ONE BAD APPLE

 

What does 'One bad apple' mean?

Meaning: The full form of this proverb is 'one bad apple spoils the barrel', meaning that a bad person, policy, etc, can ruin everything around it.

Unfortunately the human tendency is to see THAT ONE BAD APPLE and assume that the entire barrel is ruined. Even if there are no other bad apples visible, it leaves a negative feeling. Marketing experts will tell you that ONE NEGATIVE can spoil so much of the good that has come before; they go on to explain that, on the average, you need TEN positive impressions to erase that one bad one.

I read a newspaper article the other day where a volunteer fire fighter was arrested on SUSPICION of theft in his department. Every so often we hear of such accusations... please bear in mind that many of these accusations never reach indictment much less conviction. (Yes, sadly there are some that do).

Of course the townspeople start wondering how "honest" all of the members of their first response agencies are; they ask pointed questions about previous fund drives; they wonder how safe it is for a volunteer first responder to enter their homes. And no matter the result of the investigation, the next needed fund drive is severely depleted.

Understand that First Responders are usually the FIRST people to show up and give needed aid when someone dials 911. Also understand that there are many, many First Response agencies that are VOLUNTEER organizations and this means that the people who run to your aid, giving up their own family life and sleep, and often putting themselves at risk, are not doing this for pay or other benefits — most of them are good hearted people concerned about their neighbors.

According to a February 2020 report there are approximately 750,000 VOLUNTEER Fire Fighters, some of whom are also EMTs and Paramedics. New York State alone has more than 65,000 EMS providers consisting of many volunteer and paid personnel. The training to become an EMT, or any of the other steps in EMS ARE THE SAME whether the individual is a volunteer or paid service member. Obviously the numbers are astronomical and the FEW cases of accused wrongdoing are a mere percentage of all the honest people out there.

Definitely someone who is found guilty of criminal misdoing needs to be brought to task. But please do not judge a whole department based on what may be an unproven act — let the authorities investigate properly and take whatever necessary actions are appropriate. But PLEASE do not condemn a whole agency or field because of that "one bad apple". Your First Response agencies, especially the volunteers, need your support so that they can be there when you need them.

You can help all of the volunteer emergency service agencies by volunteering and making donations for their vital operations.

I never could stand the sight of blood

Most of us would look at that statement and say “Okay, big deal.” But it really is kind of ironic, I spent almost 30-years riding a rig as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and I saw blood more than a few times, LOL. I treated and transported trauma and acute illness, I even delivered babies! When I was busy with a patient the blood didn’t seem to bother me, but if I was just an onlooker for some reason — YIKES!

I stopped riding a few years ago, 911 response is much easier on a younger person, but I do miss it. Now I sit on the sidelines, my son and his wife are both EMTs, my daughter was a Paramedic for many years, my husband is also “retired” from EMS, and I write about it as both a journalist and as a romantic dreamer.

When I first wrote Final Sin it was a dual purpose. Years earlier there was a horrible murder (it was in all of the papers) and a major part of the crime scene was less than a mile where I live and it gave me the heebie-jeebies and I wanted to exorcise that feeling. The gruesome opening scene of the book was inspired by this true-crime, and then the similarity ends. Of course, knowing me, I wrote about a burgeoning romance between a paramedic who responds to the carnage and the Deputy Sherriff who is investigating the murder.

I had fun writing some of the unusual and sometimes humorous events in the book and YES, these things really have happened. There was the night my husband responded to a call for a heart attack victim and there was a lady who only wanted her car battery jumpstarted with the defibrillator! Of course that scene made it into the book.

Jake (sheriff) and Julie (paramedic) do get together, well no spoiler there, it DOES have an HEA ending. Along the path though there is a lot of tension and danger. I say this with all of the love I can muster on the keyboard, I hope it keeps you awake at night. (It did me while I was writing it because there were some “things” I needed to research in order to make it sound realistic.

Deputy Sheriff Commander Jake Carson has his hands full... investigation of a brutal multiple homicide, a troubled son and a vindictive ex-wife. He meets young, free-spirited paramedic Julie Jennings. When Julie becomes the subject of an obsession, it puts both of them in danger...

Final Sin evolved into Hyphema. Matt was Julie’s ambulance partner and we follow his after Final Sin life —he has a wife and son and they move to a small town in North Carolina. Oh by the way, you can find Hyphema as a stand alone book or with Final Sin as part of the EMS Novels Bundle Pack.

