For Non-providers

When you see me, you think of an ambulance. You see me driving this ambulance, maybe to a home or possibly the hospital. You never imagine the work that I do. You can't see the fear, the sadness, or the hard work I put into each life I am entrusted with. Most of all, you don't see the danger I face, or the life changing events that I am called upon to deal with not only professionally, but skillfully. You do not see the pain of many tragedies haunting my dreams, sometimes consuming my thoughts.

We as EMS providers see what everyone else in the world is blissfully ignorant to. Death, destruction, sickness, violence, people who's lives are too much to take. We talk the suicidal person from jumping off the ledge, but sometimes they jump anyway. We face battles with every call. Some battles are large, some are minor. I would like to give you insight to some of what we deal with.

When we get a call, it may not be immediately life threatening. Sometimes, an elderly patient falls onto the floor, and needs us to assist them to their feet. Sometimes, they don't get found for hours, or even days. They sit in their own filth, and slowly fade away. Some we can save, sometimes we are too late.

We get called to the home of a child who decided the harassment they receive at school is too much to bare. They take their father's beta blockers, in attempts to kill themselves. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes we make it in time. Either way, a child in pain always tears at the heart strings.

That morbidly obese neighbor of yours is having a heart attack. We arrive, get him out of his house, into the ambulance, and to the hospital to receive the care he needs. Size never matters when it comes to a life. We do our best, sometimes injuring ourselves to ensure everyone gets the care they need.

We rush to the scene of a car accident, two teens trapped. One dies immediately upon impact, the other has a pulse until we pull him out. Our arms and back burn from an hour straight of CPR, just to learn he didn't make it either. These kids chose to drink and drive, and we will remember them forever.

The images we see, the hurt we feel, the pain we witness slowly eats away at our souls. We do our best to tuck it back, and move forward. Sometimes, we end up suffering too. We do more than drive that ambulance. We put our hearts into your care. So, the next time you see an ambulance, think of how much we really do, and thank God you are not the one who needs us.-RU