TWO DAYS!!!
He burned his face off two days ago and did not know it. Police found him naked on his bathroom floor with.... let me repeat this.... with his face burned off!! There was no evidence of fire, crack pipes, matches, pipe bombs, nuclear weapons or a friggin' tiki torch anywhere in his apartment. The plasma that had weeped out of his skin had dried to his face, giving him that "glazed donut" look (I'm skipping Krispy Kreme today). He had no clue that he was burned, had no idea how long he had been there, or when he woke up. It's like the aliens just hovered over the building and kicked him out.
Initially, he wanted to refuse treatment, and was determined that he was going to stay there. The trip to the ED apparently did not fit into his schedule between "picking toenails" and "not looking for a job." There was no mirror in the apartment, so I took a picture of him with my phone and showed it to him. The picture looked like his neck threw up. We told him several times that the infection would probably kill him if he was not treated soon. He actually had to think about this for a few minutes... That's the great thing about this job. Some patients actually make me feel smarter. Finally, he accepted transport to a nearby burn center.
How screwed up as a society have we become when a slow, painful, septic death is alright because we apparently have better nothings to do?
Friday, August 5, 2011
New Beginnings
Strange the path life takes sometimes. I have not written here for a very long time. Mostly, this is due to a hellish work schedule of about 120 hours per week on an ambulance. Back in November, the bottom fell out and I realized that things had to change. I was no longer happy working where I was. I was treated well by County and had a great job.... No complaints. It was the other job that was killing me. I decided to take a stand. I was not going to sacrifice my dignity... my pride for a paycheck. I bled for that squad for a long time. I was the most dedicated son of a bitch there... only to be told that my dignity as a man was negotiable because I "needed" that job in order to feed my family.
I am nobody's dog and I will beg of no one. My family will eat, even if I have to go without. I will be the man I want to be in my daughter's eyes. I make my stand here!
While away at training in Baltimore, I pulled a hail-mary play. If it didn't work, It would mean being labeled as a flight risk. Career suicide. From a dirty hotel room, I filled out an application to one of the top EMS agencies in the country. Somehow, I scored an interview, and an eventual job offer. I accepted before they could realize what they had gotten themselves into. This meant giving up both of my full time jobs for this opportunity. It was a hell of a pay cut, but my daughter finally recognizes me when I walk through the door.
I graduated the academy in March, and started the year long process of rookiehood. At my age, this is strange being back at the bottom. My FTO's are the same age as me or younger. I have boots older than most of our medics. For the most part, it's not been that bad. I've had one FTO who needs to reevaluate his position with the human race, and two more who have been patient as I adjust to the new system. Going from a system that runs less then 10,000 calls per year to another that runs over 70,000 is a bit of an adjustment. The standards are higher here and the medics operate on a higher standard of care than most places. I like that. For the first time in years, I am being challenged. This has re-ignited the fire that once drove me.
No longer burned out... I am BACK!
I am nobody's dog and I will beg of no one. My family will eat, even if I have to go without. I will be the man I want to be in my daughter's eyes. I make my stand here!
While away at training in Baltimore, I pulled a hail-mary play. If it didn't work, It would mean being labeled as a flight risk. Career suicide. From a dirty hotel room, I filled out an application to one of the top EMS agencies in the country. Somehow, I scored an interview, and an eventual job offer. I accepted before they could realize what they had gotten themselves into. This meant giving up both of my full time jobs for this opportunity. It was a hell of a pay cut, but my daughter finally recognizes me when I walk through the door.
I graduated the academy in March, and started the year long process of rookiehood. At my age, this is strange being back at the bottom. My FTO's are the same age as me or younger. I have boots older than most of our medics. For the most part, it's not been that bad. I've had one FTO who needs to reevaluate his position with the human race, and two more who have been patient as I adjust to the new system. Going from a system that runs less then 10,000 calls per year to another that runs over 70,000 is a bit of an adjustment. The standards are higher here and the medics operate on a higher standard of care than most places. I like that. For the first time in years, I am being challenged. This has re-ignited the fire that once drove me.
No longer burned out... I am BACK!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Back Again
Okay, I’m finally back. It’s amazing the turns life takes sometimes. When I started this blog, I had good intentions of posting frequently and keeping it up. Well, no good battleplan survives the first shot. At the moment, I am at work. Here I sit with a cup of coffee and a need to pick this up again. I have no idea where to start. It’s funny how when everything piles up it all turns into a blur. I guess the best way to do this is to lay out the overview and fill in the details in time.
