Sorry about the depressing line of posts lately. I’ll cheer up (but still, please read them). Here’s something positive for y’all I am a proud member of my small town’s volunteer fire department. I’ve always been on the volunteer fire department wherever I’ve lived. It is a big part of my life, one that I can’t give up. I can’t imagine not being a member of the volunteer fire department. My father was a volunteer fire chief. My brother is a volunteer fire captain. My uncles, cousins, and friends are all present and past members. It makes me a bigger part of my community. I feel like my community needs me. It is important for me to be around, to be available for my friends and neighbors when they need me the most. I’ve always told “city folk” who come to the country that when they called 911 in the city, someone whose job it was came to help them. When they call 911 in the country, their neighbor gets out of bed. But this post isn’t about that. This post is about camaraderie. This is about my Freaking clothes dryer. My clothes dryer is old. It was made in the 70′s I think, and well… it may have seen better days. A couple of months ago it broke. My wife Gkemtb (who is a volunteer firefighter who I met on the department) came and told me that the clothes weren’t drying very well. I investigated and found, through a muddled process of trial and error, that the dryer tub wasn’t spinning. Crap. So, being the vollie FD guy that I am, I had a plan. I called up Lt. Mike, who in addition to being a full-time and volunteer firefighter/paramedic also owns a small appliance repair business. In short order, he diagnosed the problem, found the belt that had broke, and helped me learn how to fix the problem. He took payment in the form of a coupla adult beverages and back slappin’. So the dryer’s worked for almost a year until three days ago. It quit on me again. So, I did what I always do when I try to fix things. After repeating this procedure I finally narrowed the problem to the fuse box that supplies the 220v service to the dryer. So, hoping that it was going to be an easy fix, I went to the hardware store and bought two new 30a fuses and a continuity tester. After putting them in, my dryer still didn’t work. Tones go off for a car wreck. Made it to the station and made the 2nd truck out… got cancelled enroute. I wish I would have made the scene, a car ended up on top of another. There’ll be pictures because our photographer was on scene. She’s great. She made chocolates and took photos at our wedding. Mike was there, and so was another Mike who’s also a good buddy. They borrowed me a tester to check to see if there was power at the box. Then they told me how to use the tester because, did I mention I’m terrified of electricity? I went home and couldn’t get the nerve up to touch the probes to the wires. I’ve treated some electrocuted victims in my day and don’t wish to count myself among them. Gkemtb was standing by with my radio to get the ambulance (Mike and John) over to the house in the event I fried myself. She woulda done CPR too (I hope). But still, I was scared. Enter Scott, my neighbor and also a volunteer firefighter. He called me something to the tune of “frilly girl” and tested it. Problem found: No power to the box. Unfortunately, he’s not an electrical guy either… although he’s better than me. He recommended that I get someone else to help. Enter Marty, another volunteer firefighter and a neighbor from down the street. He’s an electrician. He was washing his car and was happy to come over and help. Inside of ten minutes he found the problem and had it fixed. Gkemtb had some rhubarb to give him to take to his wife who volunteers to do data entry for the department. Heck yea I’m a proud member of my vollie FD.
