Hazard Pay

[FiremanMike]

When we start paying people hazard pay, I fully expect all of you to forgo it.

If they send me a check, I'm signing it right over to sweetwater for the guitar I've been eyeballing..

But I don't expect it, I don't deserve, and I'm definitely not going to demand it just for going to work.

You are steadfast in your belief that you are doing something better than everyone else around you, you're not. You're doing your part based on the career pathway that YOU CHOSE.

"I'm afraid of sick people" isn't really a valid reason for refusing to do your job, and they shouldn't have to pay you extra to come to work.

 

[RocketMedic]

One wonders how many of your employees feel the same...

 

[Peak]

When we start paying people hazard pay, I fully expect all of you to forgo it.

Lol, I'll probably die of shock the day I see a differential for treating an infectious disease.

 

[RocketMedic]

Lol, I'll probably die of shock the day I see a differential for treating an infectious disease.

I reckon it’ll happen eventually, probably the day welfare becomes as lucrative as work.

 

[RocketMedic]

Nurse Judy Wilson-Griffin is first COVID-19 death in St. Louis region

Judy Wilson-Griffin, an African-American nurse who worked at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, was the first person in the St. Louis region to succumb to COVID-19.

www.stlamerican.com

No hazard here, we routinely die of things we get exposed to at work!

 

[VentMonkey]

Sheesh, I thought my gen gap thread was nuts. Crazy times, bros.

Hazard pay? No more than the hazard pay I’d get for the current role that I practice in. Just like the other HEMS people that I know of.

I like the approach @FiremanMike is taking: “I’d take it, but don’t deserve (expect) it” take. Rational.

 

[VFlutter]

Nurse Judy Wilson-Griffin is first COVID-19 death in St. Louis region

Judy Wilson-Griffin, an African-American nurse who worked at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, was the first person in the St. Louis region to succumb to COVID-19.

www.stlamerican.com

No hazard here, we routinely die of things we get exposed to at work!

Not to undermine the point but for transparency this was not work related exposure but rather community acquired. She was a clinical specialist with minimal direct patient interaction and was on personal leave for a while before this.

 

[RocketMedic]

Not to undermine the point but for transparency this was not work related exposure but rather community acquired. She was a clinical specialist with minimal direct patient interaction and was on personal leave for a while before this.

Exactly. It’s hazardous enough to kill you just in the course of normal life, yet we’re expected to Bandana it through repeated actively-symptomatic patients. But as y’all have said, “it’s adequate PPE” and the very concept of hazard pay is amoral and wrong.

Good thing you’re not in charge of anything more consequential than some podunk little departments. I’d hate to see you trying to recruit people.

 

[ffemt8978]

Play nice.

 

[FiremanMike]

Exactly. It’s hazardous enough to kill you just in the course of normal life, yet we’re expected to Bandana it through repeated actively-symptomatic patients. But as y’all have said, “it’s adequate PPE” and the very concept of hazard pay is amoral and wrong.

Good thing you’re not in charge of anything more consequential than some podunk little departments. I’d hate to see you trying to recruit people.

Reductio ad absurdum.

I'm done trying to reason with you, you are only interested in your own agenda.

May you get all the hazard pay you deserve.

 

[VentMonkey]

Play nice.

Fair enough, but I mean @RocketMedic is coming across as more and more irrational the deeper he digs his position on this thread.

It sounds to me like the majority has spoken, and not just the managers on this forum. I’d guess even most boots on the ground across the nation share the same opinion. Not all, but most.

Do what you signed up for. It’s not altruistic, it’s not foolish (again, knowing the consequences well ahead of time), it’s practical.

Both my wife and I are in the healthcare field and run great risks bringing it home to our three children, one being a terrible asthmatic from almost birth. I hardly doubt we’re alone in this.

What’s more negligent? Not working because I don’t want to risk catching COVID, or not putting food in their mouths?

I just don’t know. It’s a daily question for all of us and I’m seeing a lot of frightened faces on my co-workers—understandably so.

