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.

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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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A Look Back #TBT ~ September 10 and September 11, 2001

Fourteen years ago today, September 10, 2001, my husband was doing an AV gig (Audio Visual) for a trade show at the Marriot WTC (3 World Trade Center). The show was scheduled to be a two-day event, but due to the presenter's prior commitment it was scheduled for the 10th and 12th of September.

My husband was home, by my side, when we heard about the planes crashing into the towers on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Our son, in high school, knew where his dad had worked the day before but didn't realize there was a one-day gap in the presentation. Due to the chaos at his school when the word of the attack spread, he pulled his cell-phone (which was taboo during school hours) from his backpack and ducked into an alcove to call home. There was panic in his voice when he asked "Where's Dad?"

A little while later our daughter, away at an upstate college, also called home to make sure everyone in our family was all right. She headed home and arrived the following day.

I had been horrified watching the television and seeing the tragedy unfolding in lower Manhattan, but it wasn't until I heard my son's panic that it really hit me. My family was blessed that day and spared the direct loss that so many others suffered.

We responded to our local ambulance corps later that day on the 11th to offer whatever help we could. Local residents were walking in, dazed and scared. Our county's EMS system was activated hoping for more survivors and preparing to transport and hospitalize those who could travel so as not to overwhelm the city's hospitals; unfortunately that need never materialized.

Our corps, like so many others, put together a crew to head down to the city. My husband and three other corps members were on that crew. Our youth corps members, my son included, helped to stock the ambulance for the task ahead. The crew consisted of Mark and three members all with the first name of Tom (I understand they later joked that they wanted to trade Mark for another "Tom" from one of the other ambulances!) Like several other ambulances that responded, they waited in the designated staging area in hopes of having patients to transport - most returned home empty.

All four of us, including our two offspring, assisted at the ambulance corps for the next several days. One of our corps members lost a relative in the towers. A local police officer's brother in the FDNY was one of the 343 firefighters who died. In total our county lost more than 80 residents on 9/11.

Through the years since 2001 there have been many deaths associated with Ground Zero dust. Once again I realize how blessed my family has been - the staging area was set up a safe distance from the site (as is EMS response protocol).  [ http://fw.to/K75pQPY FDNY adds names of those who died related to rescue and recovery work]

My heart still weeps for the losses suffered that day at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Flight #93 in Pennsylvania. I am proud to have seen the rising and eventual opening of the Freedom Tower (1 World Trade Center) and the 911 Memorial Museum. Lives were forever changed and many of the families who suffered losses that day have worked towards remembrances including scholarships, memorials and support groups. And for a brief time, the city came together in a show of tremendous support and compassion.

9/11 is a day which will live in our hearts and souls forever.

Where were you when the lights went out? ~ #MondayBlogs

A few weeks ago a FaceBook friend reminded everyone reading his timeline of the NYC Blackout of 1977… 38-years have passed since then and I really never thought of it since. Now the song “WhereWere You When the Lights Went Out?”  keeps running through my mind NON-STOP. 

On July 13, 1977 the lights went out in New York City. I had already moved upstate, but my newly widowed mom AND my newly widowed mother-in-law lived in the Bronx; we made the trek into the city to do whatever we could for each of them. Both ladies were fiercely independent and had everything under control, they didn’t need any rescuing — as a matter of fact my mom, disabled and all, let the other tenants of the building she lived in know that she had a fresh, large box of Shabbos candles and anyone who needed to light their way only had to knock on her door. She even had a semi-party going having made a full pot of coffee and inviting several neighbors in.

I do remember the Northeast Blackout of 1965 very vividly; it was a Tuesday afternoon in November, the Cold War was everyone’s great fear and the Cuban missile crisis was still a recent memory. I was running an errand for my mom and I stopped in at the local candy store for a newspaper when the lights blinked and then went out. Leaving the dark store behind me I noticed frantic neighbors running on the block. One of the women was crying and lamenting aloud that the Russians must be attacking. Another was convinced the UFOs would soon appear. In everyone’s mind we were in imminent danger. At 11-years of age I wasn’t panicked until I started listening to the adults around me, then I got scared; I ran home and up three flights of stairs to be with my mom.

She was calm. She had already pulled out a battery operated radio and was listening intently to the new reports — the blackout had affected most of the northeast and all the way up to Canada down to the Jersey shore and as far west as Pennsylvania. Ever the planner she had already pulled out her Shabbos candles and had them ready through the apartment as soon as the sun went down. My sister came home from high school (by bus) and soon my dad, working in New Jersey, traversed his way home as well. Daddy was a member of the local Civil Defense unit (precursor to the NYC Auxiliary Police) and, after assuring that his wife and daughters were okay, he went to the local police precinct for assignment. While my dad was part of a team rescuing commuters from stalled trains, Mommy had my sister and me going door to door in our building and handing out Shabbos candles to anyone who needed. Not really aware of food spoilage, we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner and rested after delivering candles and relaying the news reports throughout our building.

