what I'm talking about. Sometimes they're referred to as a black cloud, but in NJ we always called em shit magnets. You get into an ambulance with them, and you get the feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach. You just KNOW that you're going to be stuck on run, after run, after run.

Maybe you should have packed a lunch?!?!?! (We gave one of the local firefighters a packed lunch after he took 1 run with one of our EMTs. I think it was like 6 runs later (after passing the firehouse multiple times with the guys waving and laughing at him) that he finally managed to get out of the ambulance. (And marathon runs like that will take it out of you in the worst way.)

Anyway, a couple of years into my career as a volunteer EMT in northern NJ, we're covering the local fair. It's evening (we were cooking hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner [fair food is good, but gets expensive when you live at the place for more than a week.]) We just happened to overhear one of "our" fire departments doing a self-dispatch from the firehouse (apparently the dispatch tower was down?) for an MVA in our primary. The crew on duty that evening jumped in one of the ambulances and put themselves in service to the call. It wasn't long after they started responding that the updates started coming in from the scene.

"We're going to need another ambulance, multiple patients to be transported." Was radioed from the firefighters on scene to headquarters.

A second crew was hastily put together and put themselves in service to the accident scene.

Seconds later: "Dispatch, get me extrication for a door pop." (Our squad in the area was running rescue at the time [and they still should be...in my humble opinion]) We had a rescue guy at the fair with us, but I was as close as they could get for a second rescue guy (and I know just enough about rescue to get myself in trouble.) I got to ride shotgun to the job.

We pull up on scene and we're directed to the vehicle that has a door that needs-a-poppin. Only the door isn't jammed, and we managed to get it open with handtools only. Local fire chief and I bent that door so far back it was junk by the time we were done with it.

We end up using the rescue truck as a supply box, and putting our patient on a backboard. We load her into one of the ambulances on scene, and I get directed to maintain patient contact. OK, this I can do. Shortly, a second EMT with a second patient is put into the bus with me, and the Shit Magnet (mentioned in the first paragraph) gets behind the drivers seat.

We're the first crew to leave the accident scene, leaving the other patients in the more then capable hands of the other 2 ambulance crews on scene (we ended up with 4 vehicles on location). On the way to the ER, patients are stable, no major complaints (as far as I remember anyway). We're coming down the hill into the town were the ER is located, I've called ahead and given a report, when one of the dispatchers gets on the radio and tells SM to "go home." (this was a fairly regular occurance for us...). I don't remember the rest of the conversation, but I did chime in by sticking my head through into the cab of the bus and saying. "SM, I love you to death, but if I get stuck in this damned ambulance with you for the rest of the night, I'm gonna be pissed!"

We finish the transport, and manage to restock our ambulance that had been stripped of backboards and other important equipment. We manage to leave the ER will a fully equipped truck, so we're ready to go on the next job. We head back to the fair, stopping off at Dunkin Donuts on the way.

We turn ONTO the access road for the fairgrounds, and SM turns to me (I'm still in the back) and says, "See, we made it back, no problem."

Immediately, as if God is laughing at us:

"Dispatch from [the fair], start us a CAD, we have reports of CPR in progress on the fairgrounds.

I groan, look at SM in the mirror and say "GREAT, thanks, love you too. Oh well, ask 'em where we need to take this bad boy."

Ended up treating the CPR, and saving his life. Awesome feelings got better a year later, when the patient walked into the first aid station to THANK us for saving his life. He was back to dance the next year!

That was an awesome feeling!

EMS Article

AD puts up an awesome article over at EMS1.com. Well worth your time and effort. Check it out.

(H/T Lauren)

Stupid People...

Keep EMS in business.

I hope she recovers successfully, and doesn't have too much permanent disfigurement, but I wouldn't bet on it in this case.

How dumb do you have to be to soak your hair in gasoline, indoors, in the middle of winter?

That's just ASKING for trouble.

Good Information

When I was but a wee little lad, well, 17 years old, I had the opportunity to take the EMT class offered in my little rural county of NJ. As part of taking my EMT, I was taught some very very important rules, one of which was the simply, and yet undeniable truth that as an EMT, it is critical that:

"You never upset the dispatcher, they get to tell you where to go, and can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. Whatever you do, never, ever, EVER, piss off the dispatcher."