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This isn’t a happy post. I love EMS and love being a paramedic. I love the job, love taking care of the patients, and love the challenge, excitement, and challenge. I’ve always said that EMS is an abusive, co-dependent relationship for me. I need it and really, I’ve always thought that it kind of needs me too… But as I’ve hinted at here on the blog before, it’s hard to pay the bills on the salary that a Midwestern paramedic makes in a small community. We can work well over a hundred hours per week, can hone our skills as much as we’d like, and can save lives and alleviate as much suffering as one person can handle, but it isn’t enough to put a full tank of gas in our car every time we need to fill up and also to afford cable television. Heaven forbid that we don’t take our lunches to work or want to take our wives out to a nice dinner. The service that I work for has a cardiac arrest survival rate of between 40-60% (yes! www.callandpump.org) We have advanced protocols, work with a lot of autonomy in the field, effortlessly switch between 911 response and critical care transports, and maintain a 3-5 minute response time anywhere in our community. I carry a critical care reference in my pocket, have to study to keep up with the new changes in our protocols (Coming soon: Field-initiated Therapeutic Hypothermia), and regularly work with physicians to determine the best course of treatment during long-distance critical care transport. Ever maintained a vent, conscious sedation, and 4 drips for an hour-long transport? I do, a lot, and I barely make enough to cover lunch for my trouble. What other healthcare profession would put up with this? Seriously… I mean, are paramedics worthless? According to Salary.com here are some job titles and pay ranges for comparable healthcare positions in my town: Job Title – (percentage of income levels on the right) 10th % 25th % 75th % 90th % Paramedic (EMT-P) $29,659 $34,112 $44,181 $48,896 EMT (EMT-B) $22,285 $25,396 $32,810 $36,449 Registered Nurse (Staff RN) $49,911 $55,582 $67,474 $72,629 Resp. Therapist (RRT) $48,129 $51,740 $60,200 $64,292 Radiology Tech. (X-ray Tech) $39,030 $42,743 $51,168 $55,125 Police Officer $33,661 $41,185 $58,338 $66,432 High School Teacher $31,479 $41,345 $61,293 $69,588 HVAC Mechanic $28,971 $34,026 $46,467 $52,739 Fast Food Cook $13,013 $15,352 $21,257 $24,294 Security Guard (unarmed) $21,809 $25,479 $33,272 $36,698 The Median household income in the Zip Code queried is $43,408 So, there are four job titles that make less than paramedics up there, one of them is the EMT-Basic (and that’s a given), the others are the “fast food cook”, “HVAC Mechanic”, and the “Security Guard”. The RN and the RRT (almost) start higher on the bottom scale than the Paramedic’s top income level. A Police Officer, who by definition works for a governmental agency is lower on the above scale than the RN, RRT, and X-Ray Tech, but tops out higher than everyone but the teacher, RN and the RRT. In addition, the Police Officer has a career advancement ladder and benefits including retirement, healthcare, and other benefits. I just got a high-deductable healthcare policy after I found out that I have no sick time. In addition, I’m close to 10% on the above scale. I thought about writing this post after a good friend of mine who is a HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) Tech told me that he was pretty tired after working last week. He said that he had put in 62 hours and got a WEEKLY paycheck that is more than my biweekly paycheck for working OVER 100 HOURS PER WEEK. He’s a great guy, and he works hard and deserves his money. I’m not saying that he isn’t worth everything he gets. However, last week I saved two lives (Had two “Snatch life from the jaws of death calls”) and took some complicated medical issues in the back of my truck. I taught new EMTs and EMT-Ps and took care of everyone I had contact with to the very best of my ability. I’ve also had some years of college and carry a medical license. Look at the job titles up there. There’s a few of them that can kill people if they have a bad day, however it’s debatable if any of them have more responsibility than a paramedic. There’s some other information that we can draw from the above scale. There are ten job titles up there. Broken down further: Minimum Entry-Level Educational level Certificate Assoc. Deg. Bachelors Deg. Higher Paramedic (EMT-P) X EMT (EMT-B) X Registered Nurse (Staff RN) X Resp. Therapist (RRT) X Radiology Tech. (X-ray Tech) X Police Officer X High School Teacher X HVAC Mechanic X Fast Food Cook X Security Guard (unarmed) X Mid-Career Educational level Certificate Assoc. Deg. Bachelors Deg. Higher Paramedic (EMT-P) X EMT (EMT-B) X Registered Nurse (Staff RN) X Resp. Therapist (RRT) X Radiology Tech. (X-ray Tech) X Police Officer X High School Teacher X HVAC Mechanic X Fast Food Cook X Security Guard (unarmed) X High-End Educational level Certificate Assoc. Deg. Bachelors Deg. Higher Paramedic (EMT-P) X EMT (EMT-B) X Registered Nurse (Staff RN) X Resp. Therapist (RRT) X Radiology Tech. (X-ray Tech) X Police Officer X High School Teacher X HVAC Mechanic X Fast Food Cook X Security Guard (unarmed) X The above standards aren’t based upon statistics, and I can’t find where to get accurate, verifiable information on