Without the White Coat
Paramedics: Saving lives
Living in the city that "never" sleeps for more than 15 years, you will learn and adapt to the blaring sounds of the NYFD (New York Fire Department) in the wee hours of the morning, but what is still pasted on the background are the yelping and blasting sirens of the New York Emergency Medical Services (NY EMS) any hour of the day. (Since I was just a stone's throw away from Beth Israel Medical Center on First Avenue and 16th Street). The NY EMS were the best seeing them perform in time of emergencies and calamities in which they had shown some courageous acts during 9/11. The NY EMS is composed of the EMT (emergency medical technician) and the EMS Paramedics (these were the highly trained and qualified driving force behind the NY EMS), then eventually all the jobs were all delegated to the paramedics (medics for short).
Mother Cabrini Medical Center is one of the hospital and medical institutions servicing the lower east side of Manhattan, thus, we also have our own trained medics, they were given salaries by the medical institution (Cabrini) and they are connected directly with the NY EMS. The NY EMS were not just some transportation services for sick patients, but were treatment facilities on the road (mobile), and mind you they do rescue too. They were the best of the crop trained from 6 months to a year, and each day of their lives in the streets of Manhattan were all challenging from drug overdoses, to gunshot wounds, to some elderly or senior citizen who fell down, and some challenging situations like jumping the east river to rescue a drowning victim. This is the NY EMS.
Driving along the stretch of E. Lopez Street in front of a catholic school I saw two buses parking along side the street. What really struck me was the emblem on the side of the buses (actually a Starex van and an L300 van), taking a closer look and scrutinizing the emblem was the insignia of the NY EMS Paramedics. To my amaze some situations rung up and brought back memories in my head, the when times I was still back in Manhattan manning the emergency room and waiting for the medic bus to bring some interesting cases for the day. Having the EMS emblem on the side of the van thus signify that the personnel were trained "paramedics", but much to my discouragement they were only hospital personnel, if ever they were trained or educated in emergency services it could have came from a manual or book secured from the US. I think the people behind those "transport" system never have an iota of an idea what the rigorous training a paramedic undergoes and the situations he/she will be involved. A licensed nurse or being a physician does not qualify us further to be a "paramedic", even though we are all in the same medical field, since there are situations wherein physicians and doctors will be different from each other, a pediatrician even though she/he is a doctor primarily can never sit down or be employed as a company physician and the same time goes for an internist, an OBGYNE and a surgeon, yes they are doctors primarily, but they were never trained in the basic course of occupational safety and health and to their amazement they all think that as a company physician all they have to do is sit down behind that desk and do company clinic consultations, but how about the basic work environment of the workers? The same situation goes with the "paramedics" a nurse is not a paramedic since he/she lacks the training in basic and advanced emergency services. Another thing that strikes me is the color that surrounds the van which have a similarity to the emergency markings of all the emergency vehicles in England, looks familiar.
The New York EMS (emergency medical services- "PARAMEDICS") was created in order to answer the emergency needs and requirements of New York City thru the 911 system. For short to save lives and not just as a means of transportation of patient from his domicile to the medical institution and vice versa, it is a mobile medical facility of some sort, or a moving mini-emergency room equipped with basic gadgets of resuscitation and life support. Let us live up on the signs/emblems that we place on the side of our bus, because when real situations calls for it that demands our expertise and we never have the training for it, then it is the lives of our patients that is on line. If the bus or vans are just for transport purposes and then indicate it and if the reality for us as the general public will see it and the "paramedic" sign or emblem is on the side then we expect it will deliver the services that it stands for.