People

Grrr…once again, I made the mistake of asking about an organization and was told about the equipment.

Organizations do very little for success.  Now and then you will find an organization that will both attract and retain great employees, but as often as not, organizations worry about themselves.

They generally are there to feed themselves, but leadership requires an understanding that people are the resources that make things happen.  When I ask about someone’s organization usually the last thing I want to hear about is your brand new suite of offices, your equipment, or even your transportation.  I want to know about the people.  The people make the difference in whether or not you succeed – particularly in a brain based economy.

If you have great people, you can accomplish great things.  Too many managers enjoy their title or status, but don’t want any part of the service component which is critical in these relationships.  Again and again, I see groups that will invest in this piece of equipment or that transportation system, but not their employees or that ask their employees to identify compliance problems – an ever increasing issue for those organizations dealing with healthcare – but then trample the employee who shows them the problem.  At the same time instead of empowering the front line foot soldiers in their business, they spend lavishly on middle managers to ensure they are enslaved to their perks and titles, but not the real mission of taking care of their customer or patient.

One thing I know from General Colin Powell is that when employees stop bringing you their problems one of two things has happened.  First, the employee doesn’t trust you.  An employee who doesn’t trust your ability to take their request seriously is a huge issue.  Once you lose the trust factor of an employee believing you think there issue something other than a joke, it is hard to regain.  The second option when employees don’t bring their problems to you is that they think you’re incompetent to fix it.  Here too, an organization whose managers are viewed as incompetent or incapable is almost as bad as uncaring.  In either case, the organization is screwed and it is generally their own fault.

Friday Night Music

It is certainly not a new song, but in honor of my younger son's affinity for the tune and since he was out at a dinner party (for eight year old's) celebrating a friend's birthday and as he would say "party rocking," I will go with LMFAO for this week's Friday music.

For those of you old enough to remember Friday Night Videos, I am re-introducing the concept with a song every Friday night.  This week, I have to go with one of my favorite songs for the holiday season*, Elmo and Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer."  Enjoy!


* For those of you offended by the use of the term holiday, tough.  I use the word holiday because this song is for the christmas season, not Christmas.  There is little about reindeer or Santa in the Christ Mass.  This being the case, holiday season seems more appropriate to me.

You're Entitled To Your Opinion As Long As It Agrees With Mine

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde

So Phil Robertson…having a successful television show wasn’t enough?  Being followed by millions on the airwaves, currently on A&E, wasn’t enough for you to hold off on talking about God for just a little while?

It reminds me of the line in the movie Braveheart when the Princess offers William Wallace a chest of gold and he responds “…that I should become Judas?”  Amazingly enough, you stuck with God and seem indifferent to the decision by the network ivory tower types to suspend you from the show.  Great job.

Too many people in this day and age sacrifice themselves on the altar of paycheck or fame or whatnot. It is great to see someone who is not doing that right now.

Moreover, I think agree with Matt Walsh’s blog that this is the same as network suicide.  I agree with him that someone did not look at the Chick-Fil-A example a very few months ago.  Could there be a better example of boycott going wrong and responding to a vocal minority?

In any case, I don’t remember if it was Michelle Malkin or Katie Pavlich who tweeted it out, but Glen Beck has a pretty successful thing happening down the street.  Maybe he could pick you up and A&E can see how far its influence goes then.

Being A Helicopter Dad

So my latest article for the Dallas Morning News Voices section was published this past Tuesday.  This one has been a long time coming as I think it was submitted in early November, but due to space and time issues, did not make it into print until this week.

Nonetheless, I guess somewhere in here I should say thank you to my darlin wife who supports my ability to do these and so many other things.  I hope the article is not taken as a missed opportunity to say thank you to her or my four children, but more a regret that I do not always have the opportunities to do those things I would like to, dropping in and out to fix a problem before moving on.  I also regret not focusing on their needs better than I do sometimes.  While this wasn't written for the holidays, perhaps it is a good time to remember what really is your area of focus and concentrate on that.

I ignore the rain and honking cars as I catch the all too common “see you soon” from my oldest, who goes back to his book. Anxious drivers behind us will just have to wait a minute while I steal quick kisses from my 4-year-old and 10-month-old daughters and remind my son that he needs to finish his schoolwork before the end of the week. The goodbyes and kisses that send me on my way make the elixir that keeps me going. My family’s strength lets me focus on what I do. My work-life balance is about to get tipped really far toward work.