Soon after the Casey incident, the county stepped in and took over both Southside stations, as well as two stations in the north end of the county. We now function under a county-based EMS system. There are still several independent squads left in the county, Westside being one of them. For the purposes of this blog, and to avoid confusion, I will refer to the south side stations and the others that were annexed as “county”, my part-time will be referred to as just that, and west-side will remain as-is.
It is not an easy feeling having to compete for your own job. I personally have never had a root canal performed rectally, but if I did, I would imagine it to feel similar. When the county stepped in and took over south side, there was much to lose, and much to gain. If I got a position with the county, it would mean a pay increase of about 25%, a 2nd set of free benefits, and my previous time with the fire department would mean I could retire five years early. On the other hand, If I wasn’t chosen, my pay would be cut in half.
I like a challenge. Nothing worth a damn has ever been obtained the easy way. This is a lesson that was learned through hard experience. Some people seek out the challenges in life. For others, it just happens. While we were all waiting nervously for our job interviews, the other shoe dropped. I found out I was going to be a father for the first time.
No pressure, right?
Well, everything works out. I accepted a job with the county. I remained at the old southside station for three months and then rotated to a station in the northern side of the county.
I was assigned a permanent partner. When they were trying to figure assignments out, I asked the EMS Chief to give me someone green that I could train. Be careful what you wish for. There was an EMT at south who was…well….interesting. By interesting, I mean irritating to the point that we all wanted to kill her. She was recently divorced. With divorce, there are stages of grieving, very similar to those we experience when coping with death (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). But, with divorce, you must add two more: Wild and Ditsy. Her and I had worked together at West-side before her divorce and were friends, but she ended up eventually moving away. When she came back, she was somewhere between angry, ditsy and homicidal. Care to guess who my partner is? When I reported for shift, I found myself considering suicide as a viable option, as a transfer was not.
Something strange happened in the first few shifts. I’m not sure if it was her will to survive without her ex, her love for her child, or just growing up, but she changed. Almost overnight, she stopped acting like an angry child and became a great partner. I can’t explain it. We have been partners for about six months now and are close friends. She has progressed from a green basic to someone who has the potential to one day be a great medic. We work well together as a team and have been commended several times for handling difficult calls very well. I think it’s funny that she has threatened our supervisor with death if they ever split us up. Strange how I found a great partner in someone who I least expected it.
My daughter was born in late September and all is well. She is no doubt an EMS baby. My wife was pregnant throughout her paramedic class and delivered shortly after Cardiology. So, in a strange way, my two month old has already worked several codes and been through the entire paramedic curriculum. That should at least earn her a basic patch.
Fatherhood… It’s loud and has a strange odor. Trust me, you will read about it in future posts.
There has been some rough times this year as well. I have had to deal with the death of my two dogs, a financial nightmare, a wife pushed to her breaking point and the realization of the psychological effects this job has had on me. This year has made me question my abilities as a parent and a husband, and has even made me question my faith. I will explain when the time is right.
For now, all is well. My wife is back to work and graduates from her paramedic class tonight. My daughter is healthy and thankfully looks like her mother. Everything worked out well with the new county EMS system and we all look at it with hope and anticipation.
It has been a long, emotional and trying year in which I have had some of the best and worst days of my life. Looking back on it feels like recounting a tour of duty. Even as I write this, I can feel the emotions coming back… happiness, anger, fear, numbness. This has been building for some time and I need to let it out.
Thank you all for your patience. More to come.
Soon after the Casey incident, the county stepped in and took over both Southside stations, as well as two stations in the north end of the county. We now function under a county-based EMS system. There are still several independent squads left in the county, Westside being one of them. For the purposes of this blog, and to avoid confusion, I will refer to the south side stations and the others that were annexed as “county”, my part-time will be referred to as just that, and west-side will remain as-is.
It is not an easy feeling having to compete for your own job. I personally have never had a root canal performed rectally, but if I did, I would imagine it to feel similar. When the county stepped in and took over south side, there was much to lose, and much to gain. If I got a position with the county, it would mean a pay increase of about 25%, a 2nd set of free benefits, and my previous time with the fire department would mean I could retire five years early. On the other hand, If I wasn’t chosen, my pay would be cut in half.
I like a challenge. Nothing worth a damn has ever been obtained the easy way. This is a lesson that was learned through hard experience. Some people seek out the challenges in life. For others, it just happens. While we were all waiting nervously for our job interviews, the other shoe dropped. I found out I was going to be a father for the first time.