In Touch of Love’s short story “the Dead Guy in the Park” I was actually just being a bit whimsical. I wanted to fit some intrigue and romance into just a few pages. Oh, the apparent suicide was based on another real-life incident where, guess what, I responded. They do say that truth is stranger than fiction.

Today ends the official National EMS Week celebration but I still want to pay homage to all of the highly skilled men and women out there who answer the call for help 24X7!

To purchase Final Sin:

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Thank You to Our EMS First Responders ~ #MondayBlog

It’s National EMS Week May 15 to May 21, 2016, time to show our appreciation for so many who come to our aid when we need them. President Obama just signed this year’s proclamation saying, “Every day across our Nation, women and men sacrifice precious time with their loved ones, working long and hard to provide emergency medical services (EMS) to people they have never met before.”

We often take for granted that EMS responders, police and firefighters will come for us when we call 911 without fully understanding everything these selfless individuals do every day for strangers and neighbors alike. First of all, the Emergency Medical System includes more than the ambulance; it begins with dispatchers who answer the 911 calls and direct instructions to the appropriate agencies, all emergency responders (including firefighters and police) are part of the system, ambulance crews consisting of medical professionals of EMTs and Paramedics, the hospital receiving staff of nurses and doctors, and also EMS educators and government oversight agencies. We should appreciate all of them.

Let’s talk about the ambulance crews. There are more than 21,000 licensed local EMS agencies in the United States more than half of which provide Basic Life Support services (EMT Basic); the rest operate at EMT-Intermediate and Paramedic level services. Approximately 40% of the EMS agencies in the US are fire-department based. One-third of the states rely heavily on Volunteer EMS agencies. The people who respond on the ambulance are highly skilled and trained individuals who provide vital pre-hospital life-saving skills and often transportation to hospitals and other medical facilities. The ability of a community to survive and recover during and after a disaster depends heavily on the strength of its first responders. While many agencies help to provide in-service training and updates, much of the initial extensive training is taken on the individual’s own time and expense.

EMTs are taught to take and assess vital signs and do patient assessments. EMTs are trained to handle cardiac and respiratory arrest, heart attacks, seizures, diabetic emergencies, respiratory problems and other medical emergencies including traumatic injuries and many sudden illnesses. Paramedics can perform all of the skills performed by an EMT, plus advanced airway management such as endotracheal intubation, electrocardiographs (ECGs), insertion of intravenous lines, administration of numerous emergency medications, and assessment of ECG tracings and defibrillation. Individual states differ as to whether EMTs and Paramedics are state certified or licensed and there is a National standard of minimum qualifications.

When the patient of family member is in pain and scared, it is not always easy to see the responders as vulnerable human beings who can get injured or sick as well. Responders will come out at all hours and in all weather conditions; many times when the public is advised to stay off of roadways, there are still ambulances and other emergency vehicles heading to scenes where help is needed. Our health providers come into contact with many communicable diseases and need to take precautions to protect their own health as well as the health of their families. There are also cases where a seemingly innocuous health emergency is also combined with a potential for violence. 

Between road hazards, violent encounters, falls, communicable diseases, and emotional stresses, there is a growing number of disabilities and even LODDs (Line of Duty Death) among both paid and volunteer EMS providers. With more than 20-thousand injuries and illnesses reported yearly (CDC 2013), more than half of these are attributed to EMS responders under 35 years of age. It’s not a job done for the money as the American average for the EMS provider salary begins below $20,000 with a minority as high as $50,000; EMS providers usually begin their careers after deciding to help people and make a difference, they care for their patients and push themselves to act even sometimes when it compromises their own health and well-being.

