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Look for the Helpers

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“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

― Fred Rogers

I was planning on writing a happy piece this holiday season. It would have been about family, togetherness, hope, and all of the things the holidays are supposed to truly mean. While I celebrate Christmas at my home, I was planning on speaking of other peoples’ traditions as well. I wanted to tell everyone to have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukkah, and I would have given other appropriate seasonal salutations to those who may celebrate different traditions. This piece was supposed to be about the happy, good things that this time of year is supposed to represent to us all.

And it still is, actually.

The above quote from Mr. Fred Rogers is absolutely appropriate right now. With the recent horrific events that have unfolded in our local area and the nation in the last two weeks it is important to be reminded of the good things that we’re supposed to remember during this season. Mr. Rogers's quote helps us bring that back into perspective. We will always see reminders of the fact that bad things will happen to good people and I fear that we will always struggle with trying to find the reason why. Truthfully, the fact that bad things happen is the reason EMS people have something to do. If bad things never happened then we wouldn’t need paramedics, EMTs, Firefighters, Police Officers, or the military. If bad things never happened, we could go about our lives in relative peace.

And as unfortunate as it is, the fact that bad things happen is a truth of the human condition.

If bad things never happened to good people we wouldn’t be able to see the other side of tragedy. We wouldn’t see the helpers. If bad things never happened we wouldn’t be exposed to the most powerful aspects of humanity. We wouldn’t see compassion. We wouldn’t see heroism. If bad things never happened we couldn’t experience how people come together for good and cause real good to happen in this world. If bad things never happened we wouldn’t see the true power of the human spirit. We wouldn’t see the good if we didn’t experience the evil.

If you listen to an emergency radio you will hear a constant drum beat of bad things happening. You will hear about crimes, about fires, about accidents and injuries, and of people becoming ill. It is incessant and unrelenting in most communities and those of us in the public service know that bad things happen at a rate much higher than what most members of the public allow themselves to believe. It can be quite easy to think that the bad is winning if you listen to the radio long enough. I counter, however, that for every bad thing you hear on the radio you also hear a miraculous fact shortly thereafter. You hear a response. The good answers the bad. You hear someone helping. You hear the fact that someone has decided to charge into the situation to do as much good as they can within a system that our society has built upon intention of helping and doing good. The bad is immediately met by the good.

My favorite quote by Kurt Vonnegut goes “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.” I like it because he trumpets the fact that our society has decided to spend money, effort, and time to help those in need. A fire engine doesn’t judge who it helps, it just helps as it is asked. Firefighters, EMS people, and law enforcement people don’t judge either. We were all called to be helpers and we stand in the company of heroes from all walks of life.

Look around you at your fire station, police station, ambulance base, hospital, or wherever it is you work. Look at your coworkers or your fellow volunteers. When you look at them, realize that you are in the company of a group of people who would risk their lives to help a stranger. Remember that these kinds of people exist in this world. Remember that there are more good people than there are bad people and that there are more helpers in the world than there are those who would seek to cause harm. Remember that good is actually winning, will continue to win, and has already won.

This week as we mourn those lost in the recent shooting incidents, the tragic crash of the REACT helicopter, and all of the other bad things that have happened we need to celebrate those who are the helpers. Celebrate the heroes and the good that comes out of the bad. Celebrate the lives of the helpers who were lost. Celebrate and carry on with their spirit of helping.

This piece really is about what the holidays represent. Hug your children, hug your families, help those in need, celebrate the good in your life and remember what life is truly about. God bless the helpers. God bless the good in life and the fact that there is so much of it to see when we open our eyes. The bad may be shocking, but the good is much more powerful.

Merry Christmas.

Posted by on December 16, 2012 • Filed under: Emergency Medical Services, emotions, EMS, EMS Motivation, EMS Topics, EMT, Fire Rescue Topics, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, Paramedic, Uncategorized

Rockford REACT Crew Memorial Fund

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As you may know, the REACT medical helicopter out of Rockford (IL) Memorial Hospital recently crashed, tragically ending the lives of the three heroes aboard. It’s a tragedy that has profoundly affected the local healthcare and EMS communities. The grief has been palpable and has been expressed far and wide from many communities in Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and beyond. When some of our own are injured or killed while they’re out there just doing what they do it affects us all. We all feel it because EMS is a family. When a tragedy like this one strikes our natural reaction is to want to do something for those directly affected by it. We want to help in any way we can, even by doing something small if it’s worthwhile.

Here’s how you can do just that. The Rockford Memorial Development Foundation has started a fund for the families of the crewmembers killed in the crash. They’re calling it the REACT fund. I have spoken with their foundation and they state that the plans for the fund are to give the total amount collected directly to the families of the three crewmembers, split equally into thirds.

And it’s Christmas and all of the crewmembers have families and kids who will be missing them greatly. I can’t describe how this fund or your support will help them because I don’t know them, but I do know that right now they need to know their loved ones are being cared about by our wider EMS family. They should know that we care about them too, and that their loved ones will be remembered. They need our support and I want you to help see to it that it gets to them.