 

I’m at the airport, about to catch a ride to my second home where I work as a flight paramedic in a remote area, transporting the sick and the injured to a hospital capable of handling their needs. I commute by plane so I can work on a helicopter.

 

My pilot, my nurse and I are the folks who come to treat you when others can’t. It’s not always as glamorous as TV makes it out to be, but it does have its cool factor. We drop in, make quick assessments and field diagnoses, stabilize the situation, and then drop you off so we can get ready for the next challenge.

 

Working so far from home for long stretches of time makes me wonder if I have gone soft on my kids when I am with them. The term helicopter parent describes characteristics that I neither support nor subscribe to. Who wants to be a helicopter dad?

 

Helicopter parents hover over their children and protect them from what they perceive to be a hostile and dangerous world. I know how dangerous the world is, and that if my kids don’t build some resilience and mental toughness now, their world will be more challenging later.

 

When I think of the toughest challenges that I face, I don’t think about the accidents and myriad gunshot victims I have treated; I’ve been a paramedic and those are easy at this point. No, I think about logistics and scheduling and how to make the most impact in the least amount of time as a father.

 

How am I going to get home to see this weekend’s baseball games? Who can I arrange to throw with my son during the off-season to help his pitching arm stay strong with me gone? Meanwhile, his younger brother has the skills to finish work in class, but has the same fits of lazy dreaminess that his dad once had, and he needs some extra attention. It’s hard to be there when you’re treating and calming bleeding patients during a frantic helicopter ride 500 miles away.

 

What about my darling princesses? How do I feed my 10-month-old or change her diaper? How do I even just sneak away from Momma with my older daughter on some shopping trip so we can accidentally drive by the frozen yogurt place that has the right combination of sprinkles and fresh-cut strawberries to make an afternoon without big brothers so perfect?

 

Oh, did I mention dating time for some personal attention for my wife?

 

Maybe it’s just what I am good at — dropping in, isolating a problem and then fixing it, before darting off to another. Maybe my family doesn’t realize how much I am playing paramedic even when I am home. Maybe the balance I seek is not to be measured over the course of a day or week, but rather a lifetime. Maybe I am a helicopter parent after all, but when can I just be Dad?

 

The drivers behind us honk again, but I need these moments with my family. Just a little longer.

Maybe we could all use a little more focus on what is important?

 

 

 

Titles

There is an old question in politics: are you running for office to be something, or to do something?  The distinction is important.  Are you trying to fix an issue or a problem or do you need a title to be self-important?

The same issue happens with guys who end up in law enforcement who don’t have the temperament for dealing with people on the wrong side of situations.  They find that the badge and gun give them the same strength that the liquid courage provides the loud mouths at the bar.  The difference of course is the drunk at the bar, usually isn’t a public servant.  

Similarly, there are people who need the validation from the bosses about their work and this can only happen when they get whatever title they seek.  The job itself is secondary to the goal of getting the job, i.e. backwards.  The job should be the goal, not the title. 

Unfortunately, we all know the guy or girl so desperate to get the job and announce their success that they forget the work that goes with it.  Woops.  Most of them do not understand that their job function as they “climb the ladder” is to serve more people, not be served.  This upside down pyramid of leadership is misunderstood by many managers and those who wish to lead. 

I generally find these people to not have the mental toughness to get things done.  They are the co-workers who ask for help with a task and when it is given, they ignore you and go their own way.  Some folks want to know how to use an umbrella I guess and some are willing to get wet because they ignore the common sense that makes things work.  Truly, I guess common sense is a super power.

Well to those hoping for new titles, or getting them, congratulations.  I hope you are up to the task you have set for yourself.  While you are busy being something, I need to go do some things.

Holiday Hate

So I write this blog and I write in a few other venues.  I get feedback sometimes.  Often it is great, but sometimes…well, wow.  A piece I recently read got a quiet comment “This is really nice” from a tough critic.  Not a bad critic, but the type who when you get a compliment like this means the world.

Meanwhile, the same article had someone telling me not to think I’m special.  Good news.  I don’t. 

I try to answer the bell that gets rung.  I try to do it better than others do and I don’t apologize for that.  What got me the most was the clear unhappiness in the e-mail. 