that. However, from my personal knowledge of the above career types through friends and acquaintances that are in the above professions, this is as close as I can get. I could infer that every EMT-B advances to the paramedic level when wanting to advance their career however some communities only have an EMT-B response and there is no reason for some EMS people to attain the paramedic certification. (Really, why would they when they can make more as any other profession with like educational standards) It is interesting that there are progressive career levels for higher educational levels in the other career paths, but not for EMS people. Are paramedics worthless? Or are we keeping ourselves down? Is there a reason that our salaries are so low? I think that it is because the public doesn’t know what we do, nor have they been made to care. In my community, the taxpayers pay a minuscule amount to the ambulance service compared to the Fire Department, Police Department, Street Department, Sanitation Department, and pretty much everything else. Is it because the public doesn’t care? I don’t think so. I think that as a profession, we accept the offensive compensation because we love the job so much. We accept it, and then work for the services that pay us this because there are no viable market alternatives. Unions have made inroads in improving our pay… but at what cost to the true calling of the profession? EMS 2.0 needs new revenue sources to provide value to our profession. EMS 2.0 needs market valuation for paramedical skills commensurate with our true worth. EMS 2.0 needs people who are willing to become true professionals and hold ourselves to stringent professional standards. EMS 2.0 needs paramedics and EMTs willing to rise to the challenge, and unwilling to accept where we’ve found ourselves. Are we worthless?
Happy 4th America!
I hope everyone is celebrating with friends and family. I hope every on-duty crew is slow today. I hope every station grill has enough propane. I hope everyone remembers what this holiday is for. I hope nobody blows themselves up with fireworks.
Happy 4th everyone.
Usually I don’t get into emotional fluff or “hero-worship” type stuff… but this one’s an oldie but a goodie. I didn’t write it, I don’t know who did… but as I sit here with my beautiful Gkemtb at my side and my kitty on the other side, I wax poetic…
Maybe it’s the beer?
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When God made paramedics, He was into His sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.” God said, “Have you read the specs on this order? A Paramedic has to be able to carry an injured person up a wet, grassy hill in the dark, dodge stray bullets to reach a dying child unarmed, enter homes the health inspector wouldn’t touch, and not wrinkle his uniform.”
“He has to be able to lift three times his own weight. Crawl into wrecked cars with barely enough room to move, and console a grieving mother as he is doing CPR on a baby he knows will never breathe again.” “He has to be in top mental condition at all times, running on no sleep, black coffee and half eaten meals, and he has to have six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands…no way.”
“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” God replied. “It’s the three pairs of eyes a medic has to have.”
“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.
God nodded. “One pair that sees open sores as he’s drawing blood, always wondering if the patient is HIV positive.” (When he already knows and wishes he’d taken that accounting job)
“Another pair here in the side of his head for his partner’s safety. And another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, “You’ll be alright ma’am when he knows it isn’t so.”
“Lord,” said the angel, touching His sleeve, “rest and work on this tomorrow.”
“I can’t,” God replied. “I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk out from behind a steering wheel without incident and feed a family of five on a private service paycheck.”
The angel circled the model of the Paramedic very slowly. “Can it think?” she asked.
“You bet”, God said. “It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in it’s sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop over terrain that any doctor would fear… and it still keeps it’s sense of humor.” “This medic also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim’s family, and then read in the daily paper how Paramedics were unable to locate a house quickly enough, allowing the person to die. A house that had no street sign, no house numbers, no phone to call back.”
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Paramedic. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model.”
“That’s not a leak,” God replied, “It’s a tear.”
“What’s the tear for?” asked the angel.
“It’s for bottled up emotions, for patients they’ve tried in vain to save, for commitment to that hope that they will make a difference in a person’s chance to survive, for life.”
“You’re a genius!” said the angel. God looked somber, stiffened, and said “I did not put it there”.
- Author Unknown
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For more on this emotional, fluffy crap read:
“Enough to Make an Old Medic Melt” and,
“Splashed Sadness, a look at Negative Emotions in EMS”
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