Hello! Welcome to Day 12 of the 2022 First Responders Are Human event. The event hopes to encourage mental wellness in first responders through physical fitness. Participants should engage in one deliberate physical activity each day of the event. We will also be sharing a daily resiliency tool that can help first responders be resilient on and off the job. While many of the stressors first responders face are systemic, it is still important that we be able to maintain our own mental health.
Today’s Tool: Recognition
Content provided by Steve Davey Sr
Recognition
EMS Rule #1: No matter what you do, some patients are going to die
That’s a harsh statement, but it’s a reality. A reality that will, one day, smack you in the face. It’s inevitable.
What we do is a very serious business and you need to treat it as such. However, the key to your survival is not taking yourself too seriously. You can’t be the “been there, done that, seen it all”, know everything Paragod. Nor can you take the weight of every loss as personnel failure. I have always rationalized that if I give 100% of myself, use every skill I know, and treat every patient with respect no matter the call, I can accept the outcome.
I came into EMS later than most, at age 44. Maybe it’s because I already had 20 years in a different career behind me, maybe due to some rough life experiences already lived, or simply due to the inspiration that led me here in the first place. Those 417 fire, police, and EMS providers that gave their lives trying to save my cousin Dennis in the North Tower on 9/11, but I came in with a different perspective.
I treat every patient like they are a family member. Someone my age could be a brother or a sister. Older a parent or grandparent. Younger, one of my children or grandkids. Unfortunately, at one point it gained me a reputation as being a little cold. After a particularly rough call involving a child, I was not as affected by it as everyone else thought I should be. It was a child after all! In a time when it was not okay to be not okay, I was being judged for being okay.
It’s one of those strange oxymoron’s that seem to exist in EMS that breed rampant negativity. That negative atmosphere is what I want to address here. ‘Recognition’ and ‘celebrating ourselves and the work we do’ were just a couple of working titles for this tool. However, this isn’t a tool like yoga, breathing, or any of the others we’ve placed in our box over the last two weeks. It’s more of a concept or mindset if you will. Sort of like getting into the habit of saying “I appreciate you” instead of “thank you”.
I guess I should start with an unhealthy obsession I had over getting the 10th confirmed cardiac save of my career (Yes, I was taking myself way too seriously). I was stuck at 9 for years. It doesn’t count if you get pulses and respirations back. They have to walk out of the hospital you delivered them to, and our Federation will only present you “their” pin if you used an AED.
This became a visible frustration in me. First waiting impatiently for the follow-up news and even more so when I learned they didn’t make it home. I have friends and coworkers in EMS that never even had one save. That doesn’t make them any less of a provider than me, but it didn’t matter. I wanted double digits damn it! Then my wife Shirley, who is not in EMS, quite innocently stated she just didn’t get it. Why didn’t they count? Had I not succeeded in doing my part of the process? I had that “wait…what?” moment.
Shortly thereafter, I was asked if I would lecture at our in-house EMT program. I was able to select the chapter of my choice, so I chose ‘The Well Being of the EMT’ section. I say section instead of chapter because that section consisted of only one page in the textbook. Half of which was lifting techniques with instructional photos (it has been much improved since).
Most of the lecture was spent on mental health, coping mechanisms, resources, and much of the stuff we’ve talked about here over the last two weeks. I shared an article written by a friend called What They Don’t Tell You in EMS Class and shared some of my own personal struggles and how I dealt or deal with them. I am not a public speaker, in fact, this was my first time, and I was unprepared. Due to a late call, the lecture never got put into an outline from my notes and I sort of winged it.
That’s where the celebrating aspect comes in. It was only a small portion of the lecture, 5-10 minutes. However, fresh off of Shirley’s comments and another lost “confirmed” save, my what they don’t tell you in EMS class became about the constant negativity that exists. That you only seem to be told when you’ve done something wrong, rather than applauded for things done well. First, I started with the cardiac arrest save nonsense and then questioned whether or not we don’t “save” people in so many other ways, stopping bleeding, administering aspirin, and getting a patient to the hospital before the chest pain turns into an MI.
I told them we had to start recognizing our successes. Even if only among ourselves, with a partner, or with colleagues. I expressed how easy it is to forget all the good you’ve done after a bad call. And that if we start to recognize the good ones maybe, just maybe, it will be easier to hold on to them when we need them most. I told them that a change in culture from negativity to positivity began with them.
A couple of months later, after that class graduated, I’m precepting one of them. She was a bit more quiet and a little more timid than the rest of them during truck time as a student. We get a call for a hemorrhage. We arrive at what looks like a murder scene with a bleeding guy at the top of a staircase. He had his belt wrapped around his arm as a tourniquet and was holding the end of his belt with his teeth. Before I get out a word she is bounding up the steps, tourniquet in hand, taking charge. After the call, I told her how impressed I was and she asked; “So I did good?” I tell her yes and she jubilantly high-fives me. It became a thing with us and I have to tell you I found it very uplifting no matter how many times we did it.
Fast forward… I’m driving and she’s precepting her own student. The student sort of complains he didn’t do much on the call (anxiety attack). That’s not true she tells him, adding that he was instrumental in calming the patient down enough to allow for a proper assessment.
Then she high-fives him! It’s that simple! Other preceptors might have simply said, “yeah that was a BS call don’t worry about it”. But this student came away a little more confident and with a feeling that he had helped someone.
Isn’t that the #1 reason folks give for getting into this to begin?
Helpful Links & Sources:
To Do:
Follow the event on Facebook, Instagram, and join the Strava group.
Download the daily posters to use on social media.
Reflect on today’s tool and how you’ve incorporated it into your life or how you might incorporate it.
Post your reflection and physical activity on social media or the participant’s group to help spread the word and to encourage accountability and camaraderie.
Use the hashtags #movementismedicine and #firstrespondersarehuman on social media.