I am pretty comfortable I didn’t do anything to this person, but I wonder what goes on in people’s head that they want to carry this unhappiness with me.  How deep seated is the depression for people to react with words of anger towards a stranger?  I don’t know, but it reminds me of a recent homily from my parish priest that it is okay to smile AND be angry. 

His argument was that it is okay to be angry with situations that are clearly not right, but you can smile and explain that you are angry while carrying a smile so that you can carry your Christian cross of charity towards all. 

While neither the article, nor the e-mail or the homily for that matter, had any connection to Christmas, perhaps it would be useful to now go back to the homily and remember that Advent offers us each the opportunity to smile as we express our displeasure in shopping lines, at physician appointments, or even within office politics. 

We will see, but in the meantime, send in your comments…gently please.

 

Life's Little Surprises

 

Some days life will just throw a curve at you.  You go into the day thinking it will be like any other, just another day of swatting the bat at what comes along…batting practice speed fastballs, take your hacks and make sure your proverbial timing is down…when boom, the ball breaks.  Who throws breaking balls during batting practice and I’m not talking a batting practice breaking ball anyway.  I mean a Christy Matthewson 12-6 curve that falls off the table.  Where did that come from?  (For my baseball purists, yes, I am aware, that the Christian Gentleman threw less of a traditional 12-6 curve than he did a 9-3 screwball, but my point is the same.  You expect something really straight forward and then boom!) 

Day in and day out we have our habits, good and bad, which define us.  Who breaks tradition and gets a McDonalds coffee on Thursday when the rest of the week is Starbucks?  It just doesn’t happen, right?  I know I have my morning routine whether I am headed to work or not.  It seems to infuriate my kids when I am always up at 5AM or thereabouts central time with or without the alarm clock.  What is the likelihood you do too?  

So we live our lives, or pretend to, shuffling along trying to move up a rung of our corporate ladder or team or just stay put, stay in our pajamas and shuffle along watching whatever is on the idiot box until a call.  No, I don’t mean an EMS call per se, but now and then you see things different.  You do something or something is done and it disrupts the plan and then you get to see things fresh.  Whatever it is that breaks up your pond, those ripples allow you to change you pattern long enough to see something different and then it hits you.  There’s more out there than shuffling along.

Sometimes life’s little surprises are completely unplanned for and they happen when you would least expect them.  Sometimes life’s surprises end up changing other plans you had months down the road, but what can you do, but smile and say “thanks God…I needed that.”  Indeed sometimes, we all need a breaking ball in our life to change up our perspective and lend a new set of eyes to who we are, what we are doing, and where we are headed.  It isn’t enough to say we are headed in the right direction.  Now and then you have to look up and make sure and sometimes you need someone to put an obstacle in your path to make sure you are going in the right direction.

 

For the drinkers who enjoy their Starbucks...

So it has been a while since I have thrown a drink up here, but I am feeling it today.  As everyone ran in seventeen directions yesterday trying to find a new television or couch or the perfect toy to keep Timmy happy, many of you found your way to Starbucks.  While many of you need your pumpkin spice lattes with double soy light foam whatever, I usually am pretty straight forward...either a vanilla mocha or a Denis Leary coffee flavored coffee.  I know, I know...coffee flavored coffee.

In any case, someone recently had bought me a caramel macchiato and while it was okay, it was just aching to be a liquor inspired martini and I think we are pretty close drizzling caramel into the glassware and then mixing vodka, chocolate liqueur, and butterscotch schnapps.  You know the story...chill it, shake it, strain it into a martini glass and top with whipped cream.  Part of me thinks it needs milk chocolate shaved on top as well, but that could be the result of another bad dream.

Anyway, it has some punch, but not as much as say an AK-47, so instead it's named an AK-38.  In any case, good Saturday to you...I hope you are staying safe and warm.

The Success Of Greener Grass

I am regularly amazed at the comments people make to me about what I get done as opposed to how.  Everyone has the same twenty-four hours, right?  So the question is how are you using you time I think. 

Perhaps it is the post Thanksgiving shopping spree, the people anxious to see their families only to get away as soon as possible, but if you want to get things done, show me where you spend your time.  That will tell me what you care about or if you just are fickle about your life and the people in it. 