I can say, from experience that dispatchers do in fact have an extremely difficult and stressful job. While working for the ambulance corporation after I graduated college, I had the opportunity to dispatch for several shifts. Probably the most stressful day I've ever had at work was the day that I sat behind the dispatching screen and had to make sure my trucks got to the right place, on time, and picked up the right people.

Unfortunately, as much as that rule may be critically important when it comes to dealing with dispatchers, I am about to break it, well, maybe just bend it. I hope that my dispatcher readers will forgive me.

August, I think 2007, although it might have been 2006, I'm not sure. The squad is in the middle of fair week, which is basically 10 days of at least 14 hour days (often longer.) The fair shut down relatively early this evening, and the ambulances returning to the station make a small convoy. Just as I reach the station parking lot, the tones sound, and send us on a run. The run was dispatched as a suicidal female, which a leg injury. (pay attention, this is going to be important later.)

Because of the scattered nature of duty crews during the fair, the crew for the evening is scattered around the four winds. (Translation: we aren't sure where they are.) One of them was in the mini-convoy of ambulances, so she's in the parking lot ready to head to the run. I offer to ride along with her, so the crew is complete. Just as we're getting ready to put the rig in service, actual crew member 2 pulls in. I offer to bail, but they decline. In service we go.

Half way to the job, we get a radio call that the 3rd actual member of the crew will meet us half-way there. Again I offer to jump out, and drive his truck back to the station, but the offer is declined. We continue onto the job, and arrive on location at the same time the first responders from the local fire department arrive on scene. The state troopers are already on location. This shouldn't be too bad.

Grab the gear, say hello to the first responders, walk to door, knock.

No answer.

Knock on door.

No answer.

Knock on door.

"Hey guys, over here," says the state trooper from the side of the house.

Walk around the back of the house to find the following scene: One trooper walking in front of us, one trooper in the back yard (flashlight in elbow, off), a middle aged couple is standing in the back yard, probably about 25 feet from the back wall.

"Hey troop, what's going on?"

"She was drinking, got emotional, and either jumped, or slipped off the deck."

"OK"

As we walk up, the crew heads towards the middle aged lady standing in the backyard. As a general rule, she seems to be alert and oriented, knows what's going on. Doesn't seem emotionally upset, etc.

As we approach, we're discussing if our patient needs to be backboarded. She fell, which calls for it, but she's up and walking around, which probably means that any damage that might have happened would have happened already. We decide that just as a precaution, looking at the deck, we're going to go ahead and backboard here for transport.

I approach the middle aged man, whom I presume is the husband of the patient, and attempt to gather information. I think the trooper overheard me start asking questions about the man's wife, and realized my mistake.

"That's not her, she's over there."

Turn around to see one of the troopers had turned his flashlight on, and is pointing it at the ground almost underneath the deck, where a young lady (late teens, early 20's) is laying on the ground.

"Oh, ok," we repond. Only, as we approach the patient, it quickly becomes evident that in fact, she is NOT ok, and the situation is NOT ok. Patient is responsive, but only to extremely loud, or painful stimuli. She smells like alcohol, won't answer questions appropriately, and is generally combative.

Take a quick look at the deck, and realize that it's at least 20 ft off the ground, which makes the mechanism of injury significant, which translates to a recommended ALS response, and a consideration of transport to the trauma center. The semi-conscous nature also calls for ALS, and a possible trauma center, because we can't tell if it's alcohol, or a fall that is causing her to be semi-conscious and combative.

I run back to the rig, call dispatch and have them start ALS, and put the helicopter on standby. Run back and check on the crew, and ask K if he wants the patient to fly. We're not sure we need to, but the trauma center is a good 45 minutes from where we are standing, and we're not sure we're going to get a medic. At that point, dispatch comes back on the radio and tells us that indeed, we are not getting a medic, as the nigh unit is tied up at the moment, and we'll call our dispatch when they are free.

We make the decision to fly the patient to the trauma center. We package her on the backboard, and as we get ready to move to the rig, for further eval, and to begin transport, the medic unit signs on the air, looking for an update from our crew (they must have been almost clear at the local ER.)

For whatever reason, my portable radio won't reach the medics, so I call one of them on the phone, and give him the run down on the patient. The medics are understandably questioning how a emotionally disturbed patient with a leg injury has transformed into an ALS run, but settle down when I explain what's going on. We agree to meet at the landing zone for the helicopter.

