Ironvic

I've worked for both good and bad services. By far the worst was one in Los Angeles that had us working a day car 12 hours a day, 5 days a week-0700 to 1900 with mandatory OT if an emergent call came in before you could make it back to the barn. We ran first-in in South Central L.A. to take some pressure off the 24 hour crews and it was some of the most brutal EMS experience imaginable, then it got worse. Some pencil head in personnel decided that because we were on a 60 hour work week at $2.57 per hour, the company could get an extra day of work from us for 'free' by rescheduling us on a 10 hour workday at 6 days per week with Sundays off. It went from brutal to inhumane. My outlook became grey, then black. I hated all patients, especially suicides and druggies. I was always angry, more than happy to duke it out with any violent mental health PT who went off on me in back. I burned out and quit, then went into the fire service, finally walking away from it all after 15 years of service. 15 years later, I returned. Now I work part-time for a really nice company. They do not allow anyone to work more than a 36 hour shift and frown on that as well. 24 hour shifts are the norm and part-timers can sign on to cover 1/2 shifts or only work special events or long distance transfers. That really helps the full-timers. I see EMS from a more compassionate viewpoint and realized I was so angry for so many years because a lot of that compassion was stolen from me through burnout and constant fatigue under dangerous ghetto conditions. I read a book for Vietnam veternas suffering from PTSD and for the first time saw me. I forgave myself for growing to hate the work I loved. After figuring it all out for myself, the nightmares finally left and I could begin thinking about enrolling in EMT school again a couple of years later. Nowadays I feel priviliged that God gave me the opportunity to do the work I love again and serve in both private and Fire/EMS services. When my volunteer pager goes off and I'm responding to the station to jump on the ambulance, I feel like I'm finally back home after a long period of recuperation. So you guys hang in there. Take time to do something else if you need to get out. The job will always be there when you're ready to come back.

Too true Robert. I still have good memories of working in back during the Cadillac days. The big 54" headroom Superiors and Miller-Meteors could teach the new crop of ambulances a thing or two about headroom, ergonomic design, great ride and especially how to travel down the road in class. You sat side-by-side with the patient and looked him right in the eye--excellent for making good rapport with the people you serve. I still grumble that Uncle Sam in his ignorance allowed the breed to die simply because a few misguided "experts" tainted them with their funeral car first cousins. They were as close to a hearse as the Sprinter with red lights, EMS gear and sirens on a high top roof is to a FedEx van.

:shock: Here's one practical joke you can use, BUT in only extreme conditions. BTW, all the names have been changed to protect the guilty... I once worked for an ambulance service that was a small family owned business. The owner was a crusty old ex-Coast Guardsman and he raised two bratty sons in their late teens that never really had to work hard until daddy gave them jobs as ambulance crewmwn. Number-1 son, Eddie was a big kid with big floppy shoes and handsome as all get out. His new partner was only the third female EMT I had thus far seen in my short 4 year career (the year was 1977). One day the owner called all rigs to return to quarters for a meeting where he introduced the new female, a pretty little thing named Becky. The Old Man said, "I can't trust none of you horn-dog clowns to work 24s with Becky, so she'll only be allowed to work overnights with Eddie here." Eddie beamed with spoiled boy pride and snickered in our direction. Most of us were kinda pissed that the Old Man wouldn't trust us to keep our hands off Becky who was a married woman. I was in early to grab a unit for an early morning regular transfer patient going to dialysis. I noticed only one bunk was slept in on the night before when Becky and Eddie were on duty. They were dispatched earlier that morning to a calland had obviously left in a hurry (the boss manned the radio at his home after hours). I vowed to put the crush to that smart-ass kid as soon as possible. Besides, I didn't care for Becky anyway because she was lazy and had a smart mouth on her. I don't think I ever got her to wash the unit or do anything other than the absolute minimum necessary whenever we worked together on the day car. On my next early shift, I came prepared with a brand new condom and a plastic vial filled with raw egg white. Eddie and Becky were on an early transfer call and I knew the old man wouldn't be in quarters until 0730, so I hatched my plan... I knew the Old Man started each and every day by taking a healthy piss in the crew's toilet. So, I dumped the egg yolk into the condom and let the goopy mess settle into the toilet. The time was 0615 and counting... Eddie and Becky would be out at least until 0845, so if everything went well, the Old Man would be greeted with a nice "floater" in the toilet. I'd let his southern boy imagination run wild from there. The condom floated tip down with a heavy load of runny egg white, bobbing in the toilet like a bloated whale. Then things got busy. My partner and I were out the rest of the day, finally returning to quarters around 4 P.M. My buddy Danny ran up to my rig just as we parked and said, "Aw man, Vic, you missed this morning's fireworks!" He was almost out of breath and grinning from ear to ear, "You shoulda seen it! The old man had Eddie up against the wall with his hands around his neck, screaming "you little jerk! I trusted you with Becky and this is how you repay me??!!' " Danny blurted, "Eddie was all wide eyed and choked out, "Honest, dad, I was framed...I didn't do her...ugggghhhhh!!" Don, Bill and I just stood there watching the show. I almost laughed out loud, finally seeing that dumbass papa's boy get what was coming to him!" I have to admit, I felt kinda bad for the kid. For about three seconds anyway. Sometime later, I noticed Becky's uniform shirt was stained. She was lactating and Eddie was soon to be a pappa. Becky's marriage broke up shortly before the baby was born when she finally broke down and told her husband that their child was actually Eddie's spawn. It was the meanest, most prophetic practical joke I ever pulled on another guy. I created bad karma though. I was stuck with Becky as my partner after the Old Man found that bogus condom surprise. He told me, "You take care of Becky, Vic, you're the only man I can trust around here..."

I've worked everything from high and low top Caddies, vans and modulars and really like driving and working in the back of our high top Sprinters. They are a dream to drive with excellent upfront visibility and a turning radius that feels as tight as a Toyota. You feel like a bus driver, but I guess that's why they call 'em 'busses.' In back, there's plenty of room to work-headroom galore and lots of cabinet space within easy reach. Of course, the coach maker is the key. Our two Sprinters are made by American La France with Mercedes engines. The space between the squad bench and gurney (Stryker Rugged) is a bit cramped (our high top Ford van beats the ALF here). The mechanic across town loves the Sprinters because they visit the shop often. The first one blew an engine at barely 50,000 miles and both have had "reliability problems" as the company president is fond of saying. That said, they get excellent diesel fuel mileage and look kinda cool with that Euro styling that turns heads. All things considered, I really enjoy working in these ambulances. --Ironvic

There was a plunger used in the early 1970s that was pneumatic, I believe. The patirent was placed on the short backboard that was part of the unit and it used a sternum plunger to do compressions. I believe the attendant still had to ventilate with the demand valve (MTV, Elder valve etc.) Our county is (Whatcom County, WA) also part of the Res-Q Pod study. It is a lot of work working that plunger, but it works well on the mannikin. We'll see how it does on diaphoretic and/or hairy skin. You have to work on both the down and upstrokes and most guys can only go for about two minutes, so manpower will really need to be used on CPR calls. I like the valve's metronome and led timing light feature, it really helps you keep rhythm and the metronome gets you in a zone so you tend to forget how tired you're getting. This will work well in our fire department oriented EMS system as we use both paid and volunteers and most guys will get to the station when we get the CPR calls during the trials knowing that a lot of manpower will be needed.