No pressure, right?
Well, everything works out. I accepted a job with the county. I remained at the old southside station for three months and then rotated to a station in the northern side of the county.
I was assigned a permanent partner. When they were trying to figure assignments out, I asked the EMS Chief to give me someone green that I could train. Be careful what you wish for. There was an EMT at south who was…well….interesting. By interesting, I mean irritating to the point that we all wanted to kill her. She was recently divorced. With divorce, there are stages of grieving, very similar to those we experience when coping with death (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). But, with divorce, you must add two more: Wild and Ditsy. Her and I had worked together at West-side before her divorce and were friends, but she ended up eventually moving away. When she came back, she was somewhere between angry, ditsy and homicidal. Care to guess who my partner is? When I reported for shift, I found myself considering suicide as a viable option, as a transfer was not.
Something strange happened in the first few shifts. I’m not sure if it was her will to survive without her ex, her love for her child, or just growing up, but she changed. Almost overnight, she stopped acting like an angry child and became a great partner. I can’t explain it. We have been partners for about six months now and are close friends. She has progressed from a green basic to someone who has the potential to one day be a great medic. We work well together as a team and have been commended several times for handling difficult calls very well. I think it’s funny that she has threatened our supervisor with death if they ever split us up. Strange how I found a great partner in someone who I least expected it.
My daughter was born in late September and all is well. She is no doubt an EMS baby. My wife was pregnant throughout her paramedic class and delivered shortly after Cardiology. So, in a strange way, my two month old has already worked several codes and been through the entire paramedic curriculum. That should at least earn her a basic patch.
Fatherhood… It’s loud and has a strange odor. Trust me, you will read about it in future posts.
There has been some rough times this year as well. I have had to deal with the death of my two dogs, a financial nightmare, a wife pushed to her breaking point and the realization of the psychological effects this job has had on me. This year has made me question my abilities as a parent and a husband, and has even made me question my faith. I will explain when the time is right.
For now, all is well. My wife is back to work and graduates from her paramedic class tonight. My daughter is healthy and thankfully looks like her mother. Everything worked out well with the new county EMS system and we all look at it with hope and anticipation.
It has been a long, emotional and trying year in which I have had some of the best and worst days of my life. Looking back on it feels like recounting a tour of duty. Even as I write this, I can feel the emotions coming back… happiness, anger, fear, numbness. This has been building for some time and I need to let it out.
Thank you all for your patience. More to come.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Hope Lives In A Child
“Honor thy father and mother”.
I was working at County yesterday when we were dispatched to a fall. The son met us in the driveway. The first words out of his mouth were “She’s paranoid schizophrenic and she’s in the back yard”. Nothing good can come of this.
We walked into the back yard. No one there.
The son called out to us “She’s in the shed!”
Okaaayyyyy….
We opened the shed. The smell smacked us in the face. Smelled like cat urine, bad enough that inhaling resulted in a scratchy throat. There’s mom, laying on the floor. Yes… They have mom living in the shed.
But wait, it gets better. She has no cat. She is running a temp of 102.1. After getting a bit more history, it hits me. She has a UTI bad enough that the smell could peel paint.
We have been running a lot of calls lately that warrant social services.
My shaken baby from southside died last week. I have grown cold to most things, but this almost killed me. The baby was living in a two story trash can. Two years old and seventeen pounds. Dehydrated, not breathing. No one cared. Happens so much in this town, It has become just another part of life.
But, with everything in this world that casts doubt on the existence of all that is good, there is always hope. On the day the shaken baby passed, my friend gave birth to her first child.
Lightning crashes.
Hope still lives.
I was working at County yesterday when we were dispatched to a fall. The son met us in the driveway. The first words out of his mouth were “She’s paranoid schizophrenic and she’s in the back yard”. Nothing good can come of this.
We walked into the back yard. No one there.
The son called out to us “She’s in the shed!”
Okaaayyyyy….
We opened the shed. The smell smacked us in the face. Smelled like cat urine, bad enough that inhaling resulted in a scratchy throat. There’s mom, laying on the floor. Yes… They have mom living in the shed.
But wait, it gets better. She has no cat. She is running a temp of 102.1. After getting a bit more history, it hits me. She has a UTI bad enough that the smell could peel paint.
We have been running a lot of calls lately that warrant social services.