We do the transport, and at one point during it, patient stops breathing, and then starts on her own again. We finish the transport, meet the medics, and they do their thing. They aren't sure the patient needs to fly either, but we can't rule it out, so we let the bird continue in.

Ends up the patient is transported to the trauma center, and is treated and released, no permanent damage.

The part of this story to make note of, we were dispatched to an emotionally disturbed patient with a leg injury. Both of those calls are BLS only. I'll give the dispatcher credit, it was an EDP, and she had a leg injury, but the whole, jumping off a second story deck, and being semi-consious, that's just a LITTLE important! We walked into a job and got blind sided, which should happen very very rarely!

Make sure the information that you get and pass along is as good as it possibly can be. The little pieces of information are often the most critical and are always the ones that are overlooked! (this holds true for everything, not just EMS.)

Dog CPR

Thanks to Ambulance Driver.

First Code

I guess that most of an EMS career can be summed up as a series of firsts. In my time volunteering and responding on the ambulance, I was lucky enough that very few of my calls ever became routine. Even though many of my calls stand out, some stand out far more than others.

One of the calls that stands out in my mind is the very first time I ever witnessed a cardiac arrest. Now, I'd practiced how to handle a cardiac arrest in EMT class, but nothing quite prepares you for the first code.

Let me paint the picture for you a little bit: it was an extremely hot day in early August in 2002, and my volunteer EMS agency was providing first aid at the county fair. At the fair, and as a probationary member on the squad, I was not allowed to take one of the on grounds radios if I was going off on my own. I was wandering the fair grounds that night with a few of my friends when I heard it over the squad main radio:

"Headquarters from station 3"

"Go ahead Station 3"

"Can you start us a CAD and dispatch ALS. We have a reported cardiac arrest on the fairgrounds."

"Received Station 3."

At this point I left my friends and went looking for the call to see if I could help. It happened that I was only one lane over from where I was with my friends so I located the scene in a fairly expedient manner and even still by the time I made it to the patient there were already about 8 EMTs on scene, along with about an ambulances worth of equipment.

The best way to describe the situation for anyone who has never seen a code being run is "controlled chaos." people are going way and every which way. The squad I ran with was a BLS agency only and even still all of the following tasks were being undertaken simultaneously:

Supplemental oxygen being prepped
Ventilations being given
Airways being prepared and inserted
Compressions being performed
AED being attached and power up
Transport being prepared
Information being gathered from family members
Along with some sort of control being orchestrated.

I can honestly say that I was overwhelmed and don't remember exactly what happened on the call. I can tell you that we were on probably the busiest part of sidewalk in the whole fairgrounds as we were located in between the midway and the restrooms. I know we shut down that walkway for the remainder of the incident. I know that we brought an ambulance onto the grounds ( which was and is still not SOP). I know that the patient did not survive and was probably dead before hitting the pavement. I also know that the call was rough on some of the EMTs that I ran on the squad with.

I know it changed me, and it's not a memory that I'll soon forget.

Line of Duty Death

I was cruising around the blogsphere today, and happened across this post over at Medic Three.

It appears that Mark Davis was shot and killed by a patient while on an emergency run. The worst part is, according to the news reports that I've read about the incident since, it appears that EMT Davis and the rest of his crew were doing everything they were supposed to, at least according to the book.

I've never agreed with the prohibitions of firearms in relation to emergency services, although the people who develop the policies think they are sound. I'm not sure that having a firearm would have helped in this case, but it would have offered other options to the crew...

Mr. Davis, RIP, and thank you for your service. Your life was ended far too soon. May God welcome you into Heaven's Brigade.

