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Tell us about your EMS career. Why EMS? Volly or paid?
My EMS career was short lived, approximately eight years.
While attending college studying Law Enforcement I picked up a part time job working security for an automobile manufacturing plant. The plant was currently under construction, about a year away from the start of production. As time progressed our role of security evolved, adding on an EMS role. Injuries were quite common, both small and large. The entire department was trained to the medical first responder level.
I enjoyed this type of environment because of the types of calls it presented. Most of them were trauma related. You didn’t have abusers of the system. You didn’t have to deal with homeless, drug seekers, or grandpa that fell. Each call for help was “real”.
While working at the plant I developed an interest in dispatching. I spent a majority of my time there, helping write the SOPs while the plant transitioned from construction to production.
I left the plant to move to Florida, hoping to find something similar. Unfortunately I was naive and didn’t know much about Florida. There is very little industry down here, and nothing like an automobile manufacturing plant. I took a position with a well known alarm company as a dispatcher. I quickly took on the role of mentor and loved my time there. The company sold the building a couple of years later laying off all 492 of us.
It was then I entered back into the field of EMS, working for a small, upscale, private community for retirees. We were the first responders for all security, fire and ems calls. As this was a new community, I again assisted with writing the SOPs, but this time for all positions and roles.
After some time there I decided I wanted a change and switched industries.
What was your first call?
My first call after receiving my certification was for a vehicle accident with injuries that occurred about a block from home. At this time I was very “rescue randy”, eager to get my first patient contact, but I was also nervous as hell. I was at the computer listening to my scanner and I heard the call go out. The location was very close to the border of two counties, so a volunteer fire department from each county was toned out. As the first engine arrived on scene, they gave a size up, advising that a vehicle had crossed the center lane and was resting in a ditch, driver side down. To get the driver out they would need to be extricated, and requested additional personnel. This was it. This was my time to shine. I was so excited and nervous at the same time.
I hopped in my car and made the two minute drive to the scene. I grabbed some gloves and walked up to the scene. Yeah right, I ran up to the scene. I made contact with a firefighter and said that I was a certified first responder, affiliated with the manufacturing plant and asked if they could use an extra pair of hands. He said sure and told me to go see another firefighter adding cribbing to stabilize the truck. This call was going to be a whole bunch of firsts! After the truck was stabilized it was time to get the patient out. I stood up on the streets out of the way while the firefighters did their job. I didn’t have another role until it came time to lift the patient out of the vehicle on a backboard.
I ended up gripping the backboard right next to where the patient’s hand was. Their hand was badly injured, most if not all of her skin on the top was missing. My response: “Cool.” In fact, it was that word that bypassed my brain-mouth filter and slipped passed my lips. I said it as we were carrying them to the ambulance. The firefighter in front of me turned around and shot me a death look. I started preparing myself for the tongue lashing I was sure to receive.
After we transferred care to the EMTs/Medics, someone from the fire department pulled me to the side and asked who I was and why I was there. I explained myself, and they then asked what I said. I replied and apologized. She then started asking me questions about the call, asked if the hand grossed me out, how I felt about everything, etc. It didn’t bother me, not in the least. She then asked if I was interested in joining the department. From that point forward I knew my career was heading in the right direction.
Best Call vs Worst Call
My best call and worst call was one in the same. And it couldn’t come at a worst time… Christmas morning. I was sitting in a parking lot, head down, distracted by something. All of a sudden I heard screeching tires and looked up to see an 80’s GMC van run a red light and smash into the passenger side B-pillar of a small, compact car. As you can imagine, the metal grill and bumper of the van destroyed the pillar of the car.
I drove up to the scene and grabbed my radio and started a scene assessment. The driver of the van was out walking around. I asked if he was okay and he said yes. I asked if there was anyone else in the van and he said no. I then walked over to the car and found three patients: mom, dad and a less than year old child. All were wearing seatbelts, but due to the damage from the accident, dad was now hunched over mom, bleeding severely. I radioed dispatch, requested two ambulances, fire for extrication, and police.
All units arrived rather quickly and all three patients were removed and packed into an ambulance in no time. Since I was in “off duty” status at the time I didn’t want to get in the way. So I decided to make second contact with the van driver. As I was walking over I saw the driver by the side, sliding door with a look of shock. I looked inside to find three kids, probably all under the age of twelve. I asked an officer who was a few steps behind me to request two more ambulances while I notified the lieutenant of the additional patients. We began patient care while we waited for the additional ambulances to arrive. The driver of the van was last seen in the backseat of a police car.
