Thursday, June 19, 2014

“Why are paramedics not given the same recognition as firefighters and police?"

I read a column on EMS1.com the other day that posed a question; “Why are paramedics not given the same recognition as firefighters and police?”.  The contributor gave his reply about EMS being new, and still defining its’ role in the world, and then opened it up for comments.  The comments were what you’d expect:

“Because fire departments and the IAFF are trying to absorb us to pay for their shiny things!!!”

“Because those idiot volunteers keep public expectations low!!!”

“Because we don’t play well with the media and the public!!!”

(and my personal favorite)

“If you’re in it for the glory….you’re in it for the wrong reasons…”

I’ve listened to and participated in discussions/debates/passionate arguments about all of these issues, and I definitely have strong opinions for each, but I’m here today to tell you that if your mind wanders to any of these when this question comes up, you’re wrong.  Dead wrong.  Let me show you what our problem is…

I’m working in a different part of the country for the moment, taking a break from trying to combine education and clinical work (which also explains why this blog has been silent for a while).  A copy of an email was posted on the bulletin board of the EMS station (a 3rd service one) from a member of the city fire department.  To summarize, “Brother” XXXXX, a member of the fire department, had a heart attack and was in the ICU recovering.  His coworkers were keeping him company in the hospital while he recovered, were assisting his family with the bustle of daily life while making sure that they had time to spend with their husband/father, and were setting up an account at a local bank so that Brother XXXXX’s family would have some financial assistance while he recovered from his heart attack (I assume this in addition to whatever sick time and short-term disability insurance they already had).

This morning, I received a text from my friend and former partner on the truck about a former coworker.  I’ve not really seen or talked to this coworker in at least a couple of years; he was working his normal shifts one day and just disappeared the next.  I heard through station chatter that he had suffered a work injury, something with his back.  That was it.  Turns out, worker’s compensation missed the spine fracture he had suffered and cut his compensation off.  He summarily ran out of what little money he had managed to save for his family, lost his house, and is now staying with family along with his wife and son to avoid being on the streets.  I’m told he’s in litigation with worker’s comp, but I also imagine it’s difficult to do that when you’re broke.  I was a little shocked to hear this update, because I had no idea; no one had let me know what he was going through.

Do you see the contrast?

Our basic problem isn’t about big fire, or large private ambulance corporations, or volunteers, or media relations, or education, or whatever else is being hotly debated in social media right now.  We don’t receive the attention, recognition, and support that the fire and police services do because we don’t care for each other like they do.  We don’t look out for each other like they do.  When one of our own needs a hand, most of us look to someone else, like management, an EAP, or worker’s comp to step in…let me rephrase that.  We look away from the “brother” or “sister” (we all like to say that EMS is a big family, right?) that needs help, and to someone else to assume the responsibility of helping out.  If we don’t change that, no amount of legislation, advocacy, or education will truly give us the appreciation and recognition that we deserve, and deep down crave (not for ourselves, but rather our profession).


We have no right to demand respect and appreciation from others until we demonstrate that we respect and appreciate ourselves.

2 comments:

  1. Ben,

    While I fully agree we lack comradery in the EMS field, I am not sure I agree this is the reason for the lack of public recognition. For example, nurses generally treat each other like absolute garbage, yet the simple title of RN commands a significant amount of respect... "Oh you should ask my sister in law about that cough of yours. She's a nurse."

    Yet when I mention to people that I am a paramedic, I am regarded as something like a custodian; as not having a real, professional career.

    I personally feel that our lack of aggressive union representation and public campaigning is the cause for this. Fire Departments issue press releases for all kinds of sensational sounding stupid shit, like the first use of Quick Clot at FDNY. They actively recruit people from the community to attend political forums and tell stories about how the fire department saved their babies. They even recently tried to convince our Physicians Commission to make fire departments in charge of all EMS systems in the state. To my knowledge, there are no EMS specialty groups campaigning to this extent, and all EMS specific unions that I am aware have a history of being completely impotent.

    I have tried hard to think of ways to create a sense of family in EMS. Firefighters drop by the station in the morning for coffee (when was the last time you saw a coffee pot placed in a communal location in an EMS station.. with coffee actually in it?). They meet at the station before carpooling to fishing trips (and aren't hassled to work overtime or run an interfacility transfer when they stop by). They compete in firefighting related competitions (EMS competitions are a joke). They must meet strict, competitive fitness and cognitive standards in order to get their jobs (EMS has next to none). Firefighters cook and eat meals together at the table ("no thanks, I brought food from home because I'm fucking broke"). None of that takes into account that firefighters tend to have much different personality traits than EMS specialists, which I believe is much of the reason why combining fire and EMS roles without a strict division of labor never really works out.

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  2. I just re-read my comment and I need to clarify: I think your article on this topic is very good and it really made me think. This is absolutely one of the larger problems in our industry.

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