HEAVEN'S BRIGADE

Did you know there's a Fire Department in Heaven?
I heard Cap tell that sorrowful lad.
The young boy stared, working over the words he'd just been given.
Cap, do you think God's got a spot on the truck for my dad?
Cap smiled, even though you could tell his heart was heavy, and said,
You bet son, as he roughed the hair on the boy's head.
Timmy looked up, his sadness, for now, gone.
Cap went on, holding back the tears that were trying to fall.
They've got the biggest, reddest fire trucks you ever saw,
And they keep them all cleaned and ready,
Just in case they get a call.
Of course they don't get many,
Bein' in Heaven and all.
But God knew this, so right next to them He made,
A great big tree, that puts out a lot of shade.
And each day they have at least one run,
Down the streets of Heaven, leading the afternoon parade.
That's been years ago now,
And in that time, things have changed alot.
Cap, he's been retired, and I some how, made it to Chief.
And Timmy, He's just Tim now, down at station two,
And, I must say, one of the finest Captains on my crew.
The day came, the worst of any other,
When we have to say farewell to a fallen brother.
I watched, as Tim walked over to that hero's son,
And share some words, just as my Cap and Tim had once done...
Did you know there's a Fire Department in Heaven?............

Coffee

I know that I haven't posted often enough to have picked up a regular group of readers. For those of you that do manage to make it here and continue to return for my scribbling, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
That being said, I realized that I have done a bunch of posts regarding ambulances or EMS, and a bunch of posts about guns and stuff. But I'm remiss for not putting up a post about coffee.

To some people, coffee isn't that big a deal. I even know some people who don't drink coffee. I enjoy a nice relaxing cup of coffee in the evening and in the right company (that might include just myself). For the most part, I'll never turn coffee down, morning, noon, or night. I start every early morning with at least a cup and usually two of them, just to get myself going.

Some of the happiest memories in my life occurred when coffee was present, or j was in the process of getting coffee. The ambulances at my volunteer squad didn't know how to pass the Dunkin Donuts without stopping off and when I was working paid transport, some of the guys used to navigate with different Dunkin Donuts as reference points along the way. I've killed more hours sitting at a Dunkin Donuts probably than any other store, excepting maybe the local gun shop. I've started relationships in coffee shops, and I've had relationships end in coffee shops. I cant forget to mention that my first meeting with my current girlfriend occurred at a Starbucks. In some regards, a coffee shop is one. Of the places where I am most at home.

Given my choice, I'd start every morning with either a large or an extra large Dunkin Donuts regular coffee light and sweet (lots of cream and sugar). I actually considered not moving to Indiana because there was no DD in the city I was moving to. I still miss DD coffee, and make sure to treat myself whenever I see a DD! (just a note that there are DD stores in the terminals of both Chicago and Dallas airports!!!)

Oops, off to make a cup!

Introduction to EMS

So I was told the other day that my blog needs more EMS stories and content. Although I'm not active on he ambulance like I was, I do have a couple of old stories floating around in my head.

When I first joined the volunteer first aid squad in June of 2002, I had already been a firefighter for about 3 years. I honestly expected them to be very similar atmospheres. I made it clear to the squad when I started that I was going to be a firefigter first. At least I had thought it was clear. See, about a year before I joined the first aid squad, the fire department decided they were going to start an EMS unit to help the local volunteer squads. At the time, in the firehouse, EMS was considered a second priority, meaning that if I went to a working fire with the fire department, they'd use me for firefighting, as opposed to EMS. They did have some people who did not have any fire training, who would be used for EMS at the fire jobs. I wanted that to continue on after joining the squad.

I joined the EMS unit in the fire station, and went through training to become an EMT, while most of the guys were content with a lower level of training. When I graduated EMT class, and the fire department started taking runs (I tested 2 weeks prior to the runs commencing), I was an EMT running with a bunch of first responders, and we were ALL inexperienced, so we had no institutional memory to help us. After a couple of months, I realized that I wasn't learning anything, and my comfort level was improving. I decided that I needed to start running EMS with people who could teach me better skills and help me learn, but I still wanted my priority to be on the fire station.

I first realized that EMS is a completely different animal from the fire house the first time I was at the squad house and a run was dispatched. See, my adrenaline jumped, and I was half-way to the bay when the guy I was meeting with motioned me back to my seat and told me there was a duty crew who would be handling the call. We would stay at the station and provide a backup crew if necessary.

I was floored, and couldn't believe what he was telling me. I was pumped, ready to go save a life, and then I was sitting on my hands.

Later in my time at the squad house, I would learn to throughly enjoy the small unit cohesion that I got to experience in the squad house. I enjoyed it so much, that I started spending less and less time at the fire house, and more and more time at the squad house. I loved my crew like family, and in some ways, I'm closer to them than I am to my own family.

Good Samaritan Laws....