My shaken baby from southside died last week. I have grown cold to most things, but this almost killed me. The baby was living in a two story trash can. Two years old and seventeen pounds. Dehydrated, not breathing. No one cared. Happens so much in this town, It has become just another part of life.
But, with everything in this world that casts doubt on the existence of all that is good, there is always hope. On the day the shaken baby passed, my friend gave birth to her first child.
Lightning crashes.
Hope still lives.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
A Bad Day, A Lesson Learned
There comes a time in life when you realize that trying to understand the actions of others is an exercise in futility. We spend a lot of time making fun of the stupidity of others. There will be plenty of time for that in the next entry. For now, I would like to turn your attention inward, as we are not immune to ignorance ourselves. To an extent, it is a good thing. It supports humility, keeps the ego in check, and is a great form of entertainment. But, as with most things, there are limits. Yesterday, My partner’s ignorance caused me to fail as a supervisor. I had several opportunities to head off a bad situation. By the time I decided to act on those opportunities, It was too late. I was working at Southside station 2. It was my first time riding with an EMT basic we will call Casey.
Casey means well. She is sweet for the most part, personable, and has been in the field for almost 2 years. EMS has a way of conducting its own quality control. But, some occasionally slip through the cracks.
The 1st call came in at shift change. Respiratory difficulty. She jumps in the driver’s seat, and off we go. Somehow, trying to read her pager while doing 75 down a country road seemed perfectly reasonable to her, especially when I have the CAD sheet with the address and a map in front of me. Running off the road a couple of times did not seem to change her mind about this either, nor did me telling her to slow down and put the pager away.
We pull on to the road the call is on. I ask her to slow down because the house is…..right…..there it goes…. We passed it. She slams on the brakes and throws it in reverse. Glad nothing was behind us because she never even glanced in the mirrors. She pulls into the driveway….. the wrong driveway. Nothing there but a garage. The house is 300ft to the right with its own driveway. She just sits there and stares at the steering wheel waiting for it to tell her what to do. I suggest that she pull into the driveway by the house. She backs up into the road…. Then across the road…. Off the roadway… CRASH!!! Into the ditch. She puts it in drive and guns it. The ambulance doesn’t even twitch. She throws it in reverse. Same response. We are resting on the rear step, and the tires aren’t even touching the ground. The road is completely blocked.
Doc: “We’re stuck”
Casey: “Really?” (she was being serious)
Doc: “I’m going to the house. You stay with the truck.”
As I am walking to the house with the gear, I can still hear the engine gunning. Forward, reverse, forward, reverse….
Doc: “HEY!!! YOU’RE STUCK! YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!”
Casey: “Really?” (again, she was being serious)
She gets out with her traffic vest on and starts re-routing traffic.
As luck would have it. The patient never wanted EMS called. The family just freaked when he had an asthma attack. He refused transport.
Meanwhile, the Captain brought us another truck, and sent a wrecker to tow us out. The wrecker pulled us right back into the driveway. Traffic cleared. Before I could get in the driver’s seat, Casey gets in and backs up…. Almost running over me…. And back straight back into the ditch. Luckily, this time, She did not back all the way into it. I slowly walked up to the driver’s window, and through gritted teeth told her to get out of the ditch. This wasn’t even one of those “you had to be there” situations. The Chief found no humor in it when it got back to him.
Okay, back to the bat cave. There is a message from station 2 that they need some paperwork faxed to them. They are out of refusal forms, Narratives, and ACR’s, and they can not find the masters. I hand this assignment over to Casey, in the hopes that maybe she will redeem herself slightly. In a perfect world, I would expect this could be done without assistance. This was not to be the case today, for I have somehow offended the personnel Gods.
I walk into the watch room. She is faxing the paperwork… one page at a time. She feeds a page in, dials, waits, feeds the next page in, dials, waits.
Doc: “You can fax more than one page at a time.”
Casey: “Really?” (again, she was being serious) She is now staring at the stack of papers. I can hear crickets chirping.
She feeds a stack of about 50 pages into the fax and hits send. I look at the stack. She is faxing 10 copies of each form. I look at her, and she proudly states they don’t’ have any copies left. I was going to explain that station 2 can make copies, but I just walked away instead.
I am no longer disgusted. I’m just amused.
2nd call comes in. Structure fire. It’s a barn, so we respond non-emergency.
Against my better judgment, I let her drive. It’s non-emergency. What’s the worst that can happen? I should know better by now than to ask that.
