The Star Of Life; We See It Every Day On Uniforms, Signs, Medical Equipment, And Ambulances. Most People

The Star of Life; We see it every day on uniforms, signs, medical equipment, and ambulances. Most people do not know what the symbol represents. The star of life was created after the American National Red Cross complained in 1973 that they objected to the common use of an Omaha orange cross on a square background of reflective white which clearly imitated the Red Cross symbol. The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated and found the complaint to be justified. The new designed symbol the “Star of Life" was adapted from the medical identification symbol of the American Medical Association and was registered as a certification mark on February 1, 1977. The blue bars of the Star of Life represent the six system functions of EMS: Detection, Reporting, Response, on Scene Care, Care in Transit, and Transfer to Definitive Care. The staff with a serpent coiled around it is the symbol of medicine and health. The staff and serpent have their origin in Greek mythology. The Star of Life, like EMS, has a rich history of tradition and honor it has become a time honored symbol of Emergency Medical Care. Time for coffee.

The view from the back of the ambulance.

In 1970 I ran my first ambulance call. At this time I was a junior firefighter. I had no plans for a long career in the field of EMS riding on ambulance seemed like a good stepping stone to something bigger and better in my climb up the success ladder, not to mention it was new, it was exciting, and it made me feel important. I have been reflecting lately on why I am still lifting stretchers and working impossible hours in all kinds of weather. I've been looking back it notes, photos in scrapbooks,and at newspaper clippings collected over the years of my career. Early on, EMS was the thrill of a life on the edge like a stuntman I had hours of training, thinking, waiting, and then fibrillating seconds of terror, excitement and mastery, all nestled in a cool professional, calm. I loved the rush! The more big ones as we call them in the business that could be crammed into my life the better. Full moons Saturday nights,and back to back calls made me run as hard as I could. The honeymoon of excitement faded and a dark requiem began to emerge I began to observe the world with what has become known to me as the view from the back of the ambulance. The way I look at my world began to change. Riding in the ambulance had become a school of lessons in life that I had not signed up for. My first lesson was a graphic journey into the fragile nature of life it was a lesson of death and the dying patient. I thought I knew about death as a fact of life but to experience the sudden ending of life and illness and injuries that could not be fixed again and again began to teach me in a way unlike any other. Staring into the shattered glass of an auto window at the obvious diagnosis of death I began to learn. I looked beyond the body at the smashed bag of groceries and thought of the family members waiting at home. Why was this woman dead? 1000 reasons and yet no reasons could reverse the fact that death had visited EMTs and paramedics see death in its raw natural state, not laid out on the white of a hospital bed or stainless steel of the morgue table but as it occurs in the every day environment. There's an odd quiet to the " dead on arrival" scene an awe and mystery. It's a view of the cycle of life previously known only to a few and never to me. I began to realize what Emily Dickinson meant when she wrote "because I would not stop for death he kindly stopped for me." Death is frequently an unseen rider in the ambulance reminding me life is very short and strangely enough I noted that there are things worse than death. The second lesson comes from trying to make sense out of notes and run sheets and newspaper copy. There were notes on suicides, on a child who choked, on old and young folks with cancer, on hunting accidents, on teenagers and fast cars, on strange things happening at strange times. This lesson simply said if you look at life from the back of an ambulance long enough you'll wonder if maybe the world is out of control and wonder if just maybe there is no higher power giving rhyme or reason for the things that happen here. Working on the streets puts one face to face with the naked reality of unexpected tragedy and suffering that just plain does not make sense. People see tragedy on television but somehow it's different when there isn't a screen in a volume knob in between. No sense is made out of the horror it just is. The tragic experiences simply become a part of the view from the back of the ambulance. Our culture would like to suggest that everything is under control but the view from the ambulance suggest order and reason are not always found! Out of control or not I find that most of us in EMS learn to be quite good at dealing with the these lessons. We are forced to witness the tragedies and then return to a lift assist , earache or flu type responses. The common rule is try not to think about it and find something to do. It's a cultural coping strategy that helps us keep the pace demanded by our world like countless others who dismiss the tragedies portrayed on the evening news we learn to say a quick it is what it is and some people are hurt or simply sick enough to die. If you do not learn the lesson of coping you will not survive in EMS like learning to balance a checkbook you eventually have to learn to do it or go bankrupt like the checkbook some learn to do it very well and others of us barely get by but we still must do it. To cope means that you can experience stress and remain normal. Finally we are beginning to realize that an unsuccessful cardiac arrest is not equal to a fouled machine in a factory job. I know many EMS people who go beyond the don't think and keep busy system. They talk it out the channel frustration into exercise and they visit counselors and have very positive views on life. Victor Frankel was a psychiatrist who lived through a Nazi concentration camp where he was separated from his wife stripped of his clothing and made to dig with his bare hands in frozen ground for food. He watched as many of his friends died and an irrational demon was released upon the world. Then he realized that even in the midst of life at its lowest point he and his fellow prisoners still have the right to choose their attitude. In his book about the experience Man's Search for Meaning he states that despair is dispelled by the rationalization that the ultimate freedom is man's right to choose his attitude. We have a right to choose how we respond to the despairing lessons learned from the view from the back of the ambulance. We can learn from the tough stuff how to live. For me choosing a " keep moving" attitude has been the result of allowing the view from the back of the ambulance to help me sort out my values and begin a lifelong journey that does not deny what I see and really feel. I know that life is unpredictable and begs for me to sort through material pursuits and ladder climbing to find out how I can live the gift of life today. From time to time just when the world appears out of control order is suddenly returned through the gift of human compassion. allowing ones self to care is what restores meaning to seemingly senseless ambulance calls. One should ask do I feel the hand that I hold? Fulfillment and success seem to come when pursued the least. People in EMS are given a special gift of seeing life at its worst but also at its best. I honestly don't know why the world is the way it is and why life is sometimes cruel and hard and grants no chance to say goodbye, but I do have a choice in how I will respond to the lessons from the back of the ambulance. The view from the ambulance is often tough and painful but the choice of what I do with that view is within my control.