First, I get things done because I have a “To Do” list for every day.  People joke about me scheduling time for this person or that, but the way I know I can spend time with people I care about is to pull time out of the schedule specifically for them.  It sounds like relationships are able to be scheduled and they are not, but when you don’t care enough about people to make them a schedule priority right next to picking up groceries or completing a chapter, you will not get tasks done. 

I do consider myself more people focused than task focused so when someone stopped by my bunkroom at work a few weeks ago to talk because they had something going on, I put down what I was doing so I could focus on what they needed done.  I focus on people, but I still had tasks to get done which meant I didn’t watch the football game later that day.  It’s a choice then of taking care of the person and their situation and getting back on the horse to finish the task list. 

It seems silly for some, but I hate watching people flit around trying to pursue twenty different things because they write down accomplishment lists after the fact instead of realistically planning what they need to get done.  They ultimately drop the five balls they are juggling in the air not because they can’t juggle, but because they can’t prioritize which one is allowed to be dropped.  They can have their success diaries post event, my diary is in ink before I start the day…know what you want to accomplish and go get it. 

The other version is people who say this professional goal or that is important to them and then the effort you see is less than one hundred percent, or less than ninety, or less than…  You know what I mean…EMTs who say I am going to go to paramedic school, but who never put in the hours to prep themselves for the next step, they don’t visit the local college programs, they just hope.  They wait on success to come to them as if it will find them and then they complain about other people being lucky when they complete the tasks they need to so they can be successful.  Odd.  It remind me of the quote by Thomas Edison, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  Yes it does because success isn’t accidental.  It isn’t luck.  Step up to the plate or get out of the box.

Debts That Are Hard To Pay

Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. American will never forget their sacrifices. - Harry Truman


When I think of heroes, my grandfather always came to mind for the sacrifices he and his generation - The Greatest Generation - made for each of us.

I didn't get to know any of my great grand fathers so it was a blessing for me that at least my eldest son got to meet one of his.  Somehow I think they would have gotten along very well if my grandfather had me it another few years.  When you consider the effort and work that goes into serving our military, remember those wrinkled faces and gray hairs.  Those that said yes when they might have said no, or gone to Canada, or any number of other things to avoid service.

Stats

Don't worry about your individual numbers. Worry about the team. If the team is successful, each of you will be successful, too. – Branch Rickey

Any guesses as who had the highest batting average this past year? Home runs or RBI? Who topped in wins, ERA, or strikeouts. Well the answers are below, but my question is who cares? Stats celebrate the individual. Okay, granted they can show strength and weakness, but stats fundamentally are fundamentally about did I get enough home runs to deserve a contract extension for more money? Did I improve my trade value so it will be easier or harder for me to go from my current assignment? We all love the home run or the perfect game, but fundamentally do they matter?

All the stat leaders listed below for the categories above don’t matter. Yes, I just said Miguel Cabrera’s .348 batting average doesn’t matter any more than Chris Davis’ 53 bombs or 138 RBI. Clayton Kershaw was ridiculous this year and I tried to catch at many of his games as I could on TV. His ERA of 1.83 showed his dominance of hitters across baseball and Yu Darvish was filthy with 277 strike outs, though he did get to face Houston a ridiculous number of times. Still…doesn’t matter.

Moneyball, but if you don’t win the last game of the year, it doesn’t matter. I have the same message, even for little guys learning the game and playing at a competitive level. It doesn’t matter if YOU record a strike out or not, did your team win?  It doesn’t matter if YOU get a home run, how did the team do?
I just laid out why they do I guess; we celebrate that success, but in none of those cases did the individual stat leader’s team win the ring. I hate to agree with Billy Beane from the movie

The same issue comes up in business and even EMS where I see people willing to cut their “team mates” neck – almost literally – to protect their own paycheck. And they do so at the expense of the team, their character being exposed, and usually whatever rah rah they claim to have for their organization. I remember a teacher way back in the day who remarked she would be out the next several days and she knew that we would comport ourselves with the substitute like we would if she were there. It says a lot to see how a team reacts when the boss isn’t there and something shows up to challenge you.

Do you run to your own stats or do you support the team and keep it going towards the World Series? Play safe and play nice in your sandbox. Your stats might get you noticed by a scout, but your me first attitude gets you noticed by your team mates too and there might come a time when you need us too. You might find one day that the stat that matters is not how many IVs you have accomplished or runs completed, but who is your team and who wants you on their team.

