We have all heard it. We have all seen it. Most of us have felt it ourselves in some way.
“EMS sucks.”
“We are firefighters, we don’t need to be going to medical calls”
“I can’t believe I am always stuck on the ###### medic!”
While I could easily argue that we should care from a public service perspective, I want to approach it from another perspective.
Imagine it is 22:30 and a box alarm is struck. You grumble as you run out to the medic as the other crew loads into the Engine. You turnout and began responding Code 3. Your partner maps you and with a little inspiration in his voice he says “We should be the first due medic, we shouldn’t be medical!”. A grin grows on both your faces. As you weave around traffic driving down the Blvd, dispatch announces that there are reported victims. The battalion arrives and promptly provides a size-up. “Fire Com, show Battalion 1 arrived on a 2 story single family dwelling. We have heavy smoke and flame showing from the alpha side. Strike me a second alarm. E1 will be fire attack, first due medic will be patient care”.
Shit.
It’s about this time when you realize that the patch on your shoulder happens to say “Paramedic” while your partner’s only says “Emergency Medical Technician”. This is now a ‘you’ problem. You realize whatever is waiting for you is for you to fix. When was the last time you intubated? Did you actually check the airway kit or did you ‘check’ the airway kit? Do you remember where the Cyanokit is stored?
This scenario very well could be real for you, me, or the next guy. The outcome is strictly based on how we prepare and train. Is our mindset ready for what we are expected to do? That is a question we can only answer for ourselves. While I was going through my Paramedic internship, two things were instilled in me:
- Be ready to save a human life today
- Don’t let yourself find out that you don’t know what you are doing in the middle of being expected to know what you are doing.
Number 1 is important to me. It was commonly used by the shift BC at the end of the morning meeting. It wasn’t used as a “hell yeah brothers” kind of deal, but rather as a reminder of the expected mindset. It’s the mindset we should strive to carry on our own as it’s the same mind set the public expects us to have.
We need to be ready to take aggressive action to save a victim’s life. Why would we want to find a victim and not continue providing them with what they need to survive? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? From the Firefighter Rescue Survey, we know that a Cyanokit makes a difference in survival for unconscious victims removed from fires.
I can also sense an argument will be made “But we have private EMS to take care of that”. Do they have the training or resources to care for these people? In my experience fire agencies (transporting or non-transport) have better training, resources, and equipment than private EMS, and that does make a difference. And while I agree with some of the sentiments of folks like Search Culture who promote fire resources from not attending every low acuity call in the district, I do think we have a place and a duty in high acuity emergency situations.
In closing, check your rig, know where your Cyanokits are stored and above all:
Be ready to save a human life today
Be safe out there,
‘B’