So let’s take this week, and actually all year round, to say thank you to EMS providers who show up at your door, to roadways and more so that they can help perfect strangers, save lives and improve the quality of our lives.

~~~~~~~~

Would you like a chance to win a free book?

Comment below ON THIS BLOG and you will be entered for a chance to win a FREE ebook copy of Hyphema, one of my two EMS themed stories.

Just comment - if you log in "Anonymously" (without the use of a social network site) pleas be sure to leave your name in your comment.

I'll be announcing the winner next Sunday, May 22!

Matt Garratti, a paramedic from New York, moves his wife and son to North Carolina to work at his dream job as a flight medic. Pakistani born Sudah, his wife, receives frosty stares and insensitive comments from their new neighbors. Before long, Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.

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Unsung Heroes in Public Safety - #MondayBlogs

I rode as an Emergency Medical Technician for nearly 30 years and responded to various calls for medical help — while enroute to the location we tried to prepare for what waited for us on scene. Of course since most, IF ANY (lol), of us are not soothsayers, we had to rely on the dispatch information we received from the 911 operator.

Sometimes the results were hilarious like the time we were sent to a "bleeding aneurysm" [an abnormal widening or ballooning of a portion of an artery due to weakness in the wall of the blood vessel.]; depending on the site and severity, this can be a life-threatening situation. Without going into gross details, the medic summed the nature of the call up while he wrote up his report, "First time I ever rode in on a diaper rash!"

Once in a while the dispatch info was, well, rather understated. There was the night we were sent to a woman complaining of a stomach ache, by the time we arrived at the hospital I had delivered an eight-and-a-half pound baby boy.

Most times the dispatch info was pretty close if not exact and included more than just the nature of the call such as road closures, hazardous conditions, directions, and the occasional need for a police presence. 911 operators have the heavy task of answering the phone and literally deciphering information from frantic, stressed, sometimes crying callers whose own message may be horribly skewed and far from reality.

I remember as a child in the Bronx, well before the inception of 911, when emergency phone calls were answered by your local police precinct, there was no caller ID, and the day a rebellious squirrel crawled through our third floor kitchen window. My mom, terrified of the "giant rodent" (her description) was shrieking as she made the phone call for help. While I don't remember the exact words anymore, I remember her message included something about an evil squirrel, a kitchen sink, and protecting her children... and then she hung up, gathered my sister and me and ran to a neighbor's apartment to wait for the police to rescue us. She never gave her name or our address! A second phone call from the neighbor's apartment did finally bring the much needed rescue.

In the mid to late 60s, based on recommendations from President Johnson's Task Force on Law Enforcement and Justice, development was started on installing a simple emergency number throughout the U.S. Eventually 911 became Enhanced-911 and today's calls are answered by highly trained, patient and quick thinking Emergency Dispatchers. Incoming calls are displayed on computer screens and most landline (wired phone systems) calls display return phone numbers and locations. Even if a caller is unable to speak, assistance can be dispatched. Knowing the nature of the call helps the operator to determine which, or how many, emergency services need to be sent (fire, police or EMS). Plans are being worked on to make cell phone calls as identifiable.

911 Emergency Dispatchers need great communication skills, knowledge and understanding of emergency situations, as well as the ability to calm frantic callers and get pertinent information from them. Their minimum education is a High School diploma AND intensive emergency training and/or certification depending on the local state requirements. EMDs (Emergency Medical Dispatch) are also trained to coach people through emergency life-saving procedures Basic First Aid until responding crews are on scene. There is a lot of stress being the beginning link in our emergency response system.

Many of us have heard the stories of heroic 911-dispatchers who have gone above and beyond their required scope of duties. On September 11, 2001, Illinois call center supervisor Lisa Jefferson spoke with Todd Beamer on the ill-fated Flight 93. She offered him comfort, encouragement, took messages for his family, and even said the Lord's Prayer with him. Her actions helped record the events of the day and brought comfort to a grieving family. Police dispatchers have also been known to save police officers; one Milwaukee operator realized that a police officer hadn't checked back in after clearing a call scene and she alerted other units, they found him having a medical emergency of his own. 

The following Public Service Announcement aired during the 2015 SuperBowl, its message was to combat domestic violence and sexual abuse. The call was based on an actual 911 call. The 911 operator was able to correctly decipher the caller's cryptic call for help and send the help that was needed; this is a terrific example of the listening skills, and quick thinking that makes the 911 emergency operator such an invaluable component of our emergency response system.

Let's send out a big Thank You to our 911 Emergency Dispatchers and let them know we appreciate all that they do.

#TBT My love affair with EMS

I write about Emergency Medical Services

I wrote two EMS-based Novels, Final Sin and Hyphema

using many of my own experiences in Emergency Medical Services

 as an EMT for nearly 30 years