Baseball and EMS

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. – Rogers Hornsby

I am a few days away from sitting staring out the window.  Hornsby was right.  What else is there to do without baseball?

Okay, maybe this would be a poor use of my time, but it does make me think about EMS as baseball and vice versa.  We can sit around quite a bit too…granted not usually staring out the window, but are we focused on the current season?  In both EMS and baseball a few things are fundamentally similar.

One, the job is inherently physical.  In EMS, we move patients from point A to point B.  In baseball, you move runners from first to second thru third, hopefully home, more often than the other team does.

Two, the job requires a degree of sophistication that can not be just physical.  Sure, you may be a big bruiser who can smash homers or lift patients, but if you can’t determine the difference between a fastball (normal sinus) and a cutter (atrial fibrillation), you aren’t hitting home runs.  Realistically, you aren't even getting on base.

 

EMS is interesting in that like baseball, we have specific groups: infielders, outfielders, pitching staffs; much like managers, EMTs, and paramedics.  Like baseball we even specialize.  We know that in every 911 service there is one trauma junkie black cloud that can handle the proverbial mass casualty of hemophiliac children who drove into the glass factory with ease just like the greatest of closers.

Third, both jobs require practice.  I know, I know I’ve been droning on about skills and people practice, the last several posts.  Apologies, but I am disciple for the mindset that muscle memory drives actions in crisis.  I am also a disciple for the thought that as heart rate goes up, IQ drops exponentially faster.  Granted in EMS if you let the game come to you, your patient may become apneic, but this drives home my point of perfect practice in drills makes perfect execution when the time comes.  You practice intubation with your backup roll not because you aren’t going to be able to get the ET on Fred the Head, but because you have to get yourself into the mindset of having the backup for when you misjudge your current patient’s Mallampati score and get into trouble.

 

I get it...practice is boring and you already got it right, but I'm not in this game to get it right, I practice so I can't get it wrong.

Anyone remember the fall of 2001?  No, not September 11^th…in this case I am referring to the ALDS where Derek Jeter makes the flip to Posada to tag out Jeremy Giambi.  Why was he even in the vicinity of that play?  His answer: because I’m the third backup.  THE THIRD BACKUP!?!?!

Again, many days we aren’t even thinking about our first backup…maybe we should. 

There are a million more factors that go into success and could be added to this conversation about EMS and baseball.  I am still a fan of family and it applies equally to EMS as baseball.  Similar to EMS, baseball is an extended family – on the road together for months out of the year – and for many of us we are with our family, months out of the year. 

Success in the field of EMS or on the field of baseball usually still revolves around passion for what you are doing.  Do you want to take care of the sick and the injured?  Do you want to grind out game after game, practice after practice?  Do you have the self respect to prepare, the intelligence to make good decisions in your life?  Are you enthusiastic every morning when you walk in for shift change or do you have to be drug to the dugout?  Where are you with your team?  Are you the one superstar on your team or are you part of a high functioning group?

 

It's a topic for another day the issue of being the one person fighting the good fight and not having a team around you.  It's something I have to find a way to address, but teams mean 2 + 2 = 5 or 7 or 3.  It depends on the team and whether or not a single player or manager is trying to carry the load themselves or if they are allowing everyone to participate...the learners to learn, the doers to do, and the leaders to teach.

Anyway, I hope you figure it out, because it’s World Series time and I want to be a player on a World Series team…especially if the game is EMS.

 

Skills Practice

National Registry prescribes certain steps to take with various skills for the emergency medical technician tests which they have developed.  They list out the points which a student needs to perform to pass their end of course skills evaluations.

 

These steps form the basis of how we perform various skills whether they are traction splints, IV starts, or even ubiquitous patient assessment.  These skills in most states form the basis of whether or not we are allowed to work in EMS, but are they really measuring what is important?  As I have noted in previous articles on skills training, I am both an advocate of skills training and regular practice.

 

Some would argue absolutely…skills practice is a necessary part of the job, without which, success would be all, but impossible.  A few out there might argue skills practice impedes didactic lectures that would help our EMS community better understand the pathophysiology and assessment of Ménière's disease or some other pet topic which they feel requires more discussion.

 

For me though, the biggest skill missing to me is the interpersonal one.

