Spare Time

It has suddenly occurred to me (at the prompting of the Cabin Fever author), that I haven't written in a little while. Well, in dreaming up of possible topics that wouldn't bore you to death, I struck upon one that might be curious to some people.

Quite often, when going about on calls, an inevitable statement is, "I really hate to bother you guys." And most invariably, our reply is: "It's no problem, it's what we are here for." Well, also quite often, we ARE in the middle of something. But, many may ask, "What WERE you doing?" Well, here is a glimpse into the life of EMS.

At the station that I work out of, the shift begins at 8:00. This could be either AM or PM. I will make this on a Saturday. So, after talking with the outgoing crew about the previous shift's happenings, swapping a few jokes or insults, we start going about the day's duties. First order of business is a vehicle check.

Now, a vehicle check is a comprehensive check-list, going over every detail. This is important, because we wouldn't want to be rolling up on the scene of a motor vehicle accident without any backboards or straps, now would we? Generally, (depending on how effective you are) this takes between 30 minutes to an hour. This goes through every detail (expiration dates, quantity of appropriate items, fuel, lights, paperwork, etc). After this, you can sometimes work on a small project that you have been working on, or even catch a small nap (especially if you are on a 24-hour shift).

There are some things to do. Crews generally change it up a bit, sometimes cooking a good breakfast, detailing the ambulances, cleaning the bays, beautification projects, you get the idea. One such favorite past time too, is playing a video game with off-duty crew members. One of my personal favorites is the Nintendo Wii.

Now, of course we aren't playing this when there is other work to be done. However, it is an excellent source of groans, laughs, forehead-slapping and all around fun. There is the invariable favorites, Wii Sports, Mario Kart, and one crew member's favorite, Firefighter.

After the fun, there is always the clean-up. Generally, this is before shift change. This includes: sweeping, mopping, dusting, vacuuming, general pick-up, dishes, etc. Essentially, clean the entire building top to bottom.

Now, it seems that all the time, something is getting interrupted for a call. Usually, it is a pleasant change of pace, and of course, it IS our job. To go out and help people is the reason why we do Emergency Medical Services. It usually is worth the cold meals, forgotten games, and missed socializing. 

So, now you know.