This news article that came out of California is extremely troubling.

Without knowing all the details, and without having researched the actual code in California (hey man, I have a hard time understanding the legal language... I'll happily follow most any law, just present it in a way that everyone can understand!) the story scares me.

While I was going through my EMT-B training in New Jersey, it was explained to me that although there was not a legal requirement to come give aid as a Good Samaritan, you might personally feel that you had a moral obligation to do so. If you chose to act (at least as it was explained to me), and provided care up to your level of training, and were not negligent in your care, thenyou were covered under the Good Sam laws.

That is, as an EMT-B, if I'm driving down the road and witness a car accident, outside of my jurisdiction, or when off duty, I have no obligation to stop, regardless of what kind of vehicle I'm in (ambulance included, although it looks bad for the agency you're representing). If I chose to stop, as long as I provided care up to the level of an EMT-B, was not negligent, and didn't exceed my standard of care, I would be covered. I wasn't allowed to act as an ALS provider, and start and IV, or tube somebody, but I could take C-Spine precautions, and if the equipment was available, start to package the patient.

If my brother was driving down the same road, and stopped to help, as long as he did what he felt was necessary, then he should have been covered (my brother doesn't have any sort of emergency training). Apparently, the woman in California fit into this mold, and is now being sued by her "friend." And the California Supreme Court said it can go forward.

Disgusting... just disgusting.

What's in my pockets!

EE posted a question and answer from Ellie that I thought was pretty cool, so I went ahead and stole it from her:

Ellie asks: What do you carry in your pockets at work?

I'm going to go ahead and break this down into four different sections, because the items change depending upon where I am. Two are EMS related, and two are every day life related. I don't run EMS as a profession anymore, and don't get to spend nearly enough time on the ambulance every week. But I remember those days. OK, here we go:

At Work:
On my belt: Cell Phone (personal) (left side), Cell Phone (issued) (right side), Radio (sometimes) (left side)
Right Back pocket: Usually a pair of gloves, although occasionally a hand tool of some kind (crimps come to mind), also a notepad when in the field.
Back Left: Wallet, and Surefire E2e if my pants do not have a cargo or carpenter pocket.
Front left: keys, change, etc.
Front right: Pocket Knife, occasionally a pen
Cargo Pockets: Usually at work I'm in just plain jeans, but sometimes I have carpenter or cargo pants on. In that case, the Surefire light gets moved to the right side cargo pocket if applicable.

Not at work:
On my belt: Cell Phone (personal) (left side), handgun (right side, concealed), spare mag (left side)
Right Back pocket: Empty
Back Left: Wallet.
Front left: keys, change, etc.
Front right: Knife (see above)
Cargo Pockets: Surefire - usually wear carpenter pants off the jobsite.

When I still lived in NJ, I had two main methods of dress for riding the ambulance. I wore both, depending upon my mood, and the particular look I was going for.

The more casual look that I often used around the squad house consisted of jeans and a job shirt. I would carry everything indicated above, except for the handgun (yeah... try carrying a handgun in NJ and see how you like the results....). Also added to the belt, 24/7 in NJ was a pager, and a glove pouch. They went on the belt as part of getting dressed in the morning, and came off at night when getting ready for bed. In addition, I carried a pen in my jobshirt pocket, and usually a patient information pad in my right rear pocket. Finally, I also ALWAYS wore boots, usually 8" side zips.

Whenever I rode the truck, I made sure I had a radio. Two distinct reasons for that particular trait. On one instance, while riding as a volunteer, I managed to get left at a bad MVA scene by myself, with a jump bag and a radio. The other two guys on my crew took the critical patient to the landing zone to meet the helicopter. I was on my own. The other reason I always carry a radio, is I've learned that stuff goes downhill too quickly sometimes, and that's not the time to be running back to the truck to call dispatch (did enough of that as well.)

While dressed casually and riding on the ambulance I used an FDNY style radio strap from RadioTech. The strap rode comfortably, and allowed me to take the radio and stuff off and hang it on a chair while not on a run.

For a more uniformed, and some would argue, professional look, I usually dressed in a polo shirt and EMS cargo pants, or Dickies, 5 pocket pants (the ones with the cell phone pocket on the right leg). Pen was carried in the neck of the golf shirt.