The call is in one of the most remote areas in the district. She is driving down one of the back roads. We are in the middle of no-where. This area looks like a scene from “Wrong Turn”. If we crash no one will find us for days. She is about as familiar with this road as she is with the brake pedal. She takes a sharp curve in the road and never lets off the gas. We hit the shoulder and almost roll the truck. I yell “Slow down damnit!!”
Casey: “Oh whatever! You were probably in an ambulance accident sometime and you’re just paranoid”
Wrong answer.
We arrive on scene before I can yank her out of the driver’s seat by her throat. I treat one person on scene for smoke inhalation. When I walk back to the truck, I find her giving a statement to a reporter. Needless to say, she is NOT the PIO. This could cause all kinds of hell. Luckily, she did not give the reporter anything she could use.
It is a long, quiet ride back to the station as I try to find a way to remain professional.
We are almost back to the station, stopped at a light, when she rolls the window down and hocks out a huge ball of mucous. Although the look on the face of the old lady in the other car was priceless, that move was the one that usually rings the chief’s phone. To the public, that was pretty much just a ball of snot being shot from a big-ass EMS billboard.
Doc: “Was that necessary?”
Casey: “Oh whatever!”
Doc: “OK, let me tell you how it is. The boss doesn’t come to you with this stuff. He comes to me. I am responsible when you pull this crap. So, If I tell you to slow down, do it. If I tell you not to spit out of the window in public, I don’t want to hear any shit about it.”
Casey: “Oh, like it’s professional for you to say the word, shit?”
Doc: “If you would like to play ‘the word shit suddenly offends me’ game, I’ll play.”
When we get back to the station, she calls the Chief and starts bitching. Chief sends her home.
Her relief is an 18 year old fresh basic. No experience. We ran back-to-back calls for the rest of the shift without any further problems. The 18 year old proved to be one of the better partners I’ve had in a while. Still a bit green, but a natural aptitude for the work. She drove like she had some sense. Her patient care has real potential, and she asks questions.
No one is immune to ignorance, myself included. We all have our moments. But as with most things, there are extremes. If your partner shows signs of chronic ignorance, they may be having a bad day, or it might be a pattern. If you are a crew chief, be careful. There are ways to deal with any situation. I normally just tell people to “suck it up and deal with it” From a management standpoint, I know I need to be more “sensitive”. I should have put a stop to this before she involved the chief. When I finally tried to solve the problem, I should have been more professional about it, no matter how pissed I was. If you are a crew chief having personnel problems, such as a partner who poses a liability, the boss needs to hear it from you first, if nothing else than to keep him in the loop. At best, go to the boss to let him know what has happened, and what steps you have taken to solve the problem. This shows the leadership abilities you were promoted for.
At least for me, I have learned my lesson.
Casey means well. She is sweet for the most part, personable, and has been in the field for almost 2 years. EMS has a way of conducting its own quality control. But, some occasionally slip through the cracks.
The 1st call came in at shift change. Respiratory difficulty. She jumps in the driver’s seat, and off we go. Somehow, trying to read her pager while doing 75 down a country road seemed perfectly reasonable to her, especially when I have the CAD sheet with the address and a map in front of me. Running off the road a couple of times did not seem to change her mind about this either, nor did me telling her to slow down and put the pager away.
We pull on to the road the call is on. I ask her to slow down because the house is…..right…..there it goes…. We passed it. She slams on the brakes and throws it in reverse. Glad nothing was behind us because she never even glanced in the mirrors. She pulls into the driveway….. the wrong driveway. Nothing there but a garage. The house is 300ft to the right with its own driveway. She just sits there and stares at the steering wheel waiting for it to tell her what to do. I suggest that she pull into the driveway by the house. She backs up into the road…. Then across the road…. Off the roadway… CRASH!!! Into the ditch. She puts it in drive and guns it. The ambulance doesn’t even twitch. She throws it in reverse. Same response. We are resting on the rear step, and the tires aren’t even touching the ground. The road is completely blocked.
Doc: “We’re stuck”
Casey: “Really?” (she was being serious)
Doc: “I’m going to the house. You stay with the truck.”
As I am walking to the house with the gear, I can still hear the engine gunning. Forward, reverse, forward, reverse….
Doc: “HEY!!! YOU’RE STUCK! YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!”
Casey: “Really?” (again, she was being serious)
She gets out with her traffic vest on and starts re-routing traffic.
