Monday, June 28, 2010

I was having a conversation with a long time friend of mine that I met in the very beginning of my EMS career and I have to say I got very defensive for the first time in a while. I started in EMS in a very rural, small town. My hometown consists of a town of maybe 6000 folks in the city and thousands more in BFE. The average time for a call can be anywhere from 20 min (in town) up to hours long in the country. The nearest trauma center is an hour and half from town by ground on a winding back road or 2 hours on the straighter main road (depending on where in the county you are) while the local ER has a grand total of 6 beds, the next closes hospital has a 3 bed ER...you get the picture. From there I joined the local FD where I went to college, and while the pace was a littler faster it still wasn't much, we averaged 700-800 EMS calls a year and the local hospital had up to 12 beds and the local trauma center was only 45 min by ground. Now I work for a hospital based medic truck that averages about 3000 calls a year and well, I have to say I have tested the waters with city EMS, I did practicals in school in big cities, and did some ride time with my part time job in the city and it's just not me. I enjoy having the longer transport times and spending a little extra time with my patients.

Anyways, I was on the phone with this friend and he put down the fact I worked in rural EMS. This is not the first time he has done this, he has several times and it finally got to me. I have gotten this attitude from several "big city" EMS folks, like they are better because they run 20+ calls in a 24 hour shift and I might run 5 calls or I might not turn a wheel. Just who do they think they are? It really irritated me. It does not make me any less of a medic because I work in a rural area or because I like  it.

That is all...thanks for the steam blowing!

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