For me, this was the worst call because it was on Christmas morning, the family in the car were all wearing Christmas sweaters obviously getting ready to celebrate the day. Their day and holiday was ruined. It also sucked that the kids in the van were not wearing seat belts, causing them to be piled up against the hard, metal dashboard, all while the driver of the van lied about having any passengers inside, causing delay in care.
What made it the best was that this call was early in my career and I had a little experience in being first on scene. I was able to be “command”, take charge, assess the scene and request the appropriate resources to take care of the injured without going overboard.
What instructor or coworker taught you the most about EMS?
No single person stands out for one main reason: I never had a good mentor. It’s one of the reasons that you’ll see me frequently post encouraging others to be mentors. I never had that go-to person. I never had that one person that I could just sit and BS with.
Having a mentor is crucial, in whatever industry you’re in. It gives the new employee a person to go to ask those questions that they may not want to ask in front of others. And if a new employee has a good mentor, they will more than likely last longer and even become a mentor for someone else down the road.
Where did “Chimpie” come from?
When I first started “surfing the web” in late the 90’s I decided to use Chimpie as my online moniker. Chimpie was a nickname given to me by my older brother when I was about twelve years old. When he brought his (then) girlfriend home from college for Thanksgiving, he introduced me as, “This is the Chimp.” The nickname stuck around for the next several years, and when my niece was born, they introduced her to me as, “This is your Uncle Chimpie.” My niece and nephew, now 15 and 13, still only call me Uncle Chimpie.
Married? Kids?
No kids, but I’m getting married this year.
Most people change careers every seven years. What will your next career be? Why?
For the past several years I’ve designed and hosted websites as a hobby. The technology behind the internet is powerful and amazing. I would love to spend the rest of my working life learning more about it, watching it evolve further, and being able to help others get their information on the web.
Wrap up of part one
Part one? You mean, there’s going to be another part? Yep. There’s more that I want to share and I want to put more thought into it. Now that they holidays are behind us I can do just that.
Thanks for reading!
My EMS career was short lived, approximately eight years.
While attending college studying Law Enforcement I picked up a part time job working security for an automobile manufacturing plant. The plant was currently under construction, about a year away from the start of production. As time progressed our role of security evolved, adding on an EMS role. Injuries were quite common, both small and large. The entire department was trained to the medical first responder level.
I enjoyed this type of environment because of the types of calls it presented. Most of them were trauma related. You didn’t have abusers of the system. You didn’t have to deal with homeless, drug seekers, or grandpa that fell. Each call for help was “real”.
While working at the plant I developed an interest in dispatching. I spent a majority of my time there, helping write the SOPs while the plant transitioned from construction to production.
I left the plant to move to Florida, hoping to find something similar. Unfortunately I was naive and didn’t know much about Florida. There is very little industry down here, and nothing like an automobile manufacturing plant. I took a position with a well known alarm company as a dispatcher. I quickly took on the role of mentor and loved my time there. The company sold the building a couple of years later laying off all 492 of us.
It was then I entered back into the field of EMS, working for a small, upscale, private community for retirees. We were the first responders for all security, fire and ems calls. As this was a new community, I again assisted with writing the SOPs, but this time for all positions and roles.
After some time there I decided I wanted a change and switched industries.
What was your first call?
My first call after receiving my certification was for a vehicle accident with injuries that occurred about a block from home. At this time I was very “rescue randy”, eager to get my first patient contact, but I was also nervous as hell. I was at the computer listening to my scanner and I heard the call go out. The location was very close to the border of two counties, so a volunteer fire department from each county was toned out. As the first engine arrived on scene, they gave a size up, advising that a vehicle had crossed the center lane and was resting in a ditch, driver side down. To get the driver out they would need to be extricated, and requested additional personnel. This was it. This was my time to shine. I was so excited and nervous at the same time.
I hopped in my car and made the two minute drive to the scene. I grabbed some gloves and walked up to the scene. Yeah right, I ran up to the scene. I made contact with a firefighter and said that I was a certified first responder, affiliated with the manufacturing plant and asked if they could use an extra pair of hands. He said sure and told me to go see another firefighter adding cribbing to stabilize the truck. This call was going to be a whole bunch of firsts! After the truck was stabilized it was time to get the patient out. I stood up on the streets out of the way while the firefighters did their job. I didn’t have another role until it came time to lift the patient out of the vehicle on a backboard.