In August 2003 the lights went out again during another widespread Northeast blackout. I had been working at a county library and WAS preparing for a musical show we were hosting (needless to say that was postponed). After helping to shut down the library branch and trying unsuccessfully to reach my 19-year old son who was having a blast at a south New Jersey amusement park which apparently had its own emergency generator, I drove home rather nervously without the comfort of traffic lights. Hubby and daughter also made it home only to head out again with our local ambulance corps on mutual aid into New York City; several corps sent rigs to the city when they asked for help and drove caravan style on the Jersey Turnpike to the George Washington Bridge (and got stopped by a State Trooper for speeding!). Meanwhile the son made it home without incident, he did however notice that all the lights were out when he and his friends left the amusement park.

While all of this was going on I was checking with all of my neighbors to make sure that they all had, you guessed it, Shabbos candles to light their way through the night. 

Vintage Philco Transistor Radio
photo by Joe Haupt 

The story behind Final Sin ~ #MondayBlogs

EMS STRONG

#EMSWeek2015 ~ May 17-23

In early 1985 a young man was brutally murdered at a location fairly near my home, it left our local townspeople shaken to the core. Newspaper article after newspaper article exposed sordid fact after sordid fact' the murder was written about in books, I even knew the first police officer to arrive on the scene. It was uncomfortably local..

Back in those years I spent the summers working as a day camp health supervisor utilizing my EMT certification and taking extra training to satisfy the local Board of Health/ During the summers I drove past this unassuming crime scene every day - the location of the building where the body was found was well off of the road but the numbered mailbox was prominent... and I actually shuddered when I passed it knowing the horror that had taken place.

While the opening scene in Final Sin has no connection to this nightmarish event,  I did picture this section off the winding road as "the scene of the crime" and in my imagination I was able to see the dark and foreboding smokehouse and fill it with terror once again as a fictional (this time) crime scene.Authors and artists often "steal" things they've seen and manipulate scenes into stories; it makes it very real to us and hopefully to our readers as well.

By the time I sat down to write my first EMS Suspense Thriller I had been riding as a NYS EMT (volunteer) for many years, my husband and both kids also rode. Many of our friends were First Responders, EMTs, Paramedics, CFRs, FD, PD and more. There was never a shortage of stories and certainly never a shortage of radios going off in an emergency.

Final Sin is fiction, so is the spin-off sequel Hyphema... but you just might feel as if it's real because most fiction, somewhere and somehow, IS based in reality. I hope that when you read these books you might just feel a little bit uneasy because then I've done my job and made it as real to you as it was to me... (insert evil laugh here)

Deputy Sheriff Commander Jake Carson has his hands full with the investigation of a brutal multiple homicide, a troubled son and a vindictive ex-wife when he meets young, free-spirited paramedic Julie Jennings. He is immediately drawn to her and finds himself unexpectedly falling in love. Julie finds herself just as drawn to him. When Julie becomes the subject of an obsession, it puts both of their lives in extreme danger… Romance…danger…adventure…suspense…another great Chelle Cordero novel sure to grab readers from many genre!

To purchase:

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.pdf E-Book (Payloadz)

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Follow me on Twitter @ChelleCordero for lost of chances to win FREE books this week

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.

In honor of National Preparedness Month, a new video

Chelle Cordero's EMS Mystery Suspense Novels   Final Sin          Hyphema
Final Sin    by Chelle Cordero

Deputy Sherriff 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...

Hyphema    by Chelle Cordero

Hyphema: Bleeding in the eye caused by trauma… 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... Matt wonders if he is pursuing his dream or bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.

Happy Birthday YouTube - Feb. 15, 2005

"2005 - YouTube, the popular Internet site on which videos may be shared and viewed by others, is launched in the United States" (ANSWERS.COM)

I admit, the first time I heard about YouTube, I had no idea what it was. So when I experimented with a video to help recruit members in EMS (Emergency Medical Services) for my ambulance corps, I really thought I was being brazen.

You can see my JoinEMS video here http://tr.im/joinems - and an interesting side note for you while you watch... My next novel, due out in May 2009 is Final Sin. Final Sin's main characters are a Paramedic (Julie) and a Deputy Sherriff (Jake) - the emergency situations in the book get pretty real. (And fortunately my storyline is a lot better quality than my first attempt at YouTube!)

Final Sin

by Chelle Cordero

Deputy Sherriff Commander Jake Carson has his hands full with the investigation of a brutal multiple homicide, a troubled son and a vindictive ex-wife when he meets young, free-spirited paramedic Julie Jennings. He is immediately drawn to her and finds himself unexpectedly falling in love. Julie finds herself just as drawn to him.
When Julie becomes the object of an obsession, it puts both of their lives in extreme danger...
Romance...danger...adventure...suspense...another great Chelle Cordero novel sure to grab readers from many genres!

Final Sin is a murder-mystery and a pyschological thriller - it is my first venture into a non contemporary romance genre. Keep your eyes open for this edge of your seat thriller and I will have lots more about Final Sin posted here in the coming months.


...and now for your pure enjoyment, my daughter's cat - Butters "In the Jungle"

Chelle Cordero book trailers on YouTube
Bartlett's Rule by Chelle Cordero
Forgotten by Chelle Cordero
Within the Law by Chelle Cordero
Courage of the Heart by Chelle Cordero

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NYS EMS Issues column

Read my monthly column on New York State - Emergency Medical Services Issues on the 1st Responder News online edition.

http://www.1strespondernews.com/webpages/news/categorynews.aspx?PT=columns&cat=New%20York%20EMS%20Issues&show=nf