firedoc5

One thing that comes to mind is did she do some kind of physical activity she normally didn't do on a regular basis. Did she do some furniture moving or start some kind of new exercise program? Something that may have changed her normal metabolic rate. Last I heard, using peanut butter crackers were starting to be a norm in trying to stabilize BGL by eating something.

When I was with a private serv. we were told to never accept a tip. The reason...the boss was afraid that they would come back on us and say the money was missing therefore accuse us of stealing it. He was paranoid like that. One Christmas we transported a nursing home patient to her son's house so she could spend the day with them. A few hours later we transported her back to the home. Since it was Christmas the family thought that we needed a tip since we weren't spending time with our family. We refused of course. But they gave us a card. Later on we opened the card and their was $40 in it for us. We got called into the office, chewed out, :jerk: and if I remember right we got some beer and munchies and had our own little Christmas party.

"Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blues" -Chrystal Gale

"Do You Feel Like I Feel" - Peter Frampton

I agree with the "Disneyland Dad" comment. Plus, boys will usually pick dads, it's a guy thing. But I'm sure he's proud of you too. To him you're just "mom" and forgets you're a Paramedic. As he get's older I'm sure he'll realize how much more you actually do.

We've all been saying that it's not a weakness to cry, but it's not a weakness to ask for professional help either. You may even want to look into finding some one-on-one counseling instead of a group debriefing. You've heard what all we had to say, now the ball is in your court.

"On the Wings of a Snow White Dove" - Ferron Huskie/ Traditional

Then there are the guys who always drive, no matter what. Some may feel like they already "paid their dues" by riding in the back and that now it's someone else's turn. But if they are always driving, how are they getting their quota's on skills in the back? Sure, some may get to do some of the treatment before loading, but you'd still think it would be hard to keep up. And remember the joke that when someone would ask someone why they became an EMT and they would say it was so they could drive fast and run red lights?

I heard something similar but it was for "Pan Am".

There are two things that I guarantee you are signs of a "Lost Cause" that you must look for and identify. No.1 Self Motivation, and No. 2 Whether he is apathetic or is he willing to put in the extra effort. If he lacks self motivation or he just doesn't want to learn and to put in more than just the required time and effort, I'd give him less than a 2% chance of being a prime candidate. These are just my findings off the top of my head over six-teen years. If you sit down with him and explain these things to him and see how he responds over about a two week period, then you'll know more about what you've got to work with, or even the lack of what you've got to work with. And don't pull no punches. Don't let him think that he'll be able to improve to for a day or two and start right back into the old rut, he's gone. No more warnings, no more write ups, no more...

Many thoughts and prayers [-o< to the loved one's and co-workers. This just breaks my heart. I know it says he was off duty but I wonder that since he was in a class whether or not he was in uniform. People don't always identify uniforms correctly and could have been thought of as a police officer. I've seen it happen many times.

I know the type Brock. Whenever we had someone having problems and there was only "one hope", I'd get them. I was patient, I was low key, I loved to teach and talk scenarios, yatta, yatta, yatta... But one thing I did learn. Yes, be patient, but know when NOT to be patient and be ready to kick his butt into gear. You can't hold them by the hand forever. I can't give you a time frame, but you will know when it's time to sit them down and "set things in motion." Let them know when enough is enough. Not only is there a time period, there should be an incident red flag too. Sure, anyone can make a mistake, but there are things out there that can/should not ever be screwed up. Use your own judgement. If something happens that you just are not sure about, think back..."What would 'so & so' say to me, or do to me if I had done that?" I fell back on that one many times. Like they say in horse training, "A little time, a little care, and a lot of beatings"....(Just Kidding)

Yes, I agree. But when this started out that is pretty much all that was asked. All the extenuating circumstances which has been addressed has been done properly. I was just refreshing the original post.

> Bubba Had Shingles > > > > Those of us who spend much time in a doctor's office should > > appreciate this! > > > > Doesn't it seem more and more that physicians are running their > > practices like an assembly line? > > > > Here's what happened to Bubba: > > > > Bubba walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked > > him what he had. > > > > Bubba said: 'Shingles.' > > > > So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number > > and told him to have a seat. > > > > Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide > > came out and asked Bubba what he had. > > > > Bubba said, 'Shingles.' > > > > So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history > > and told Bubba to wait in the examining room. > > > > A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. > > > > Bubba said, 'Shingles.' > > > > So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, > > an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes > > and wait for the doctor. > > > > An hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently > > in the nude and asked Bubba what he had. > > > > Bubba said, 'Shingles.' > > > > The doctor asked, 'Where?' > > > > Bubba said, 'Outside on the truck. > > Where do you want me to unload 'em?' > >

To back up, slow down, and simplify this topic to what I think emt322632 was trying to ask: A Paramedic tries to kill himself, of which he fails. Does he get to keep his job or will he be fired?

