Holding Us Back: A Great Example

[Kiwiology]

If you admit to liking DW I will admit to liking the Dixie Chicks ... *covers up Top of the World Tour t shirt

You nailed it mate, being an ambo is a career, not a lifestyle

Excuse me, strawberry jam is calling

[Arctickat]

I love DW, He's awesome!!!!

Boogity, boogity, boogity;

Let's go racing boys!!!!

I wear T-shirts, shorts, and sweats all the time that have a star of life or EMS silk screened on them. I don't consider it to be whackerism unless someone is wearing those clothes with an attitude. The clothes don't make the whacker. For me, it's just a shirt with stuff printed on it, 9 times out of 10 it just happens to be what I grabbed out of the drawer without even looking. I remember during the 2008 Daytona 500 I snapped a picture of a medic in a golf cart in the infield. He saw me and smiled and gave me the secret medic hand signal. It was only then that I realised the T-shirt I'd tossed on that morning had a SOL on it.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Arctickat

[Kiwiology]

Trev you muppet Emergentologist meant Disney World

[Arctickat]

Yeah, well I still like Darrel Waltrip and Daytona is my Disney World.

[Richard B the EMT]

As Craig, I and others have stated, such behaviour is not seen as a mark of professionalism but rather laughed at or disdained as being just weird.

YET I continue seeing T-shirts from both Fire Departments, EMS providers, and combined Fire/EMS providers, internationally. I know Fire Fighters and EMSers who exchange them, both mine, and those from around the world.

Perhaps I should explain, I wear the T-Shirts when I am off duty, or covered by the uniform of the day. You should see the bubblegum pink one I have with a Toucan bird on it, reads "One Can't" on the front, the back reads "But Toucan". Absolutely NOTHING to do with EMS, LEO or FD. That way, folks can identify with me from either my profession (EMS/EMT) or they vacationed there, too.

[Kiwiology]

YET I continue seeing T-shirts from both Fire Departments, EMS providers, and combined Fire/EMS providers, internationally. I know Fire Fighters and EMSers who exchange them, both mine, and those from around the world.

You are missing the point. The New Zealand Fire Service has a blue t shirt as part of its operational uniform and yes I am sure a few are hanging up in collections around the world; there is nothing wrong with that.

What we are referring to is the people who wear EMS T shirts casually or recreationally to show they are an ambo, or have EMS tattoos, or license plates, or bags full of crap in their car and go to jobs off duty or have a big star of life in their car window or drink coffee out a mug with a big star of life on it ... stuff like this is not professionalism, it's stroking a massively overinflated ego hero complex.

As Emergentologist said, being an ambo is a career, not a lifestyle.

I didn't see any cartoons in the New Zealand Herald with Superman asking a bunch of Firefighters and Paramedics standing infront of a crumbling Christchurch Cathedral or in Latimer Square for their autograph? Need I say more?

[Arctickat]

I disagree, do you consider Drew Stanton to have an ego complex if he wears a Indy Colts hoodie, or has a horseshoe decal on his car? People wear T-shirts, or drink out of coffee mugs, etc, with their professional logo on it because they take pride in their profession and in who they are. The majority are not egomaniacs. I admit, a couple of years ago I tossed out a whole bunch of EMS related clothing because I realised that almost everything I owned had some sort of logo on it which made it difficult to wear to some occasions.

I don't have any decals on my car, I have a small first aid kit, I have a rescue mask keychain, and several EMS related articles of clothing. I don't wear them stroke my ego, in fact, I usually wear them because I don't want to wear my monkey suit 24/7 but want something to identify me if I get called out. As for EMS being a profession and not a lifestyle, I also disagree, at least in my case. My profession dictates my lifestyle. I wish it didn't, but it does. I'm the only Advanced Paramedic in my company; I own the company; I can't afford to hire another medic; my sense of duty prevents me from relaxing off duty because I'm worried I'll miss a call that requires a paramedic and the patient will suffer for it. Long story short, I work 24/7 almost every day of the year. Once in a while I can scratch together enough money to get a casual medic to cover for me while I go on vacation. My whole life and that of my family revolves around and is dictated by my career, therefore, in our case at least, it is my profession and my lifestyle. Admittedly, I do hope that one day I'll be in a financial position to change that...but for now, there it is.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Arctickat

[Richard B the EMT]

People used to tell me I would not ever amount to anything. then, I became an EMT. Yet my naysayers still inquire what I'm going to do for a living "when I grow up". Hell, I'm medically retired from NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS/FDNY EMS after 25 years, and been in EMS title (at both unpaid volunteer and commercial services) for 38, overall. I think I earned the right to wear an EMS or EMT T-shirt. I'm proud to be an EMT, a "somebody" even if I'm a nobody until they need me.

[Kiwiology]

You're missing the point. Crag and I and others are talking about the egocentric hero complex spankers who ooze EMS out every pore of their skin yet "don't need no college class to save lives!" and the people who recycle garbage on Facebook about how holier than thou and deserving of much awe and shucksery all the ambos and fireys are because they do some God given mission and its just a joke.

If somebody came here and drove around with EMS license plates, EMS t shirt etc they would be laughed at and dismissed as not only unprofessional but "over the top" and a bit obsessed. Here you are prohibited from wearing anything that identifies you as an Ambulance Officer off duty, why? to preserve the professional reputation and high integral standards of the Ambulance Service.

In Australia and New Zealand Ambulance Officers and Paramedics have been voted the most trusted profession for almost a decade, consistently, without EMS week, EMS t shirts, EMS license plates or any other bullshit and fan fare. Go and look in the New Zealand Herald, the Brisbane Courier Mail and the London Times, you won't find any cartoons of superhero's asking Firefighters and Paramedics in Latimer Square, the QLD floods or outside the tube on 7/7 for their autograph ...

Richard, I have much respect for your decades of experience, but the mentality held by a subset of American emergency responders that results in all the hero hype and egocentric behaviour is simply a joke, it is laughable, it is not professional, it is not advancing the profession, it is embarrassing and I feel sorry for you for being associated with them.

Trev mate, I told you, hire me, I will work for free provided I can sleep in your spare room

Edited July 2, 2012 by Kiwiology

[Arctickat]

And I told you, get registered with the College of Paramedorks and I'll put you to work.

Admittedly, I don't observe EMS week or toot my own horn much, but perhaps I should. When a drunken beer stealing fire chief has more respect in this community than I do, it makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong. Perhaps I should take my medals and awards out of storage and display them for all to see.

I don't judge a person by the clothing they wear but by their actions. Let others laugh at me all they want, the opinion of someone who is that judgmental is irrelevant to me.