This is a worthwhile way where the small support from individuals in our EMS family can add up to a big outpouring of care and comfort from all of us. I’ve seen what we can do when we all get together to help our own and now is the time to do that again.

All donations will go through the Rockford Memorial Development Foundation. They have set up a website here: http://www.rockfordhealthsystem.org/REACT.aspx – There is a link on the page where you can donate online in whatever amount you choose, whether it’s $5 dollars or $500 dollars. It’s a worthwhile way to let some deserving family members know that the wider EMS community supports our fallen heroes. Let’s all show them that we care.

I’m also asking all of you who read this to share the web link and the information above through your agencies, networks, and social media friends. I’ve seen the readers of EMS blogs pull together before and I’m asking us to do it again. You can share this page directly, or share the direct link to the Rockford Memorial Development Foundation REACT fund page.

Here’s that link again: http://www.rockfordhealthsystem.org/REACT.aspx

Be safe out there.

Posted by on December 13, 2012 • Filed under: Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Nurse, Emergency room, Emergency Room Nurse, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, Major Incidents, Uncategorized

Be the Glow Worm – HazMat for EMS.

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I am not a glow worm.

Full disclosure – This is a repost from 09/2009 – It deserved a bump-up and to fix the video. Make sure to watch the vid!

Hazardous Materials, or “HazMat” as it is commonly known, is scary stuff. At least for me that is. In public safety circles, they’re mainly the concern of firefighters and I’ve never received training on them outside of the realm of the fire department. My EMS only agencies have always told me that we remain in the “cold zone” and wait for patients to be brought to us after decontamination.

And that’s just fine with me. Ckemtp is NOT a glow worm… did I mention that?

But, since I’m also a firefighter I finally broke down one weekend and gave in to the pressure I was under to get my HazMat Operations certification. 40 hours of class, lots of homework, and some very dry PowerPoint slide shows. After the first weekend of the class there’s some things that I’ve learned and figured out.

1. HazMat’s still scary.

2. Ck’s still not a glow worm.

3. EMS agencies really need to train more on HazMat.

“We know hazmat” you say. And I know that you’re saying it because that’s what I would have said before those last 20 boring hours spent learning that I knew nothing about hazmat. HazMat is something that we take for granted in that we think that it won’t happen in our jurisdiction, or that it won’t affect us on our day to day. I happen to hope that it won’t hit during my duty days.

This video is from Seward, IL. A small town in the middle of a lot of corn that found itself one day having a big problem. The video is from a surveillance camera on the side of a grade school in the middle of town. The vid starts slow, but has a definite “HOLY CRAP!” moment about halfway through. You’ll see what I mean, all hell breaks loose.


 
See? Holy hell on crutches! That’s anhydrous ammonia, a common chemical used in farming (and in methamphetamine production). A tanker truck full of the stuff sprung a leak and flooded the town with a toxic cloud. Thankfully, nobody was killed. There were a few firefighters sent to the hospital, and some very scary moments, but it all turned out to be ok. This one’s from the same school. It’s just as scary.

Remember this, a HazMat incident doesn’t have to be the once in a while overturned tanker truck full of MethylEthylBadJuJu. Any every day response can turn quickly into a hazardous materials incident.

Not too long ago, an EMS only agency that I may or may not work for received a call for an “eye injury” in one of our really rural response areas. This call generated a single ALS ambulance only response out to the farm where the injury happened.

The medic and the EMT responded out to the scene, which was about a 15minute emergent response. Arriving at the farm, they were directed to the dairy barn to find their patient.

Their patient was in a lot of pain.

Apparently, he worked for a dairy services company and was delivering product to the farm when he was injured. If you don’t know much about dairies, milk processing leaves a byproduct called “Milk Stone” which is the dissolved minerals in milk solidifying on dairy equipment. Think of hard-water stains. Dairies use products containing phosphoric acid to clean it out. It’s like Lime Away on steroids. This stuff is pretty nasty. Dairies use it in a diluted form, but the supply companies carry the concentrated stuff. This patient was filling a container with the high-powered stuff to dilute it into the customer’s container when the concentrate fell. He reflexively looked right down at the falling container and got a face full of the stuff when it splashed back up at him.

Do you remember that chemical burn stuff you were trained on? He had them. Do you remember the decontamination training you had? What about proper personal protective equipment, do you have it? Do you know when to put it on? Do you know how? What do you know about the chemical?

While treating the patient, one of the paramedics noticed that his EMS gloves was turning white. It was the acid eating through it. A lot of water was used to irrigate the patient, and the providers, before transporting the patient to the hospital.

This was an everyday incident that actually happened. Think about how you’d handle it, because tomorrow it could happen to you.

And once again, Ck is not a glow worm.

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Posted by on January 20, 2010 • Filed under: accident, disaster, EMS safety, EMS Topics, EMS training, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, HazMat, Major Incidents, Special Operations, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized, Videos, volunteer fire department, volunteer firefighter
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