Red Jersey Girl's blog: "emt's"

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children at 3 AM, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns. 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 find 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 to 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 being 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 building fire "Is this a false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?" Or to call, "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, who will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy" again. I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine, squad, or my personal vehicle, 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 parents 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 EMT's out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers back or to here 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 I 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 or 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 Mommy okay?" Not even 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. Of all the things I've lost in life I miss my mind the most!!!!

have you hugged an EMT today? WHY NOT?? HURRY UP & DO IT!!!! Somewhere in the realm of society, located just between the security of sanity and the neurosis which precedes psychosis, there is a group of individuals whos training and actions often make the difference between life and death. This is the group of men and women who make up what is known as Emergency Medical Services. You will find this special group of individuals located in various positions in your cities readied to respond to the next possible disaster which could occur, may it be a car accident or heart attack, readied to respond to a school shooting or a downed plane, hindered only by the natural obstacles of daily traffic. No other group of humanity can carry so many items in their pockets which are strategically located in optimal positions of the body. Perhaps youll find scissors, band aids, tape, chap stick, combs or essential lifesaving sustaining items, but one thing that is certain, the last paycheck has long since met its demise and will not be found within. If they did it for the money there would be none. With an overwhelming desire to sustain the flame of life from the last flicker of a spark which is near spent, this special group of individuals cope on a daily basis with variables which few people could ever tolerate. When things go right the public loves them, the newspapers ignore them and the many lives that have been lost fighting to save a stranger, may rate a article on page twelve, yet their efforts and daily life goes on. Then the earth shaking bill arrives, which automatically turns the very patient they saved and their friends and family hear how terrible the $500.00 bill was, instead of the efforts that saved their life or a family members. As Emergency Medical Services does not generally receive tax dollars such as police and fire agencies. These men and women who make up E.M.S. come from all walks of life, and rarely stand on common ground until they meet you as a result of violence, accidents, and medical emergencies on the streets, housing developments and office buildings then all seems to come together with you in need of their training, their lifesaving skills and their emotional support. E.M.S. personnel lean on each other for support and understanding in sharing horrible calls that cerates a flurry of emotions. They are the people who for a moment at a time that you may need to trust with a life of yourself or loved ones. They are the individuals who crawl into a twisted steel cage which once was a fine automobile, to search for signs of life amongst its occupants and treat them while fuel leaks endangering their own lives so that you may live . They are the calm voice on the other end of the telephone when it seems as though your world is crashing around you and your family. They are the individuals who are the last to win the respect of the public even after they ran in to towers that would collapse. Despite their advanced medical training and certification they are called Ambulance Drivers. They are the first to be brought to court for decisions and actions that were made on the spur of the moment in environments of absolute chaos and often cleared after thousands of dollars of defense money when their decisions are backed up as appropriate. They are individuals who carry no weapons and are attacked frequently, yelled at and spat on, then criticized for defending themselves from assaults from distraught patients or drug addicts who have turned violent. It makes you ponder what kind of dedication it must take to shoulder the responsibility of life and death decisions that must be made in split seconds, and not in a controlled environment most often in inclement weather and dangerous scenes such as Columbine high school were EMS came under fire, and the attacks on September 11, 2001, that injured 119 EMTs and Paramedics and resulted in the loss of life of 13 EMTs and Paramedics, which are a couple of examples faced by this group called EMS. These are the men and women of Emergency Medical Services. These men and women are not Ambulance Drivers.