Do you realize this?
I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 6 in the morning as I
check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and found none. I start CPR
anyway hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late.
But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible was done
to try and save his life.
I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of
soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout
gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of b eing able to see
absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too
familiar with.
I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a call, Is this a false alarm
or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What Hazards await me?
Is anyone trapped?" Or to call and ask what is wrong with the patient? Is it
minor or life threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for
us with a 2x4 or a gun?
I wish you could be in the emergency room, as a doctor pronounces dead,
the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past
25 minutes, knowing she will never go on her first date or say the words, "I
love you Mommy", ever again.
I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the ambulance or
engine or cruiser, the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the pedal,
my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you fail to yield the
right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic. When you need us however, your
first comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!"
I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years
from the remains of her automobile. What if this was my daughter, sister, my girlfriend or a friend? What were her parent's reaction going to be when they opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?
I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my
parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not
come back from the last call.
I wish you could know how it feels dispatching officers, firefighters and
Paramedics out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no
one answers back or to hear a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife needing assistance.
I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally and sometimes physically
abuse us or belittle what we do, or as they express their attitudes of "It will
never happen to me". I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and
mental drain of missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in
addition to all the tragedy my eyes have seen.
I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save
a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in time of
crisis, or creating order from total chaos.
I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy tugging at
your arm and asking, "Is my Mommy okay?", not being able to look in his
eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say. Or to have to
hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having CPR done on him
as they take him away in the Medic Unit. You know all along he did not have
his seat belt on. A sensation that I have become too familiar with.
Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us...I wish you
could though.
KEEP SENDING THIS ON. APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT THE LOCAL FIREFIGHTERS, EMS PARAMEDICS, 911 DISPATCHERS, and LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IN YOUR AREA. ONE DAY THEY'LL PROBABLY BE SAVING YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU SEE THEM COMING WITH LIGHTS FLASHING, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY QUICKLY, AND THEN PRAY FOR THEM !!!
