Re:Driving an Ambulance in the Age of Narcan
by chkaloon on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:44AM
(#20904467)
I worked for a year as an EMT, and saw a lot of folks who were extremely jaded and unsympathetic after years of dealing with this. There were a few angels who did really feel that they were doing the good work, but it is really hard to keep that attitude up for long in the face of this.
Re:Driving an Ambulance in the Age of Narcan
by FlyMoreRockets on Saturday September 07, 2019 @11:57AM
(#20904576)
Recently retired EMT here. You hit the nail on the head. For me, dealing with the patients was the easy part. I had one simple rule: just be nice and show that you care. Sometimes, that was the most important thing, especially with the chronic "frequent fliers" we were picking up nearly every day.
Coworkers were the hardest part, not just that they were jaded, but they actively viewed coworkers that did not ascribe to their jaded worldview as the enemy.
Re:Driving an Ambulance in the Age of Narcan
by dreamcompiler on Saturday September 07, 2019 @10:17PM
(#20908176)
Similar experience w.r.t. patients (my coworkers were great though). It's really not about saving lives. It's about confidently telling somebody it's going to be okay when they are having the worst day of their life. That means the world to people.
His take was less sympathetic (paraphrasing): "i thought i would be helping society, not endlessly cleaning up after its recurring mess-making."
I know a few people in first response fields (eg, fire, emergency med, police) and this is a common view, albeit not often leading them to quit their jobs.
Since there is seemingly no political will to prevent and mitigate drug epidemics, the issue rolls downhill to emergency workers.