For this uniform, if I was planning on doing EMS (as opposed to a transport shift), I actually wore a police style nylon duty belt (yes, go ahead and laugh), that had everything I could ever possibly need on it. I carried 4 sets of gloves, L, nitrile, a pager, a cell phone, a radio, a tool holster (shears, mini-maglight, leatherman), and a Surefire 6P flashlight for lighting my way.

If I was wearing cargo pants, my right pocket had shears and 2 pens on the tool loops, and a patient info pad in the pocket itself. If I was wearing the Dickies pants, I had the info pad in the cell phone pocket. I carried the stethoscope around my neck (yes I know it's a no-no), or in my left cargo pockets, depending on specific situations.

When I would work a transport truck for 12 hours, I'd carry a duffel bag with the following: a change of uniform, a windbreaker (also made a nice rain jacket), a flashlight, spare batteries, a window punch and a spare knife. I also usually had a paperback, and some kind of study material.

Yeah I used to carry a ton of stuff, but most of the stuff I carried, ended up being invaluable at least once!

--Jim

I'm with EE on this one...

To my whole readership, all 2 of you, and if there are more of you, seriously, shout out and give me a little encouragement...

Head over to Backboards and Bandaids and listen to EE, or just head over to Musings of a Highly Trained Monkey. They're asking for a whole $5.00, and I know all of us can afford to spend that much. The cause is extremely worthwhile, and the donation is not much at all.

EMS is really one of those jobs that is more then a job. It is actually a calling, and is one of the few jobs that I would consider doing even if I had all the money in the world. The people are great, and the brothers and sisters (and parents) I have made along the way are irreplaceable.

I'd just like to share this with anyone who runs EMS, works in emergency medicine, or provides emergency services.

Partners - Author Unknown at this time. If you have more info, please send it along.

Side by side we race through the night
With blaring siren and flashing lights...
A life's at stake, a precious soul,
Perhaps too late, beyond our control...
Times like this have come before.
Never quite knowing just what's in store...
When we arrive, our actions as one.
No thoughts need be spoken, just simply done...
To soothe a child's cry, to ease the pain.
Knowing times like this will come again...
Though it's done many days a week
The bond between us is quite unique...
Different than that of a man and wife.
For we can say we've saved a life...
To some it may just seem routine.
The things we've done, the sights we've seen...
But you and I know it's changed our hearts.
The ways we've seen life torn apart...
And seen life begin new and fresh.
All the while praying we've done our best...
Some day another will take our place.
A youthful still unknown face...
But never will time cloud my view.
Of all the thins I've shared with you..
for we are Partners...


Thank you.

Guns on College Campuses

Larry, over at Monster Hunter Nation, hands out a good frisking to some girl named Elizabeth who commented on his blog after his post about students in Utah being allowed to carry on campus. Go give him a read and then come back here for a little moreAs someone who graduated college in the recent past, this is an item that's close to my heart.

I always acted the same way regardless of if I was on campus, or off campus. While it's true that I had a little more lee-way then most students on a campus, because I knew all of the security officers (EMS will earn you that kind of respect), I was always on my best behavior. I always acted like a responsible adult.

Even at the ripe old age of 23, and nearly 24, I can count the number of times that I've been drunk on one hand, and I can probably count the number of times I've had something, make that anything, to drink on two hands. Never once while drinking was I tempted to pull out a firearm, and wave it around. In a similar manner, in the last year of carrying, I've never been tempted to pull my firearm out in public. The thought of doing so, without an extremely good reason, boggles my mind. By good reason, I mean I'm about to use my firearm to stop a forcibly felon, and chances are, it's against me or mine.

My point is this, crossing a magical border onto a school campus, or into the post office (federally prohibited place) does not change who I am, does not mean I'm going to go off the cuff. Crossing onto campus does not make me any less a responsible armed citizen, then it does make me any less of a trained and certified EMT. Why do politicians, any of them, or school bureaucrats and administrators, feel the need to deny me my rights?

While I'll fully admit that many of the guys I went to school with would have no interest in going through the hassles it takes to get a permit. That's fine, but what makes a college campus a magical place that needs to be gun free.

Can anyone answer that? Maybe post it in my comments. I would love to hear your ideas.

Too true... Funny Ambulance Cartoon

Stolen from Cheating Death.

This was just too funny!