I have felt the exact same way. Always hated to cry, and still do. But it's not a weakness, by no means. I don't give out much psych advice because that's not what I'm trained to do. But not talking about it, or thinking about, is not going to make it go away. I tried that, it doesn't work. But on a couple of occasions I found out that if I talked about it and wound up crying about it, which may or may not happen, it get's you over that hurdle. That's why I've always said that I might not have the greatest advice, but I'm a great listener. Maybe if you just find that one person to listen to you talk, cry, rant and rave and get it out of your system, then you might get over that hurdle and can go on.

I may have missed it somewhere down the line, but after a suicide attempt (a legit one), focus on the reason for the attempt, worry about whether or not they are going to keep their job later down the road.

Talk away. Yes, you need to talk. If you feel like it PM me, or anyone here you may feel comfortable with. I know you don't want too, but sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do. Some may say, "Suck it up, get over it, be tough, etc." Believe me, from first hand knowledge you need to talk and/or get help. I myself personally may not have the best advice or be the best counselor, but I'm a great listener. I wish we had a program to "debrief" when we felt like we needed to. I think there would have been a lot of guys that would have benefited from it. But open up, talk, PM someone.

Didn't think that anyone would actually state "bi-polar" but may say something to the effect of "History of mental issues/ illness" or something to that effect.

One question I have is that if someone is fired for being bi-polar, not taking into consideration of any kind of wrong action. Could the laws concerning prejudice come into play? Say someone was hired and showed no outward signs of bi-polar problems but later it is learned that there is a history of it and they were "dismissed", could that be prejudice?

We all know one of the cardinal rules of EMS is "Never Remove An Impaled Foreign Object". This especially came more into light with the death of Steve Irwin. During an uptown celebration of some kind, parade, festival, type of thing. There was a report of a boy with a steel rod stabbed into his arm. Up around the town square court house there is a fence that at the top of each post was a pointed spade. (Not real bright to begin with but it looked nice). But a 12 yr. old boy was walking along balancing near the railing when he slipped. He ran one of those spades right through his left bicep. I'm not sure of all the particulars because I was running a full arrest on the other side of the square. But during treating and discussion on how to extricate his arm one of the guys said something to the effect of getting the sawz-all to "cut it off". Understandably the kid misunderstood him and thought they meant to cut his arm off. He freaked and he yanked his arm right off that point. How it didn't rip out the bicep muscle nobody knows. They did surgery locally then flew him to St.Louis. A few years later we saw him and he showed us his arm. Other than a massive scar and some decreased extension, he had no significant deficits. And financially, let's just say his grandkids won't be hurting.

I have heard some of the results of suspension injuries but don't know all that much. Around here most of the high suspension areas are just the high power electric lines. The crews themselves are trained for rescue and retrieval of injured patients. A gal I use to date married a lineman and I was surprised by how much training they do just for that.

Repetitive questioning of the patient, especially with a head injury or poss. CVA/TIA is a must. I've known some that have kept a time log of it. One thing I was taught, and later experienced first hand is the cycle of questions a patient may keep repeating. The grandfather of my god-daughter had an MI along with TIA and he kept asking the exact same questions in the exact same order at the exact same intervals. The doctor was even impressed on how consistent he was.

I know a lot of guys think that the battery switch being turned off would be sufficient to keep someone from stealing an ambulance if the rig was turned off. But there are so many out there that at one time or another have "worked" around them in some way and know about the battery switch. That, and some out of just dumb luck figure them out. But my experience goes back far enough to remember ambulances that didn't have a battery switch. They were just the factory stock ignition.

I have a real problem with drivers that just blow threw red lights or stop signs, especially when they don't even slow down. Drivers that think they have the right of way when they are running "hot" are a danger to everyone. I think it needs to be stressed more that when running an emergency that they do not have the right of way, but that it is a "courtesy" to be given the right of way by the other drivers. It's suppose to be taught in every class, but I think all too often it's not stressed enough. And there are too many civilian drivers that don't pay enough attention to be able to give the courtesy.