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EMERGENCY MEASURES ATTENDANTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Hey my friends are you turned off ? Is working nine to five to make a living getting tedious? Are you looking to make a difference?
I have career for you where no two days is ever the same. A sense of the unknown. A daily adrenal rush with hands on opportunity to make a difference.
Last week I was invited to spend a morning with London-Middlesex Emergency Medical Service personal. It was an experience that I will never forget.
I made my way over to Station #1 on Waterloo St. to meet with the para–medics in their Duty Room.
Mark Whiston, an Advanced Level Care professional, with 25 years of service welcomed me. He is one of 200 personal located in eleven locations serving London/Middlesex.
Dean Reffell, an affable fellow told me that all of the staff have a minimum of two/three years of community college para-medic training. “Individual critical thinking/interpersonal skills is a must to work with people in crisis.”
Victims of heart attacks, strokes vehicle accidents, seizures, diabetes & substance abuse are real life threatening occurrences 24/7.
Jen Masse & Karen Gray are para-medics who have one minute to be in their vehicle with their dispatch sheet in hand. The staff are expected to be on site in eight minutes or less 90% of the time to provide emergency care.
The advanced level ambulances ($150,000) are mini emergency rooms on wheels that have state of the art equipment capabilities along with a vast array of medications.
Chris Darby the Duty Manager invited me to ride along with him to the 911 calls.
The first dispatch was to William Street the scene of a multiple stabbing/murder. Police, coroner, EMS staff were on the scene.
We were then dispatched to the old Victoria Hospital campus on South Street. There was a man who had suffered a cardiac arrest in the clinic.
We had no sooner left the hospital when there was a code four reporting a women and her four children suspected of carbon monoxide poisoning. Chris hit the siren and lights as we sped along Horton going East. The right lanes were blocked. Chris deftly threaded the needle into the oncoming traffic. The family & apartment where we responded were checked out okay and we could proceed back to the station.
A normal morning for par-medics in the London area that answer 43,000 calls of which 30,000 per year are life threatening emergencies.
In the old days it used to be a matter of scoop and run. To-day the staff assess, treat, monitor and provide transport to the hospital.
Time is of the essence and critically ill patients are transferred to the nearest hospital. Constant contact is made by cell phone in order that emergency room staff are forewarned and prepared to provide continual life saving aid.
Chris enjoys his career of serving the public. “ It is not what he does for a living but who he is. The EMS are proud to be part of a chain of survival of police, fire services who impact the lives of Londoners.”
Randy Denning, President of Middlesex-London EMS, is proud of his staff . He emailed me a smiling photo of Theresa Griffin with her rescuers who had successfully saved her life. A picture is worth a thousand words.
The sages tell us that: ‘Those who save one life is equal to saving the entire world.’
Len Lesser