Are You Taught To Hate Your Field?
Why on earth is the healthcare provider education system so hell bent on burning people out before they’ve even got their license in hand? At least that’s the way it seems. Maybe it’s just a regional...
View ArticleFor My Dear Friend
What might possibly be my strongest skill set as an EMT is my ability to comfort people. I’m not a paramedic, and I don’t have much at hand to make the physical pain go away. My strength is handling...
View ArticleThe Breakdown (And The People Who Helped)
My mind was swirling with a nauseating soup of questions and uncertainties. I felt this sickening pull in my stomach. Yet, it was all muted. I was manipulating red hot emotions through thick welder’s...
View ArticleHealing Is Not A Linear Process
I’ve learned plenty of things as an EMT. I’ve learned what the top and bottom numbers of a blood pressure mean. I’ve learned how to splint a fractured bone. I’ve learned the proper way to talk on the...
View ArticleSaving My Life
I need to hear that shrill tone. The one that pulls me from my day and thrusts me into that of another’s. The one that orders me into my little car, and sends me to the station. The one that sits me on...
View ArticleRant: Snoozing Partners
I can’t stand it when my partner* falls asleep on the long rides back home. There, I’ve said it. I feel kind of guilty about it, but I’m writing it nonetheless. It’s not uncommon for us to go on runs...
View ArticleNovember
Physically, the drive to Major Medical Center is a little easier when driving a car instead of an ambulance. There’s not nearly as much surface area for the wind to toss the vehicle around when I’m...
View ArticleFlight
Working for an aeromedical transport team wasn’t always a goal of mine. It wasn’t something I’ve always wanted since I was little (although there is a picture of my 3-year-old self wearing a medic’s...
View ArticleLet Them Say Goodbye
“Huh, interesting,” I thought. I was being sent up to the ER to assist with a transfer to another, larger hospital. “Interesting, but not particularly rare or unusual.” I’d seen this diagnosis numerous...
View ArticlePoetic Juxtaposition in a Small Town
Working in a small town provides a glimpse at some truly beautiful, near-poetic things. There are the smiles and friendly waves of townspeople as you walk around downtown in your uniform. There’s the...
View ArticlePlain and Simple: Seeking Advice
Today was not a good day. Running on very little sleep. Working as hard as I can, and feeling like I’m getting nowhere. Worrying about getting into the nursing program. A nerve-wracking doctor’s...
View ArticleBurn Out is Kind of Like Love
Burn out is kind of like love. When people get all sappy and starry-eyed and start shedding cooties all over the place, they sigh, stare off into middle distance and dreamily say cliche and...
View ArticleThe Death Fishbowl
Dead. Pushin’ up daisies. Curtains. Checked out. Deceased. Gone. Passed away. People ask me how I handle dealing with death all the time. Usually I just tell them that patients don’t die all that...
View ArticleYay for Educational Institute Screw-Ups
Did I tell you about the time I almost got thrown out of nursing school before it even started? As you know, I got into nursing school. And as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m horrendously nervous...
View ArticleLessons From The Other Side Of The Stretcher
As soon as I heard the dispatch information, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. An hour later, I would be walking into the ER in my uniform…not as an EMT, but as family. I hate this. The discomfort,...
View ArticleCeliac Disease and Dining Out
And now, for something completely different… The concept of celiac disease shouldn’t be that hard to grasp. And yet, people interpret it in the weirdest ways. Hell, you don’t even need to know the...
View ArticleThat Awkward Moment When…
Ever have one of those awkward moments where you really wish you hadn’t said/done that? Me too. More than most people, it seems. Anyway, here’s a “Aren’t you glad you weren’t her?” moment a relative...
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