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.
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