Resignation letter

Stevo

Forum Asst. Chief
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To my EMS family out there, I bid you all farewell now. My time with you has been special, and it's been an honor as well as privilege to serve with all of you. I've learned a lot from each of you. Knowing I’ve been a bit of a PITA over the years, I hope I can part on good terms with you all.

That said, I’d like to share a few last thoughts with you at this time, first a little personal history...

The seeds of EMS were planted for me 40-odd years ago, when I lost out in a Buick vs. pedestrian confrontation. I can remember laying on the cold ground in shock , going in /out. The funny thing about shock is, one is somewhat displaced from one's self, like you're watching yourself in some sort of surreal movie. I kept thinking it was curtains, even though I wasn't really going anywhere, that's a real bad feeling too, one gets mighty clingy. I was just a 15 yr old kid at the time, operating on maybe a 5 yr old’s level

So out of the darkness came these two men, they seemed like giants to me, probably the perspective of shock. They scraped me up, took me into an ambulance, and made it better. Every move they made may to them have been routine and inconsequential, but to me like they seemed like the hand of the healer Himself. Don't think for one second all those small acts of kindness and expertise you do out there are meaningless, or forgotten.

I never did get their names, but seeing as I was hospitalized for a good 3-4 months, had plenty of time to think about them. They put me in a cast mid sternum on down, I looked like the mummy from those old sci-fi flicks. When they cut me out I was no better than an emaciated jelly fish, and so off they sent me to physical therapy, where I was quickly convinced I was being treated by Nazi nurses. After a failed escape attempt via wheelchair from the hospital (so much for a life of crime...) they bent, spindled, and folded me into a pair of crutches, and off I went hobbling through high school.

I suppose I should add here that my further teen years were peppered with incidents, resulting in numerous ER visits. It wasn't that I was a malicious kid, more just being born before Ritalin with the uncanny ability to impale a heel on an old surveyor’s stake no one's seen in 150 years. It takes me a while to recall all the debaucheries, but by the time I was an adult my baseball mitt had less stitchings. I could have been poster boy for EMS if they had one at the time.

Back in my day most of these incidents were seen as minor, few ambulances were called because stay-at-home mothers were the first responders who bandaged and delivered any hurt kid to their dooryard, the hospital, or had the doc stop by. Over the years I’ve whimsically told the folks who asked how I got into the biz that it was a condition of my parole, which really isn't all that far from the truth considering the efforts of good folks, be them EMS, off duty nurses, or the mothers willing to put up with hordes of boys in their back yards always willing to make our boo-boos better. That they could do what they did intrigued me.

So in '86 I walked into the BFFD with my brother, still curious , where we signed up. Since then the experiences were just like any one of you would be able to recall. In a nutshell, it's a human experience, and when you take all the bells and whistles away, it's just people helping people. And good people I did meet, they cared about their community and neighbors. Vermont to me has always been the good neighbor state, where this could be.

I was reminded at the Xmas party how I had 'heart' back in the day, which really gave me pause to reflect.

When I think of Vermont’s EMS and the people I’ve come to know working in the system, it's been a key element I see being confronted by changes bent on fixin' what really isn't broken.

I probably sound like the old adage of the wet baby, but after a while it's not any given change, it's the constant need to make changes that gets old.

Crybabies aside, it's my wish that the heart I’ve seen keep the good ship CAS afloat remain the real glue there.

As for me, it's ironic that I should have had any sort of career convincing folks into a hospital, having probably been the most pig headed patient in history.....but it's time for me to start listening to some advice or end up on the customer side of EMS. It's not all bad, besides, the nurses seem a lot better looking these days

For those of you who soldier on, know that what you do is important for the community, even if it seems at times they have a huge sense of entitlement, never realizing just how hard you all work or what gets 'left out' for the privilege to serve them.

To those of you up and coming, this is your time. I’d like to think when I see the rig go by, there's some new hotshots who have a lotta heart in it: go give it a good kick in the ischial tuberosity. To you old dogs, long may you run and Godspeed. I'll miss working with you all and will always be your advocate.

Keep me in mind if you need a hand, I’m qualified for backboard dummy or sale on green detail. Perhaps there are other, more benign ways to help out the community, which I’ll consider from here.

Anyhow, (delete) and I are still building our farm up on (delete) Hill. What better place than (delete) to live the dream? Hopefully I’ve learned a few things since (delete) FD were kind enough to put out my first venture.... wish me luck, eggs for everyone if we make good!

This is 06420 standing down.

Your friend,

~Stevo
 
Good luck on your new ventures! Seems like you had a good ride and its best to get while the gettins good.
 
thanks

i'd like to think i got it right a few times

what seems really odd is the radio silence since i've turned in all my gear

almost hard to sleep w/o them....

~S~
 
I respect that you know when it's time to resign and that you did it with class. Best of luck to you!
 
well that is nice of you to say Matt

it was an experience i'll not soon forget

~S~
 
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