Nowadays I'm retired from riding the ambulance myself but both of my

offspring are career EMS so I still have an active interest in the profession.

I also wrote a self-help guide (FREE) called Until the Ambulance Arrives

Both Final Sin & Hyphema received accolades from EMS World

I'm also a freelance journalist, in addition to writing my novels,
and I've written a lot of articles about

Emergency Medical Services for magazines and newspapers

so I just thought I would share some of my other EMS writing with you...

In 2008 I wrote an article called In The Danger Zone for EMS Responder

 In March 1896, a fire destroyed the fire company headquarters in Ridley Park just outside of Philadelphia. At that time, the $300 insurance payment was sufficient to replace equipment lost in the blaze. The building, which also housed the town hall, was valued at and insured for $2,000. Maps, plans and stationery were lost in the fire. The (read more)

I've also been a columnist with

1st Responder News since 2006 writing about NYS EMS Issues

Our 1st Responders are on the line every day 

for our safety and well-being

despite the dangers that may be lurking for them.

They are on the front lines on our home front;
when we are in crisis we call and they come
and in times of disaster 1st responders are often
crucial to the recovery of a community.

Thank you all.

Thanks for taking this little trip down memory lane with me!

September is National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM), founded after 9/11 to increase preparedness in the U.S. Preparedness is a shared responsibility; it takes a whole community. Emergencies can happen anytime and anywhere without notice.

Being prepared and responding to emergencies is something that has been very important to me for most of my life. As a child I admired my dad who was active with Civil Defense which later became the NYC Auxiliary Police. He became the Auxiliary Police Captain in the 52nd pct (Bronx) and I joined the unit as an Auxiliary Police Officer helping to patrol the streets of my community. And yes, that is where my husband and I finally got together; he was also an Auxiliary Officer.

Later after marriage we moved to an upstate NY community and spent nearly three decades as volunteer certified Emergency Medical Technicians and responded to 911 calls - we delivered babies, did CPR, treated broken bones, comforted scared patients and did what we could. We taught CPR, taught First Aid, and helped educate what to do in the case of an emergency. Both of our children were raised in EMS and made their careers as highly trained EMS providers.

Last October 2012 Superstorm Sandy devastated a portion of our community and we saw first hand and personally the need for preparedness, the need for community. and the spirit of people who faced nature's fury.

I'm a writer and I write about people living through situations that might seem dire. I wrote my two EMS novels, Final Sin and Hyphema as a tribute to first responders. In tomorrow's blog I'll post an excerpt from Hyphema where Flight Paramedic Matt Garratti responds to a community devastated by tornadoes.

In the meanwhile, strengthen your own preparedness:

• Stay Informed: Information is available from federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial resources.
• Access Ready.gov to learn what to do before, during, and after an emergency.
• Make a Plan: Discuss, agree on, and document an emergency plan with those in your care. For sample plans, see Ready.gov. Work together with neighbors, colleagues, and others to build community resilience.
• Build a Kit: Keep enough emergency supplies - water, nonperishable food, first aid, prescriptions, flashlight, and battery-powered radio on hand - for you and those in your care.

And as a special gift from me to help you with your everyday emergencies

Download this FREE .pdf ebook now from PayLoadz

Until the Ambulance Arrives

thanks to http://www.ready.gov/ for this information

EMS Tales

Paramedics Julie and Matt encounter several different types of emergency calls in Final Sin - it is very real life that one never knows what kind of situation they might be dispatched to. Even when your dispatcher includes information about your call, it doesn't always match what you find.

In the excerpt from Final Sin posted on May 25, Julie and her partner Matt are dispatched to a possible heart problem. What they find instead is a woman who wants them to use their defibrillator on her car battery because her car won't start! (By the way, this is a true story borrowed from an EMT that we know)

To complicate matters, the woman believes that she has been poisoned by her beloved cat!

No matter what the call, EMS professionals know that any crisis, real or imagined, is of tantamount importance to the patient - and they are all trained to provide high standards of care. Still, there are some calls you can't help but chuckle about afterwards -

Here are some TRUE stories that have been overheard in conversations between Julie, Matt and scores of EMS professionals:

The dispatch information was "a woman complaining of severe stomach pains" = about half an hour later the EMT called dispatch to let them know that she delivered an "8 1/2 lb male stomach ache".

The Paramedic was trying to get the female's health history when she was told the woman was pregnant with Elvis Presley's baby - the year was 2004.

The crew was dispatched to the scene of a tractor trailer accident. When they went to apply MAST trousers (anti-shock garment) and removed the driver's jeans, he was wearing very dainty and frilly pink panties... It seems a husband came home early and the man left in a hurry!

The call was for a man "complaining of pressure in his chest" - when the crew arrived, they found the man's two grown sons sitting on his chest because he had gotten angry with his wife over some shopping bills.

If you are an EMS professional - share your humorous stories in the comment section (...just please remember HIPPA when you do):