One for Ten

As is not unusual for me, it's been quite a while between posts. I've wanted to write, and even have a couple of ideas for posts stashed up....but ultimately what drives me to write is emotional release, positive and negative. Lately it's been a lot of negative energy. I've been frustrated with conditions at my employer, as well as the state of EMS in general. That being said, I thought I'd write a post about what keeps those of us in EMS going. 

A friend I went to paramedic school with recently had this status update:

Gotta love the EMS shift with no death, drunks, or drama....just a healthy newborn baby girl! Best job on the world!

That, friends, is in a nutshell what keeps us going. Depending on who you talk to, statistics in EMS range from 10-20% of the calls we run being the "serious" calls. That is, calls for help from people that are in that true life or death scenario. So, for every twenty calls I run, it's a pretty sure bet that 16 to 18 of those are going to be (to use a technical term) bullshit. 

.....47 year old female panicking because she "doesn't know what to eat when her stomach is upset..."

.....chronic drunk we are called to because he was sleeping in public and someone called in a "man down..."

.....same drunk calling because it's cold and he knows the ER is warm...

.....person calling FROM THE ER because the "wait is too long".....

In addition to the bullshit, there are the serious calls that take a little from your soul. It's the loved one that arrests in front of their family, that's too far gone for us to save. Chronically ill kids. Teens in a car wreck from drinking and driving.

The list goes on and on. It can grind one down as well, especially in a busier system. My medic unit averages 18-20 calls per 48 hours (closer to 30 this last rack). That's a lot of calls to wade through to hold out for that one.....

But we do. We all do. We tell war stories around the kitchen table of our "good" calls and take every complaint of chest pain from every drunk seriously, on guard for our 10%. 

When it comes, it is our junky high. Whether it is the sick respiratory patient (not being able to breath has to be one of the scariest things ever) that you can bring back from the edge of respiratory arrest, or the *rare* childbirth (nice job, Billy!), it is a call that stays with you. The "wins" buoy us through the storm, in the dark and frustrating moments that inevitably follow. There is nothing better than knowing that you have made a positive difference in a patient's life. That intimate moment and connection is unlike any other I have experienced.

Lately I have been feeling particularly run down. I rarely see that 10% any more. Coming back to the blog, to some introspection, I again come back to this quote. It helps give me some perspective.

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Until next time....