I just found the blog “Backboards and Bandaids“. Read it. It’s great.

Hi to both of my blog readers. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you. I’ve just been busy wrapping up the last few weeks of school this quarter and working a ton of shifts at IFT. And, as you can see, I made a few design changes to the Medic 7 blog.

I haven’t posted anything recently, but not because I haven’t wanted to. This blog, while out there on the web for anyone to read, is primarily my place to vent. On this blog I can write things that I can’t (or wouldn’t) say to my co-workers or family. However, after reading the last few posts, my writing makes me out to be a pretty unhappy guy, and that’s not really who I am. So, I promise that I’ll be searching diligently for those positive nuggets to write about as well as continue to blog about the shitshow that is IFT Ambulance.

OK, so here’s what’s new.

1. I applied for an EMT job with “The Borg”. (Ya know, the large nationwide Ambulance company with Red & White rigs.) They start hiring again in April. Fingers and toes crossed.
2. I was accepted into the EMT-I course that I wanted. Even though this backward-ass county doesn’t recognize the EMT-I cert, we’ll eventually move to a state that does.
3. I decided to NOT apply to medic school this year, instead I’ll wait to see if we’re still living in this part of the country next year. If on the off chance we are, I’ll apply.
4. The SIP I wrote about in previous posts was promoted to FTO at IFT. Apparently a positive criminal background check is not an automatic disqualifier. Go figure.
5. I’ve been working strange hours at IFT. Last night I was on from 1700 to 0300. We did one call. A 300 lb woman for dialysis and her return. She’s a super nice lady, it was a shame to see her in such a bad condition.
6. I found a nasty-gram about me and a partner laying on the counter in the crew office. It was a note to the Rig Chief claiming that we had left the rig in a state of disarray last weekend. This nasty note, copied to the Ops Manager, claims all of the O2 bottles were left on, the rig wasn’t properly stocked… blah, blah, blah. “There were no paper towels. Boo Hoo”. I pulled my rig checklist from that shift and threw up the “Bullshit” flag. Ok, so maybe we didn’t wash the rig at the end of the shift, but that was because there was no car wash soap! Other than that it was all just a bunch of waahh waahhh. Get over it. That’s why we check the rigs at the start of each shift… to make sure we have the right stuff. Like full O2 bottles.
7. Over 50% of the crew at IFT are new EMTs. The turnover is amazing. But, what do you expect for $9.50/hour. Oh yeah, none of them can tech calls, as we’re all still waiting for our State certs. Any day now!
8. I saw a supervisor from another ambulance company last week while I was at a local hospital. He just looked at my uniform, shook his head and said, ‘Really? IFT? Really?” I was embarassed and ashamed that I work for a company with such a shitty reputation.
9. (Here’s something positive!) It snowed last night. Leaving the Hospital last night at 0230 in the midst of a snow squall was amazing. I love snow.

Earlier this afternoon I was scheduled for an employee review with HR and my Station Chief. The Station Chief didn’t make it.

He got a phone call from HR and he said he would be available later in the afternoon.

The appointed time came, I was ready… and guess what?

No station chief.

Why am I not surprised?

My sweetie and I are seriously thinking about relocating to a new part of the country and I’ve been investigating potential jobs in EMS and Paramedic School possibilities.

The further East you go, the more progressive EMS gets, and seems to become less entangled with fire. There are still fire medics, but third service EMS or decent private companies with 911 contracts are more prevalent.

Some of these possible relocation cities look like fun. ATL anyone?

Oh.. here’s a HUGE plus. It’s sunny there. For more than 3 days in a row.

I got an email (sent to my real account) the other day from a fellow EMT…

Hi Medic
How are you doing? How do you like working for IFT? I interviewed with them today and was offered the job……any advice, thoughts, opinions on the company, people you work with, the job?

Oh boy. I wish I could be honest in my return email. Instead I simply wrote:

Hi! Thanks for the email. IFT isn’t bad. It’s not great, but it’s not awful. You’ll get some good patient contact and vehicle driving experience. However, if you want to do trauma or 911 calls, this isn’t the place. Congrats on getting offered the job.. Maybe I’ll see you in the crew lounge soon.

I didn’t technically lie.

To both of my readers, if you don’t get a chance to ready EpiJunky’s blog, you should add it to your list.

I love this woman.

Read the open letter she wrote to her “EMT trainer”.

I don’t feel so bad now. The stuff she writes about? It happens to all of us.

I haven’t written a new post to the blog for a while, as I haven’t had anything new to report.

My last few shifts at IFT Ambulance have been uneventful to the point of boredom. I did get the opportunity to do a Long Distance run to the East side of the state. Nothing exciting EMS wise, it was just nice to drive out of the rain and fog that’s been a daily part of life for the past few weeks.

Other than that, it’s just been the daily slog of dialysis runs and hospital discharges. I wouldn’t mind the job so much if there wasn’t so much down time. A 10 hour shift with only one or two calls is boring, any way you look at it.

The company continues to be mired in a political quagmire. The SIP that I worked with a few weeks ago has petitioned to become an FTO. Not that he has any interest in training or furthering the skills of any of the employees mind you; it’s simply a way for him to flex his muscle and look more important. It’s really kind of sad to see how guys like that are promoted and the people who really care and work hard are overlooked because they’re not “political”.
The Station Chief told me that my skill set and experience puts me in line for a supervisory role very soon. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I don’t think I’m very interested in taking on a supervisor role at that train-wreck, and furthermore, I doubt I’ll be there long enough to be eligible. The place is a mess. I just come in, keep my head down and run my calls.
I was scheduled for a crazy double 10 hour shift this past weekend. On at 1500, off at 0100 on Sunday and then back in at 0430 for another 10 hours. Uh… no thanks. I called the scheduling office and they said, “Oh. That sucks. Can you do it though?” I told them no, I couldn’t do it and furthermore, scheduling a driver for two 10 hour shifts wasn’t exactly safe. They rescheduled a crew to cover it and slid my Saturday shift to 1330 to 2330. We ran exactly one call.
Oh yeah, they called this morning to ask if I could cover the second half of the 0430 shift. Guess what I told them?

On a personal note, juggling school, work and my home life continues to be a huge challenge. Although I simply hated to do it, I had to give notice at the Red Cross. Teaching classes all day while I should be studying just wasn’t working for me, and while I could have reduced my availability to just one day a week, that’s not really fair to the ARC folks. So… I’ll be dropping my Annie Manikins off at the warehouse next week and reclaiming some space in my garage. I feel I am a pretty good teacher, and hope that I can return to it sometime soon. The simple fact is, I need to spend more time at home with my sweetie. When I get into Medic School, home time will be at a premium, so I need to enjoy it while I can.

More later. It’s a Chili and game night with friends tonight, and school tomorrow morning.