 

I apologize in advance as I am going to be bad here and not even argue on behalf of the patient.  Sorry, I am arguing the interpersonal skills of dealing with co-workers and fellow healthcare employees.  I know, I know, this is barely patient care related and surely has nothing to do with political issues or baseball, but we do a lot of education in our classes, but the class I guess we miss both in EMS education, many work environments, and school for that matter seems to be how to develop the interpersonal skills needed to deal with difficult co-workers.

 

Let’s face it, how many of us enjoy dealing with the rude, insensitive patient who probably drinks too much?  Most of us raised our hand right?  We are willing to do it because that is the job so we put on the smile and play the game to do the right thing by our patient, but when we get back to the station, how many of us still deal with the rude, insensitive person who instead of being our patient is now simply our co-worker?

 

I know I have gone through partners and had both great partners who we could anticipate one another as if we had been married for years.  I have also had partners that despite express communication about whatever did not seem to understand where I was headed or where I wanted to go with things.

 

Now I find myself thinking about how we can add this training into our EMS paradigm.  If it’s the personal touch that is missing, maybe this is where we should concentrate our efforts?

 

 

 

 

Empathy and Strength

This is a tough topic: Alzheimer's and dementia.

Thus far I have not had to deal with it except in third person as a citizen watching President Reagan's health deteriorate after he had left Washington, but as many of you know, I write for the Dallas Morning News Community Voices section.

One of my colleagues if you will, Catherine Ehret, had this piece published based on her experience with her mother.  I ask you to read it and sit back and think.

I bring it up today because I nominated it for the best of the early submissions in our group and was amazed at the professional columnist's take on it.  It doesn't matter who, but I was amazed at the ticky tackiness of writers who criticized the piece.

For me, I found it to be genius.  It has the true heart of good writing which includes an utter honesty about the situation the author is facing in the very non-fiction reality which she and her family exist right now dealing as Catherine notes "It’s strange to write in the past tense when your subject is still alive."  There is no gloss covering what was clearly a loving, but perhaps somewhat distant relationship.  This was a great column in my mind and I hope you will think so too.  When I read it I immediately empathize with her situation and am not-so-secretly happy I am not dealing with the issue, but I also admire the rock of strength that Catherine clearly has - both the medical situation her mother has and submitting herself to the arrows of "friends" in an open critique session.

The whole issue makes me think of the people with the blue pencil in our lives who are editing or trying to edit away.  Sometimes I have to ask what is their purpose?  Are they trying to make us better or just more like them?  Either way, go have a great Wednesday and be careful who you let edit your life.

Team requires work

Okay, so I am guessing this is becoming a teamwork blog week.  What does Big Tex and the StateFair of Texas have to do with teamwork and three smiling faces.

 

I guess mostly it has to do with the idea that lots of bosses talk about pulling for the team and pulling in the team’s direction.  I do get the sentiment that players on a team pull in the same direction for a greater good, but sometimes managers talk the talk about pulling in the same direction and don’t do anything to help you pull in that direction.

 

Well, this week isn’t that.  I am up on the edge – perhaps ready for a fall or ready to start climbing the next hill in front of me.  I am trying not to be prideful because it is a safe statement that pride always walks in the room right before a fall in emergency medicine.  We will see where things go with this fork in the road, but I feel prepared, I feel ready, and I believe I can perform to expectation and beyond and I look forward to finding out where I am right…and where I am wrong, BUT…that has zero to do with teamwork.

 

What does have to do with teamwork though is the opportunity to see your family when you are away from them.  When work and family conflict, managers as often as not usually expect the family branch to bend in favor of work.  Not today.

Instead I am standing in front of the new Big Tex at the State Fair on Dallas ISD’s Fair Day with my three school age children and I am there in large part because my current preceptor who has been preparing me for my above mentioned fork in the road recognized the opportunity to make sure my head was clear, my mind relaxed; so I could walk into my challenges next week ready to go with the experience and preparation I need to be successful on these tests, but also in this career.

For those managers who are confused, let me ask if there is any question whether or not I am pulling in the direction my current manager is headed?  All I need to know is where to pull and for how long?  She has shown her loyalty to me just by taking care of her people.

Not every manager is courteous, thoughtful, judicious, and prudent with how they utilize their staffing.  The managers who don't possess those qualities we call managers and supervisors, but those who do ...are leaders.