With that, I can’t help but feel obligated to pummel our children still with the “be grateful” reminders daily as well.

 

[ffemt8978]

Exactly. It’s hazardous enough to kill you just in the course of normal life, yet we’re expected to Bandana it through repeated actively-symptomatic patients. But as y’all have said, “it’s adequate PPE” and the very concept of hazard pay is amoral and wrong.

Good thing you’re not in charge of anything more consequential than some podunk little departments. I’d hate to see you trying to recruit people.

By that reasoning, you deserve hazard pay just for driving in the ambulance. After all, that is hazardous enough to kill you in normal life.

 

[VFlutter]

Exactly. It’s hazardous enough to kill you just in the course of normal life, yet we’re expected to Bandana it through repeated actively-symptomatic patients. But as y’all have said, “it’s adequate PPE” and the very concept of hazard pay is amoral and wrong.

Good thing you’re not in charge of anything more consequential than some podunk little departments. I’d hate to see you trying to recruit people.

First of all, I professionally knew the nurse in that article, and was clarifying the facts as it appeared from the headline and your context this was a result of her working. Veracity is important during times like these, not just trying to fit a narrative. Not trying to argue for or against anything.

Not sure if the last comment was directed towards me but pretty sure it is wildly off base

 

[Phillyrube]

Howz about hazard pay for elementary school teachers? Friend of mine taught school for 35 years, had a perpetual code until she retired, dang little nose pickers.

Howz about all those IFTs we did with MRSA. Yea yea, most of them had positive nasal swabs, just like we had working in the place.

 

[RocketMedic]

Last comment

First of all, I professionally knew the nurse in that article, and was clarifying the facts as it appeared from the headline and your context this was a result of her working. Veracity is important during times like these, not just trying to fit a narrative. Not trying to argue for or against anything.

Not sure if the last comment was directed towards me but pretty sure it is wildly off base

It was aimed right at @NomadicMedic and @FiremanMike .

 

[PotatoMedic]

Do I want or expect hazard pay? Nope. Do I hope that this will help us ask our tax payers in the future for an increase in our EMS tax so we get pain comparable to our other public safety partners? Yes.

That is all I have to say on this topic.

 

[Seirende]

so we get pain comparable to our other public safety partners? Yes.

You're not satisfied with the pain you're getting?

 

[PotatoMedic]

You're not satisfied with the pain you're getting?

I believe in alternative payments! Call it an extra benefit!

 

[GMCmedic]

4 days off doing constant remodel work while also entertaining kids, one of which has made it a point to wake up at 0200 for the last 3 nights and stay up.........im ready to go back to work tomorrow, and Ill do it with a smile on my face because im thankful im not one of the millions of unlucky Americans that isnt collecting a paycheck right now.

 

[SandpitMedic]

@RocketMedic... Let me try to help you out even though you are entrenched in your philosophy; perhaps you can engage in some introspection.

Desiring more pay for EMS in general =/= your discussion of hazard pay.

Anyone with a brain can figure out that there is an opportunity here and that we can take advantage of opportunities. The opportunity is that we can show that we are just as valuable as other healthcare professionals and that we should be held in the same regard. This thing going on right now is unprecedented, and it is a national emergency... It is not the time to demand more pay during the crisis. It is time to do your job. It is not altruistic to do what you signed up for as we have been trying to tell you. If, in your opinion, you did not sign up for this... well, you've had plenty of advice there. (not to be cliche, but you didn't see EMS and FFs demanding more pay to do their jobs on 9/11 did you?)

When this is over the entire healthcare and public service arenas are going to be examined and altered. When those discussions and decisions are taking place, that will be the time for you to ride in on your "me too" horse and clamor for better conditions. I'll be on the horse next to you. I have always been a proponent of bettering conditions for EMS and advancing the profession for the better, right down to the street crews.

I am a credentialled paramedic. I'll always be a paramedic. Just because I'm not on the street right now does not mean I don't have risks for exposure to myself and bringing it home to my family. I am still in healthcare and affected by this, including being exposed to one of the first patients in my AO with COVID.