But I am just an ambulance driver...

[Riblett]

A friend of mine, is a long time paramedic, posted this on myspace and I think it is very moving. I am not sure whether he wrote it or not. Maybe ABC news writers ought to get a copy.

Standing in chest deep water, freezing rain falling and stinging as it hits the

exposed parts of my body. Holding her head above water to keep her from drowning until rescue could get there to cut her free

--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER

Comforting a 89 year old woman who just watched me and my partner cover the face of her husband of 64 years as he lay dead in their bathroom floor

--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER

On scene at an MVC with mom trapped upside down in her car and her son's dead body laying on top of her. Without a second thought for my own safety I crawl into the wreckage to take C-spine control and calm the frantic lady

--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER

Called away from my just prepared meal to respond to the middle of B.F.E to a house with no house numbers, no porch light on, nobody waiting to signal us in and they bitch because we took too long only to find out the patient left P.O.V ten minutes ago...so we smile and walk away from the verbal lashing only because we are ...JUST AMBULANCE DRIVERS

Standing in the middle of the street at midnight on the wrong side of town trying to patch the holes and stop the bleeding of a 19 year old shooting victim with the occasional bullet whizzing past our heads. We never break stride because this kids life is in our hands

--- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER

Doing chest compressions on a 16 year old girl who decided this life was more than she could take. Her family screaming at us to help as though we are the ones who did this to her. Her lifeless body flailing about as the tube goes in and IV's being started, my arms and back burning from the pain of 30 minutes of CPR, never once giving up, hoping she would make it through and over come whatever lead her to this bad decision

---- BUT I'M JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER

Death is all around me and still I go home to live my life

I get kicked, hit, spit on, bled on, puked on...

I look into the eyes of a lifeless child at 7am and by 8 am I'm holding my own child a little tighter and they know nothing about what happened.

I have hundreds of hours of classroom time,

years experience in the field...

I have challenged death and won

I've helped the helpless

I've neglected my family for yours

I find comfort in complete chaos

I eat cold meals if I eat at all

I work with no sleep for days at a time

I miss birthdays, holidays, and school functions

I put myself in harms way for a total stranger on a daily basis

ALL BECAUSE I AM JUST AN AMBULANCE DRIVER

I AM AN AMBULANCE DRIVER!!! I DRIVE 90 MPH THROUGH CONGESTED TRAFFIC FULL OF PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO YIELD RIGHT OF WAY WHILE MY PARTNER STANDS UNRESTRAINED IN THE BACK OF THIS SCREAMING LAND MISSILE SAVING YOUR LOVED ONES LIFE!! NEVER ONCE DOES HE QUESTION MY DRIVING. HE KNOWS THAT AT THE END OF THIS SHIFT HE WILL GO HOME TO HIS FAMILY SAFELY, BECAUSE I AM AN AMBULANCE DRIVER....

[firedoc5]

I had seen it a long time ago. Can't remember exactly where.

I always gave the comparison of one minute you are at the house of a 98 yr. old woman taking her last few shallow breaths while holding her Bible. The next you are fighting tooth and nail on a 19 yr. old kid that just flew out of a third story building onto the street, freaked out on bad cut coke.

[spenac]

That is posted on here already I think more than once.

Heres one of them with the authors name.

http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...sc&start=45

[steph1030]

these r nice and make people stop and think about why we do what we do