Sacrifice and Dedication

I heard a co-worker complaining recently about their position within healthcare and whether or not someone else was making more money.  I wasn’t sure how to answer the issue since I may be one of the new people making more money, but it and a recent Twitter post did get me thinking about sacrifice.

The original comments didn’t bother me too much as I was offered a position and a salary.  I also majored in Economics at George Mason University once upon a time and one of my professors, the eminent Walter Williams noted people always say they don’t get paid enough.  His answer was “rubbish.”

He would retort that when you went to a store that sold a gallon of milk for five dollars per you may think it was expensive, but if you bought it, you didn’t think it was too expensive.  Once, you think the milk was too expensive at five dollars per gallon, you wouldn’t buy it.  His analogy for work was the same.  Your employer offers you ten dollars per hour to leave your leisure activity whatever it is and trade that time for hours spent under the direction of your employer, i.e. if you weren’t getting paid “enough” you wouldn’t come to work.

Perhaps that is a reason why some people use their sick days for mental health days, but the argument has always made sense to me.  It has also made sense to me that sometimes we want more than we have, but we are not necessarily ready to trade our time or we can’t.

In any case, I recently took a different job in emergency medicine than I had had.  I did so with some risk involved.  I had a good career going and was in a pretty good routine, but it was time for a shake up which brings me to the Twitter post.  Someone posted a note I had written them thanking them for the suggestion I should follow the dream I have had for years and all but abandoned when he and a colleague suggested I not give up quite yet.  I am glad they did so as the encouragement and follow up has led me on an entirely new course.

The path I am on now is a course of action which has me energized and hoping for great things.  I hope it allows me to be the medical provider I want to be, i.e. the guy you call when you are out of options.  Obviously this doesn’t come without some sacrifice, but perhaps I am now ready to take on the accompanying requirements that go with this pursuit.  I guess we will find out soon enough, but I pray that my goal wasn’t just to get the job, but to do this job well.  Again, we will find out.

I have a lot to live up to at this point, both those that put their neck on the line for me – not just the ones who think they put their neck on the line and the people who have guided me over the years to be the provider I am today.  I appreciate my family who has sacrificed time away from daddy so he can pursue this and who has built the blueprint by which I can be successful.

It’s a course of action I have mapped in my head a few dozen times before only to be told no.  A course of action I may have been ready for didactically, a course of action I may have been ready for skills wise, - but perhaps not ready for mentally.  I think of the Rascal Flatts song bless the broken road.  Obviously, that talks about all the broken relationships that leads to the right one, but perhaps their song Forever is more appropriate.

I was off duty when a call came in for the transport of twins who were born at twenty-three weeks.  The care of the mother of these children and the two children themselves is obviously high stress, intense, and high stakes requiring not only the best we have, but everything we should want to do for these people, not patients.  Perhaps a sacrifice I made some time ago keeps in my mind that “though you’re gone, you’re still here, in my heart, in my tears.”  I pray my effort will be better medicine than my tears for the others I hope and pray I don’t lose.

In the meantime for my friends in public safety, stay safe and strong.  Remember, you are some of those that provide hope to those that have none.  It is a sacred trust and not one to be carried lightly.

Why Western lawmen are no good on a sinking boat…

WHY?!?  Why me?  Why do I have to be the one person stuck defending Ron Washington?

The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex started its week trying to decide if they were Nolan guys (and girls) or JD (Jon Daniels) guys…that was before the reported fist fight between the team CEO and its General Manager.  Gone are Jackie Moore – a guy with fifty years of baseball experience – and Dave Anderson, only one year removed from his demotion from third to first.  Ron Washington meanwhile sits on a one year deal waiting to see if Jon Daniels renews him or not, but the issue is sitting right there in the General Manager’s office.

I know, I know…Jon Daniels is a baseball God.  He knows more about baseball than most people who played the game for fifty years because his vast experience involved with the little league game fully prepared him to play the stats geek to the high school players who were about to be drafted, but let’s look at the year and understand the Rangers over achieved.

