Better out than in.

I do not normally do this, but this irritated me very much and since I know that I have pretty much no recourse save maintaining my own personal standard, at least I can get this out of my system.  Who this applies to does not matter; it can be applied in some portion to anybody anywhere anytime.  If this scenario is not familiar to you, well then I am very glad to hear this.  And if you are reading this and are taken aback and say “I would never do this” … well, I bet you somebody who has or does. 

I have plenty of friends here that are volunteer providers – I can safely say that this does not apply to any of you, so please accept this as a generalization, consider the reasons behind it, and remember that according to Forest Gump, professional is as professional does – being paid has nothing to do with it.

And do not think that I am being “holier than thou,” there are just as many slackers on the paid end of the fence.  It doesn’t matter what your affiliation, it’s the profession, the vocation that you’re representing every time you walk onto a scene.  Don’t just do your job, do it well.

Dear Random First Aid Squad Crew:

I do hope that I am directing this to the correct person or people, after all – it was hard to tell what (if any) your affiliation or level of training was, seeing as how you all walked into the apartment in T-shirts and jeans.

I am truly sorry that this little old lady had some pain which woke her up in the wee hours and frightened her, resulting in a call to 911 at zero-dark-thirty hours.  Believe me when I sincerely say I can empathize with being pulled from the comfort of a warm bed and summoned out into the chill rainy night.  However I would like to respectfully request that in future, you refrain from saying just how much you don’t want to be there right now, and just how much you would rather be back in bed … especially after my partner and I just spent the ten minutes we were there before you reassuring the nice lady that she is not bothering us by calling 911 in her time of need.

Curiosity leads me to ask if there was anything going on outside of the apartment, because it became a little awkward when most of you stepped outside to continue your conversations – leaving the one young gentleman as the only one inside to manage the patient move and the stretcher … including lifting it.  He was helpful and did the best he could to work with us; apparently he had not read the guidebook yet.

In trying to complete my documentation I’ll admit I’m a little baffled.  I’m not quite certain at what point the patient condition deteriorated so rapidly that you felt the need to barrel down the wet back roads at upwards of 65 mph (more than double the posted speed limit for most of the ride), on what was initially a routine transport to a local hospital.  What I do know however, is that my partner, the patient and your crewmember were all in the back of that truck.  Perhaps you have yet to see the end of that particular ABC Afterschool Special, but I can tell you that it ends very badly and usually with bagpipes.

I absolutely understand the premise and motivations behind the volunteer system, most if not all of the fellow providers started in this field on a volunteer agency, myself included.  I appreciate that there are people out there who are still willing to give the true gift of their time and attention back to their communities.  However the reality remains that just showing up only gets you points on a Glasgow Coma Scale and does very little to actually help the people you’re claiming to serve.

If you are not up for it, if you do not feel like getting out of bed, if your personal issues are going to prevent you from being 100% there for the patient when they need you – then please use the option that I do not have, stay home.

Believe me, I won’t hold it against you.