I ended up gripping the backboard right next to where the patient’s hand was. Their hand was badly injured, most if not all of her skin on the top was missing. My response: “Cool.” In fact, it was that word that bypassed my brain-mouth filter and slipped passed my lips. I said it as we were carrying them to the ambulance. The firefighter in front of me turned around and shot me a death look. I started preparing myself for the tongue lashing I was sure to receive.
After we transferred care to the EMTs/Medics, someone from the fire department pulled me to the side and asked who I was and why I was there. I explained myself, and they then asked what I said. I replied and apologized. She then started asking me questions about the call, asked if the hand grossed me out, how I felt about everything, etc. It didn’t bother me, not in the least. She then asked if I was interested in joining the department. From that point forward I knew my career was heading in the right direction.
Best Call vs Worst Call
My best call and worst call was one in the same. And it couldn’t come at a worst time… Christmas morning. I was sitting in a parking lot, head down, distracted by something. All of a sudden I heard screeching tires and looked up to see an 80’s GMC van run a red light and smash into the passenger side B-pillar of a small, compact car. As you can imagine, the metal grill and bumper of the van destroyed the pillar of the car.
I drove up to the scene and grabbed my radio and started a scene assessment. The driver of the van was out walking around. I asked if he was okay and he said yes. I asked if there was anyone else in the van and he said no. I then walked over to the car and found three patients: mom, dad and a less than year old child. All were wearing seatbelts, but due to the damage from the accident, dad was now hunched over mom, bleeding severely. I radioed dispatch, requested two ambulances, fire for extrication, and police.
All units arrived rather quickly and all three patients were removed and packed into an ambulance in no time. Since I was in “off duty” status at the time I didn’t want to get in the way. So I decided to make second contact with the van driver. As I was walking over I saw the driver by the side, sliding door with a look of shock. I looked inside to find three kids, probably all under the age of twelve. I asked an officer who was a few steps behind me to request two more ambulances while I notified the lieutenant of the additional patients. We began patient care while we waited for the additional ambulances to arrive. The driver of the van was last seen in the backseat of a police car.
For me, this was the worst call because it was on Christmas morning, the family in the car were all wearing Christmas sweaters obviously getting ready to celebrate the day. Their day and holiday was ruined. It also sucked that the kids in the van were not wearing seat belts, causing them to be piled up against the hard, metal dashboard, all while the driver of the van lied about having any passengers inside, causing delay in care.
What made it the best was that this call was early in my career and I had a little experience in being first on scene. I was able to be “command”, take charge, assess the scene and request the appropriate resources to take care of the injured without going overboard.
What instructor or coworker taught you the most about EMS?
No single person stands out for one main reason: I never had a good mentor. It’s one of the reasons that you’ll see me frequently post encouraging others to be mentors. I never had that go-to person. I never had that one person that I could just sit and BS with.
Having a mentor is crucial, in whatever industry you’re in. It gives the new employee a person to go to ask those questions that they may not want to ask in front of others. And if a new employee has a good mentor, they will more than likely last longer and even become a mentor for someone else down the road.
Where did “Chimpie” come from?
When I first started “surfing the web” in late the 90’s I decided to use Chimpie as my online moniker. Chimpie was a nickname given to me by my older brother when I was about twelve years old. When he brought his (then) girlfriend home from college for Thanksgiving, he introduced me as, “This is the Chimp.” The nickname stuck around for the next several years, and when my niece was born, they introduced her to me as, “This is your Uncle Chimpie.” My niece and nephew, now 15 and 13, still only call me Uncle Chimpie.
Married? Kids?
No kids, but I’m getting married this year.
Most people change careers every seven years. What will your next career be? Why?
For the past several years I’ve designed and hosted websites as a hobby. The technology behind the internet is powerful and amazing. I would love to spend the rest of my working life learning more about it, watching it evolve further, and being able to help others get their information on the web.
Wrap up of part one
Part one? You mean, there’s going to be another part? Yep. There’s more that I want to share and I want to put more thought into it. Now that they holidays are behind us I can do just that.
Thanks for reading!