As luck would have it. The patient never wanted EMS called. The family just freaked when he had an asthma attack. He refused transport.
Meanwhile, the Captain brought us another truck, and sent a wrecker to tow us out. The wrecker pulled us right back into the driveway. Traffic cleared. Before I could get in the driver’s seat, Casey gets in and backs up…. Almost running over me…. And back straight back into the ditch. Luckily, this time, She did not back all the way into it. I slowly walked up to the driver’s window, and through gritted teeth told her to get out of the ditch. This wasn’t even one of those “you had to be there” situations. The Chief found no humor in it when it got back to him.
Okay, back to the bat cave. There is a message from station 2 that they need some paperwork faxed to them. They are out of refusal forms, Narratives, and ACR’s, and they can not find the masters. I hand this assignment over to Casey, in the hopes that maybe she will redeem herself slightly. In a perfect world, I would expect this could be done without assistance. This was not to be the case today, for I have somehow offended the personnel Gods.
I walk into the watch room. She is faxing the paperwork… one page at a time. She feeds a page in, dials, waits, feeds the next page in, dials, waits.
Doc: “You can fax more than one page at a time.”
Casey: “Really?” (again, she was being serious) She is now staring at the stack of papers. I can hear crickets chirping.
She feeds a stack of about 50 pages into the fax and hits send. I look at the stack. She is faxing 10 copies of each form. I look at her, and she proudly states they don’t’ have any copies left. I was going to explain that station 2 can make copies, but I just walked away instead.
I am no longer disgusted. I’m just amused.
2nd call comes in. Structure fire. It’s a barn, so we respond non-emergency.
Against my better judgment, I let her drive. It’s non-emergency. What’s the worst that can happen? I should know better by now than to ask that.
The call is in one of the most remote areas in the district. She is driving down one of the back roads. We are in the middle of no-where. This area looks like a scene from “Wrong Turn”. If we crash no one will find us for days. She is about as familiar with this road as she is with the brake pedal. She takes a sharp curve in the road and never lets off the gas. We hit the shoulder and almost roll the truck. I yell “Slow down damnit!!”
Casey: “Oh whatever! You were probably in an ambulance accident sometime and you’re just paranoid”
Wrong answer.
We arrive on scene before I can yank her out of the driver’s seat by her throat. I treat one person on scene for smoke inhalation. When I walk back to the truck, I find her giving a statement to a reporter. Needless to say, she is NOT the PIO. This could cause all kinds of hell. Luckily, she did not give the reporter anything she could use.
It is a long, quiet ride back to the station as I try to find a way to remain professional.
We are almost back to the station, stopped at a light, when she rolls the window down and hocks out a huge ball of mucous. Although the look on the face of the old lady in the other car was priceless, that move was the one that usually rings the chief’s phone. To the public, that was pretty much just a ball of snot being shot from a big-ass EMS billboard.
Doc: “Was that necessary?”
Casey: “Oh whatever!”
Doc: “OK, let me tell you how it is. The boss doesn’t come to you with this stuff. He comes to me. I am responsible when you pull this crap. So, If I tell you to slow down, do it. If I tell you not to spit out of the window in public, I don’t want to hear any shit about it.”
Casey: “Oh, like it’s professional for you to say the word, shit?”
Doc: “If you would like to play ‘the word shit suddenly offends me’ game, I’ll play.”
When we get back to the station, she calls the Chief and starts bitching. Chief sends her home.
Her relief is an 18 year old fresh basic. No experience. We ran back-to-back calls for the rest of the shift without any further problems. The 18 year old proved to be one of the better partners I’ve had in a while. Still a bit green, but a natural aptitude for the work. She drove like she had some sense. Her patient care has real potential, and she asks questions.
No one is immune to ignorance, myself included. We all have our moments. But as with most things, there are extremes. If your partner shows signs of chronic ignorance, they may be having a bad day, or it might be a pattern. If you are a crew chief, be careful. There are ways to deal with any situation. I normally just tell people to “suck it up and deal with it” From a management standpoint, I know I need to be more “sensitive”. I should have put a stop to this before she involved the chief. When I finally tried to solve the problem, I should have been more professional about it, no matter how pissed I was. If you are a crew chief having personnel problems, such as a partner who poses a liability, the boss needs to hear it from you first, if nothing else than to keep him in the loop. At best, go to the boss to let him know what has happened, and what steps you have taken to solve the problem. This shows the leadership abilities you were promoted for.
At least for me, I have learned my lesson.
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