One thing they need to prepare us for as EMS professionals, Ambulance drivers (what the public like to call us) or any Healthcare professional is dealing with the death of your own child.
For the past 6 months I have been doing research trying to find other healthcare professionals who have lost their own child. I have failed to find anything on the web, in books, or even finding someone in person who have gone or is going through the same catastrophe as I am now. Really, why, and how? I don't know, but what I do know is that I can't be the only one who works in EMS or any other Healthcare profession who is suffering the loss of their own child, or even in the worst case scenario, their children.
Going through school they teach us how to treat patients whether it's medical or trauma related issues, but the real issue is the emotional distress we go through after the fact. I know we all are not training how to be psychologists or psychiatrists, but I believe we need to be taught how to cope or help others cope and treat the emotional distress we go through after having gone through probably the worst thing that anyone will ever experience in their lifetime.
Recently I had heard someone say "Hey! you will never know how it feels to have lost someone!!" They failed to realize that the guy standing 20 feet away from them in the EMS uniform is going through the same thing that they currently are. We are all human, and just because we work in the healthcare field we aren't bulletproof, even though, all of us walk around like we are.
I'm not going to sit here and bore you with my life story, or details that motivated me to write this. I just want to firmly express that there should be lessons taught, and groups put in place that could really be beneficial to the ones who are dealing with a loss of a child while still working as a healthcare professional.
Im not a professional writer, so the criticism that I may gain from this has no impact on me at all either. I'm just a guy who wants others to realize that we need help, and maybe putting this out there will get us the help that we need and deserve.
"Counseling?" People always ask. Yes that's good and all, but how can someone be counseled by a person who hasn't been through the same everyday struggle as we are.
So if there is anyone else out there reading this and going through hell also, please don't be afraid to speak up and let's figure this **** out together.
Signed
-Kyle B.
For the past 6 months I have been doing research trying to find other healthcare professionals who have lost their own child. I have failed to find anything on the web, in books, or even finding someone in person who have gone or is going through the same catastrophe as I am now. Really, why, and how? I don't know, but what I do know is that I can't be the only one who works in EMS or any other Healthcare profession who is suffering the loss of their own child, or even in the worst case scenario, their children.
Going through school they teach us how to treat patients whether it's medical or trauma related issues, but the real issue is the emotional distress we go through after the fact. I know we all are not training how to be psychologists or psychiatrists, but I believe we need to be taught how to cope or help others cope and treat the emotional distress we go through after having gone through probably the worst thing that anyone will ever experience in their lifetime.
Recently I had heard someone say "Hey! you will never know how it feels to have lost someone!!" They failed to realize that the guy standing 20 feet away from them in the EMS uniform is going through the same thing that they currently are. We are all human, and just because we work in the healthcare field we aren't bulletproof, even though, all of us walk around like we are.
I'm not going to sit here and bore you with my life story, or details that motivated me to write this. I just want to firmly express that there should be lessons taught, and groups put in place that could really be beneficial to the ones who are dealing with a loss of a child while still working as a healthcare professional.
Im not a professional writer, so the criticism that I may gain from this has no impact on me at all either. I'm just a guy who wants others to realize that we need help, and maybe putting this out there will get us the help that we need and deserve.
"Counseling?" People always ask. Yes that's good and all, but how can someone be counseled by a person who hasn't been through the same everyday struggle as we are.
So if there is anyone else out there reading this and going through hell also, please don't be afraid to speak up and let's figure this **** out together.
Signed
-Kyle B.
