paraloco

Some of the police officers around here have gone for the totally bald look. SOme, it makes look tougher. It makes some others look like total weiners trying to look tough.

I hate the return of long hair on boys! I go to my kids' jr. high and it looks like 1974 all over again. I get a #2, short, high & tight. easy to keep neat, even after wearing a helmet. Less 'bedhead' effect which seeks me out as its most favored victim. However, I am wearing mutton-chop sideburns for the first time in my life. Wife hates em. I love it.

I dream about work frequently. I can't remember much of my dreams unless I make a special effort. Last night at work, I dreamed that a former partner and I were on someone's front porch, and nobody would answer the door. Don't remember the nature of the call or anything else. I rarely dream about the dramatic, horrific stuff. I frequently dream I wreck the med unit. One is that I am backing, and the brakes fail( in fact, the unit seems to accelerate) and I hit parked cars behind me. My Dad is in a some of them, but rarely speaks. Pets from my childhood, too.

I visit a nurses' listserv, just to eavesdrop on what their issues are. The topic of males in nursing comes up very frequently. Most are fine with it, others say they'd refuse the male nurse if they were the patient. Males are not supposed to have a preference on the gender of their caregiver. If we do, we are then sexist. Females have options. It's been my experience in EMS that the female patient rarely has an issue with my gender (actually, I can't remember a single incident). Treat everyone with respect, and there should be few problems. I read a post on the nurses list the other day. In it a nurse was very troubled by something she witnessed in an ICU. A teenage male was unconscious, on a vent. This nurse's co-worker was caring for him. He was very well endowed, and the nurse called all her buds from other departments in the hospital to come take a good look. There was actual debate about what should be done, if anything. Many commented that if the genders were reversed, there'd have been a major response. They too, see the double standard. Some counseled the young nurse not to report it.

Anybody out there work for Acadian? I live in Southeast Texas, and have heard rumors about Acadian expanding west.

What I fear will happpen is that paramedicine might be dialed a back a few hash marks to about intermediate level. Not optimal, but most urbans areas could get by with it.

No way I would participate. I shouldn't have to carry that burden around, of taking a life. However I am for the death penalty, Sound like a conflict? I don't think so. I don't believe execution should be a sterile little medical procedure, its too much like putting a rabid animal down. As much as the guilty party deserves to be executed, he does not deserve to be put down the same way a sick/injured animal is. When a person is executed , for whatever reason, they are then square with the house as far as I'm concerned, have PAID the ultimate price in full. There's a dignity in that, especially if they have expressed remorse. It ticks me off when a condemned man expresses sorrow, or apologizes for his acts, and then somebody criticizes his last remarks if he forgot to mention somebody. Don't they think he might have had a lot on his mind at that point? If we respect ourselves, we owe them better. It does not require a person with medical training to end a life. WHy can't a prison official be taught to start an IV, its a simple psychomotor skill. Why can't they hang the prisoner (quick, humane if its done right). No muss, no fuss, no philosophical dilemma.

correction, they raised the maximum age. Its in the 40's. sorry

I was a geology major, I eat this stuff up. If you know nuch about the Mississippi, you know that the system of levees, and the dredging over the years has caused the Mississippi to be above grade in many places, such as New Orleans. If a large enough quake hits, the river will probably change its course, the mouth likely to relocate where I sit right now (over a period of time) We're talking disaster of biblical proportions, mass forced evacuations, social disorder, dog & cats living together, you know, pandemonium! Standards of care would go out the window, state and county lines would be ignored by EMS providers, picking up and transporting wherever needed. It'd be really bad in winter. Diseases would throw in their 2 cents shortly afterward, cholera, dysentery, flu. As refugees ran out of cash and fuel they'd be stranded along roadways and in little towns with few resources to help them. Community ED's would become primary care, and less able to transfer out the bad stuff that comes their way. We would be treating and releasing in the field. Those whose blood boils when the frequent flyers call would finally be allowed to vent on them, and refuse to transport. "You don't need our services!" All this would be right before FEMA took over administration of the affected areas. And imposed order with troops. If overseas wars were still ongoing, get ready, the draft would make a comeback. Especially medical personnel. They just raised the minimum age for enlistees.