Two blog posts in one day...albeit this is going to be a shorter one than most. I guess I am making up for lost time...and I feel it best to write while things are still fresh in my mind. Yesterday was a sort of surreal day for me. Not that the majority of my shifts aren't but some have greater moments than others.
In the world of EMS, no one person is better than another, in spite of the fact that there are many out there who would like to convince you otherwise. We all play an integral part in a closely woven team. It's cliche but I believe there is no "I" in team. In my current EMS system, we are a fire department-based first response unit. We do have the ability to transport if our contract transporting agency has no available units at the time a call comes in within our district. For the majority, however, there will be two responding agencies onscene. Our contract transporting agency is also the highest volume service in the county and, therefore, for purposes of training, medics are required to do ride time with them in order to meet a quota of patient contacts.
Yesterday, while on my regular shift at my department, we were paged to the airport for an individual on an incoming flight who was not feeling well. When we arrived on the tarmack, the plane had not even landed. While we waited, our transporting agency's unit arrived. It pulled up and stopped nearby where our crew was staged. The driver, a medic I know well, piled from the rig and rushed toward us. He was in high spirits and quickly blurted out that they had a medic on board who was precepting for patient contacts. He quickly added that he used to be a physician and paramedic program director...in the town where I graduated paramedic school.
My mind immediately ran down a short list of names that I could remember from having last been there 6 years ago. But before I could hone in on anyone in particular, the medic strode from the ambulance and stationed himself next to me. I immediately recognized his face. And, while the driver spewed out a short introduction, the precepted medic reached out and shook my hand.
"I was in your paramedic program sir," I told him without hesitation.
The smile that spread across his face in that very second was one of both suprise and unyielding pride. He pushed my hand aside and wrapped me in an awkward hug.
We chatted briefly when I had went to school and what everyone would think of us freezing our butts off on a Montana runway. His joyful voice boomed across the freezing asphalt and, all the while, he stood next to me & kept his arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders. To him, I was a feather in his hat. To me, he was my hero. This man I stood next to had spent his life becoming one of the best pediatric surgeons in the nation and, after retiring, had moved to rural Montana. But, some things, like emergency medicine, you never really retire from. So, here he was...a volunteer...in my exact same shoes.
I'm not sure what my colleagues thought of the strange interaction between me and my former paramedic director. I'm certain they were all taken aback by it. Generally, EMS responders tread lightly around physicians-turned-medic. It is not often that they share embraces...especially in such an unlikely place.
My former paramedic director is the most poignant personification of everything that EMS is about. He is world-reknown. And yet, he was not too important to come down to my level and "serve in the trenches" and acknowledge me & my accomplishments even on that frigid day. He was genuinely happy to see me. There was no reproach or class distinction. We were equal parts of large team who had simply come to help someone in need.
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