EMS Week

This is you, right?

You sacrifice.  Miss any of your kid’s birthdays or Christmas or ballgames?

You get up in the middle of the night to take care of strangers.  You might be paid, you might be volunteer, but either way you spend your days and nights caring for those who are in crisis.

If you do this for money, you made the wrong choice.  You can make more money at McDonald’s with less education.  If you did this for the high-speed adrenaline rush nothing will say high-speed and adrenaline like getting puked on by the town drunk at 3 AM.

This is the week we recognize EMS providers their contributions to public safety.

For those of you who I know around the country I hope you find fulfillment in this job I hope you find the honor in taking care of those whose lives seem disposable to so many others.  My original EMT Instructor though started out that when people call 9-1-1, their life puzzle is broken.  They trust two or more strangers to put that puzzle, their puzzle, back together.

That is honor.  That is commitment.

I pray that you are safe every day and night again.  Too many of us leave the job due to back injuries.  Too many of us are assaulted in our rigs trying to care for others.  Too many of us are injured on the side of the road,

For those ambulance drivers out there who aren’t sure if they make a difference this week is not about the free lunch that your local hospital may provide or the coffee mug with your organization’s logo, it is about the brotherhood of those who come together to serve others.  This past week the 9/11 Memorial opened and while there are lots of signs of the commercialism that negatively affects a great deal of our society, those of us who spent some time responding to one of those sites share a bond few understand.  Those of us who did double duty and ended up at Katrina or another nationally recognizable event have a second story, but the bonds are the same.

Again whether you are paid or volunteer, we are the modern good Samaritans.  Use this week to take your bow.  Enjoy our brief moment in the sun because you know it won't last as attention turns to the more popular public safety folks.  Then find the resolve to recommit yourself to your continuing education because we really don’t have any idea what the next one will be so find a way to be ready.  Step up and recommit yourself to what you do and the difference you make.  Finally, come home at the end of your shift.  Come home the same way you came in...maybe a little tired, maybe a little unsure what the next twenty-four hours will bring, but ready to be someone's hero.