 

First off, I predicted 86 wins and no playoffs.  The team hit 90 wins and while not in contention to do anything in the playoffs, was on the cusp.  Remember, they didn’t have Neftali Feliz in the rotation, i.e. who should have never been there.  Matt Harrison went out early and Colby Lewis was never ready from injury.  Between the three, I have to imagine they would have found at least five extra wins, but let’s face it, they didn’t need five extra, they needed one regular season win more and they would have been in the post season.  With all three, I think you have to wonder if the AL West doesn’t end a little different.  Certainly, Cleveland or Tampa Bay comes to Arlington.  So, it was a rough season.

At least Jon-boy as there.  He was good enough to bring us Lance Berkman.  Hey, I can’t lie.  Nothing says dedication like begging a guy from his hospital bed to come play for your team like JD apparently did with Berkman.  And for $10 measly million dollars we got an over-the-hill 1B/DH who produced a wannabe ginormous six bombs and a .242/.340/.359 slash line while he joked about bombing Wrigley Field less than twenty–four hours after the Boston Marathon bombing.  Brilliant pick up there JD…no power, no average, and just like school in July, no class!

I know JD is supposed be the Greek god of Baseball GMs, but let’s look at the career.  This was Daniel’s first year as GM on his own.  Every other year he has had the leadership of Nolan Ryan looking over his shoulder guiding him.  Everyone brings up the Elvis Andrus trade where the Rangers got Andrus and everyone else for Mark Teixeira, but who was looking over his shoulder making sure that the trade wasn’t a Livan Hernandez for Mark Teixeira trade?  Also, while we give JD all kinds of credit for deals like that, what about Adrian Gonzalez who was sent to San Diego for…who?

I know, I know…what’s in the past is in the past, but JD did zero for the team this year.  Alex Rios was an okay pickup at best and Matt Garza was a net negative. 

Alex Rios did at least add another six homers in almost half as many as Berkman and hit a respectable .280/.315/.457 while only drawing a $13M dollar salary.  Meanwhile, Garza made only thirteen starts for the Rangers and could only win four of them, while losing five, and drawing no decisions in the other four only requiring $10.25M per.

The granddaddy of all bad decisions though had to be forcing Jurickson Profar up to the majors and playing him all over the place while he contributed almost zero to the team.

Everyone calls Profar the next Jose Reyes, but in his first 300 at bats, he hits only .234/.308/.336 while making eight errors.  Really?  Everyone was talking about trading him straight up for Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton.  Ha!  It would appear now that, you couldn’t get a healthy Brian Roberts for him – as maybe he aint that special – yet JD had to force him up and expose it to everyone.

For Rangers fans, I think you might want to consider that you missed the playoffs this year and have some giant holes to fill.  First, designated hitter, and a catcher if AJ Pierzynski departs for the press box.  Then there is the question of can the rotation do again what it did this year, i.e. I am hoping no one is buying World Series tickets for next year or the year after because I think you are in full blown rebuild mode at this point.

To the questions, can the rotation repeat its success, I am guessing no, as even Mike Maddux is looking for a reason to leave and is considering the job he wouldn’t interview for a few years ago.  Keep in mind that as good as the pitching was, they were only ninth best in batting average against and tenth best in ERA.  As far as Quality Starts go, they ranked twenty-fifth, only allowing three or fewer runs in the first six through less than half their games.  There are only thirty teams.  What?  Hello?  Do you hear the phone ringing there JD?  I am guessing it is the bullpen phone with that kind of performance out of starters.

Meanwhile the team batting average was a very good .262, seventh best in the majors, yet were still behind the Los Angeles Angels.  For some reason they could not deliver when they had to yet the excuse was always if only the offense would score more runs.  Well, they did score runs, but the overall team was wrong.

The game belongs to Wash, but the team to JD.  Who messed up the stew Mr. Daniels?

This would be what we call bad: no ‘when it counts’ offense, no plate setters, and no pitching to go with.  All of that makes it very difficult to claim your personal greatness Mr. Daniels, when the results are anything other than a World Series win.  Let's face it, if you don't win the last game of your season, it isn't a good season.  No matter what.

This is all before we get to the middle infield issue of Kindler-Andrus-Profar.  Well, the Rangers decided it was a good idea to pay Ian Kinsler $15M a year for a guy who wasn’t that good a 2B, then signed Andrus long term to play SS all while having Profar in the wings who now plays…where?

The answer to the question above: why western lawmen (aka Texas Rangers) are no good on a sinking boat…because they don’t even tread water well, except when they are on their high horse which for the Rangers I just don’t see anytime soon.