A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #11 When everyone shares a goal, everyone has a role. Yesterday morning at 07h30 our big black dog, Mateo, began barking very aggressively. He was tied out on the back porch where he provides a measure of security for our laying hens […]
Monthly Archives: May 2012
13 posts
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #10 Make mine the salad, please. I am often asked if there’s an archetypal EMS applicant upon which all others are copied. What did you look for when someone applied to be a member of EMS? Was there a checklist? Did you […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #9 Build strong scaffolding your team can rely on for support. Answering the siren calling you to be an EMS provider means learning how to deal with the extreme stress that comes with ‘the job’ – and the Stress Gods don’t […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #8 Give up your seat on the raft. If I could whisper just one bit of advice into your ear it would be to find your own pathway to physical fitness. Find that path and make that journey part of your everyday […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #7 All disasters are local. In EMS, we’re quite good at conceptualizing how our respective systems will react when stretched well beyond their breaking points. After years of dealing with Murphy’s Law on a patient-by-patient basis, planning for The Big One has […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #6 Look, listen & feel. Look, listen & feel. Those three words were ingrained into my consciousness a long time ago – long before I was ever charged with leading a team of emergency medical services [EMS] providers. And yet, sometimes the […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #5 Break bread [or make chili] with your medics If The EMS House had a soul, it was in the kitchen and the sprawling training/class room on the same floor. Many a difficult conversation started and ended at one of the tables […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #4 We all started out as FNGs FNG Aahhh, the Rookie. FNG. JAFO. Cherry. New Guy. Newbie. Steve Merling heard them all. He was also one of the youngest members of CSL EMS. His transition from Apprentice to Medic was, in a […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day. #3 Celebrate Coaches Has it really been more than a decade since the late great Barry Tottle died? He was one of the all-time EMS Coaches and his far-too-early departure serves as a reminder to Celebrate our Coaches while they can still […]
A nugget of EMS organizational wisdom every day.#2 Become part of your neighbourhood A giftwrapped box of chocolates held with an unsteady outstretched arm by the diminuitive seventy-something year-old woman who came by The EMS House to say, “Thank you for the wonderful care” she received from our providers. She […]