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What's the girl's capillary refill like? Any changes in lung sounds? I hope that this girl was taken in to get checked out. I sounds like the grape may have moved from a complete blockage of the airway to a partial blockage. With toddlers, it's important to have the airway checked after choking to make sure no damage has been done even if the airway is cleared without incident (that's according to the pediatrician I used to take my own kids to).

That's a wise statement. Here's it said another way: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6) I can't count the number of times I foolishly associated with evil people and then, after a time, began acting in evil ways too.

You can be an example of what a good EMS professional is while you work there, but as soon as you can, GET OUT. As others have said, the culture ther is one that will be too hard to change, especially for one person. When you get a group of people who are determined to be miserable for the sake of being miserable, you cannot change that mindset. Eventually, that service will have to do a major housecleaning to change the culture there. Take the education you are getting there on the kind of EMS professional you DON'T want to be, and remember that throughout your career. It is very sad that those individuals have completely lost sight of why they are in EMS. They are not just harming themselves by not continuing to maintain their competencies, but they are harming the department through their attitude and poor example they set, and most importantly, they are harmful to the patient. It is probably a good thing that they only want to drive, as they probably haven't maintained their skills. Would you want a doctor who hasn't done any upgrading or maintenance of skills in the last 10, 15, or 20 years work on you or your family member? These members are no different. Through their own bad attitudes, they are cheating patients out of quality care. I have been in EMS for almost 14 years, and volly in a very very rural area (1 ambulance for 2100 sq.mi, and a population of about 1500), and I also work paid in an urban centre (city of about 60,000). The volly service I work for has exactly the same problem. I know that some paid services have this problem as well, but it is easier to deal with in a paid service: "these are your duties, you are not meeting the duties outlined in your job description, so there's the door, and don't let it hit you on the way out." On our volly crew, we have trouble getting new members because people in our community do not want to work with 2 individuals who are exactly like you described. They only want to drive, they don't maintain their skills, and they are negative about the work and the patients 24/7. I am now the team leader of that crew, and we have been amalgamated into the regional service where I work paid. I am working with regional management to build criteria for the volunteer services in our region, to meet standards of annual training and proving of skills. It is my hope that if we apply enough pressure on these negative members to get back up to par on education and skills, they will decide to leave. I have new members who are very excited to be there, very willing to learn, and who are all looking to further their education. I don't want them to be tainted with the negativity that these two chronically spew. I would rather see a newbie who is willing, volly for experience, continue their education, and move on to a paid service, than have vollies who have been here forever, and who are so incredibly negative that they impact the rest of the department, and eventually impact patient care. Negativity is contageous. Be very careful that you don't get infected.