Time for coffee!

ROBOTS OR DINOSAURS?

Dinosaurs

Do you want to know? “Oldsters” taking medication for chronic conditions and who have difficulty carrying out their daily living activities need to be looked in on frequently. Don't wait for something to be a miss. Boots on the ground is the order of the day! Use your own senses to detect trouble signs and ask the folks who see your elder most often to note and report any changes to you. Lives have been saved and disabilities avoided by eagle eyed caregivers. There is no replacement for your daily attention to details. Be organized, look on your elder every day if possible and if not, call them and or ask someone else to look in. What should you be looking for? Symptoms, such as rashes, nausea, shortness of breath, headaches, constipation, and pain. These things are especially important if your elder has chronic illness. It's not enough to ask if they are eating and taking their medications. You need to count the pills to be sure and look to see if there is food in the house and if it is being eaten. Let's not forget if it is the food that should be eaten as it relates to chronic illness such as diabetes. Boots on the ground is the best protection for your elder and as always remember living alone is not the same as being alone. Time for coffee.

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Community resilience In the last 15 years floods, terrorist attacks, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and unfortunately anticipation of more to come have driven governments throughout the world to move attention and efforts to national resilience.

New efforts now call for increased flexibility, quicker response by relying more on regional and local capabilities, and a shifting focus to an all hazards approach.

So what is community resilience? Public engagement in preparing for and responding to emergencies. In powering communities and citizens to become a more integral part of the national strategy. Close collaboration between government the civic sector and private enterprise in a whole community approach to planning and response.

By use of local resources and expertise to help ourselves in an emergency in a way that complements response of emergency services.

Simply put the concept is that of the use of ordinary skills in extraordinary circumstances!

Resilient communities are capable of bouncing back from adverse situations. They can do this by actively influencing and preparing for economic, social, and environmental change. To understand resilience we need to break it down to people, organizations, resources, and community process.

Residents: beliefs, attitudes and behavior in matters of leadership, initiative, education, pride, cooperation, self reliance, and participation.

Organizations: collaboration with local organizations, institutions, and groups.

Resources: the community builds on local resources to achieve its goals, while drawing on external resources strategically.

Community: the nature and extent of community economic development, planning, participation, and action.

Community resilience means many things to many people. A strong and resilient community should be a priority to everyone who lives here. If our community is strong our country will be strong!

Time for coffee!